I think we wore each other out today. “Good Lord, Dennis, is there no end to your job jar?” Yesterday was about securing clear doorways and walkways after the snow dump. Today it was about securing the patio porch and garage roofs. The ole cowboy had a plan of action that I needed to follow to the letter of the law. Ya, like that was going to happen without a fight. You’re right, I didn’t fight it. Dennis used the snowblower to clear the front and back patios. It was a good 8 inches deep. I was then going to use the roof rake to pull down snow from the roofs that Dennis would then again blow off of the patio. There was a huge amount on the roofs, and being pro-active was a better plan than having a roof collapse.
I pulled out the roof rake out of the garage and didn’t think I would ever get to the end of the handle. It was a good 12′ long. In its own right it was not heavy, just clumsy with the 24″ shovel at the end of the handle. I couldn’t get it lifted high enough to get anywhere near a roof let alone rake any snow off of the peak of the roof. I stood on the patio much like a person with a long cane fishing pole with the end of it wobbling like a huge carp I had just caught. Dennis looked at me like “anytime now.” I put the rake on the patio and crossed my arms and patted my shoulders. I could see the light go off in Dennis’ eyes. He forgets that my shoulders don’t do much if it means movement above my shoulder height. It can be easily forgotten as there isn’t much that I haven’t been able to work around with less movement than usual with the titanium shoulders.
We found a solution. Dennis planted the rake head on the roof and handed me the handle. All I had to do was back up on the patio to the full extend of the handle and then walk forward letting the handle slide up along the edge of the roof . . . the rake head was airborne. With lifting the handle shoulder height, the working end of the rake sank into the snow at just about the peek of the roof. Walking backwards the rake pulled down the snow onto the patio. It worked slick. All I needed to make sure of was to not let the rake head slide totally off the roof. Success! This was doable, as I can’t operate the snowblower. The jerking on the shoulders as the snowblower needs to be manipulated would surely not be a good thing. We needed to work as a well oiled machine and we did. Damn it’s good when a plan comes together.
It took us quite a while as breaks in the patio porch were warranted. The treat at the end of the job was fried egg sandwiches. Priceless!