Number One!!!

 It's a good thing Mark is retired because when it snows he removes an overwhelming 800 feet of snow.

First step: He plows his own driveway which gives him 300 feet.

Then:  he goes over to his "cabin" to add on another 325 feet.

And finally:  just for the fun of it, he goes to Christopher's house for another 175 feet.

So in one sense Mark is the winner by a long shot.  But (since I didn't win) I wonder if he isn't in fact the loser and Greg with his measly 37 feet is in truth the winner?

The distance between Mark and the rest of us lengthens even more when you consider that Minnesota averages 45 inches of snow a season and the Kenai averages 90.  If we were to factor that in then in "Minnesota Feet" Mark moves 1600 feet of snow.

Ouch!  Again. . . it's a good thing he's retired and congratulations to Mark. He is the manliest of men no matter what the method of removal is.

The Grass is Greener...

I realize we haven't totally exhausted the subject of snow removal yet, but it's Memorial Day weekend... Perhaps we should begin talking about the green stuff that's beginning to ask for hours of our lives every week.


Faith says push lawn mowers have been perfectly adequate for the last 30 years and should continue to serve us for 30 more. Riding lawn mowers may be fine ... for 85-year-old great grandmothers with large yards! Heck, she shelled out plenty for this lawn mower 10 years ago... Recently, in a weak moment, she surprised me and said she might consider allowing us to save up for a pedal mower!

Number Two

The reason Dan and Mark are still in the race is because they both do more than their own driveways.

Dan and Jo come in at number two with 450 feet.  The road going into their driveway is not maintained by the city, so Dan does his driveway, then Hill Trail Court from Hill Trail North to the end of their property line and then just for the fun of it he does Al and Veronica's driveway.

Once in awhile neighbor George does the first half of Hill Trail Court with his ATV but not often and lets not complicate things - right?

Dan has not used a shovel on his driveway since Peter turned six.

Spring

Here are a few spring photos taken in the past week or so.

Number Three

If Dean and Kurt just shoveled to their doorway, Steve would have beat them easily, but no, they shovel all the way down the hill to the shed giving them an impressive 365 foot trail.  They are, I believe, committed and dedicated shovelers through and through.

By the way a violent tornado went through the Twin Cities two days ago hitting North Minneapolis and the northwest suburbs.  I'm thinking that one of these days one of us should check with the Carlsons to see if they're goners, buried under a pile of rubble, or not.

Number Four

The three driveways done so far were all under a hundred feet.  The last four are all going to be longer than football fields!  Like that football field behind Paul and Faith's place.

When I started this I assumed Steve would be in first place, but unless I made a mistake in my calculations he's not even in the top three.  Coming in at number four is Steve at 325 feet.

Steve's preferred method of snow removal is the snowblower.  So if anyone has one to give him he'd be more than happy.  But until then he's stuck with a lousy shovel.

By the way I know it looks like the road is 20 feet east of where I put it, but that cleared area is for the power line going into his house.

Number Five

In fifth place at 75 feet are Jean and Ralph.  I'm not sure who does the snow removal in this family or what the preferred method is.  Perhaps we will be informed in a comment.

Notice that these first three are all standard urban driveways.  The ordering is primarily determined based on how much of the driveway is double wide. The final four will prove to be more complicated.

Number Six

Paul and Faith best Greg and Denise by 25 feet with  62 feet of space (meaning 62 feet long one lane wide).  Paul is a shoveler and Faith applauds his choice.

By the way Google Maps didn't spend much time in Roseau judging a. by how blurry the photos are and b. the street designations missed the actual street locations by a good 20 feet - notice how they have 7th ave ne going right through Paul's neighbor's house.

Snow

Since we are still writing about snow here are a few photos from winter that i was going to post somewhere, but kept putting it off...

Number Seven

Regarding the issue of snowblower verses shovel, one needs to consider how much snow needs to be removed.  Towards that end I checked everyone's yard with Google Sattelite and calculated the area of removal for everyone.  Today I'll present the person in seventh place.  But. . .

1. I measured each home with the zoom at 1 inch equals 100 feet.

2. I marked in yellow the areas that are one lane wide, and I marked in blue the areas that are two lanes wide.

3. I'm ignoring sidewalks

4. If you want to challenge my assumptions. . .have at it.

Okay.  Drumroll.  Number seven: Coming in at a scant 37 feet - Greg and Denise.  Greg's usual mode of removal is the shovel.

YAY FOR THE HEIDI'S!

They did it!  Heidi B's experience sounds a lot like Jo's with Peter.  A lot of concerned looks on the doctor and nurses and then all of a sudden she's being whisked away fast to the surgery room. Without modern medicine Jo and/or the baby would have died both times!  Glad everything turned out.

God's hand was on me

Thank you for your prayers for my surgery. I had the least invasive surgery that I could have had. I don't really know what the surgeon did as my head is still all wrapped up. I hope to have it removed on Wed. I had plastic surgery to repair the wound on my head. It was difficult to anticipate how involved it could have been; praise be to God for the outcome!

Ralph's mom seems to be "out of the woods". About 2 weeks ago we really didn't know if she would make it. We went to see her in Duluth while she was in ICU. She looked pretty bad. She is recovering quite well and is at what used to be Lake Haven Nursing home.

Heidi and Josh are still waiting for their baby. We call him baby "B" She is in "practice labor", that is what the dula calls it. Maybe he'll come soon, hopefully in the next day or so. She is already about a week and a half overdue.