[thechat] snow

[javier velasco]

Luther, Ron wrote:

>Anyway, I thought Martin was referring more to the 'litiginous' side of 
>the issue ... you shoveled the front sidewalk to keep from getting sued 
>by neighbors falling on their butts on the ice.
>
As if there *were* any sidewalks in this town, lol. There are some, but 
only on one side of the road, it was hell for the first months before I 
could drive. Fortunataly, I got my license and plates just the week 
before it started snowing.

I'm not sure about those kinds of law, I don't actually own the place, 
but the landlord does plow the driveways for our cars to be able to get 
out (of course not always in a timely manner, she owns quite couple of 
buildings). Anyway, my street actually doesn't have any sidewalk and the 
only people who I see on their feet are jogging. The building does have 
some buckets of sand, which I learned to use to build a path to the 
washing machines after my ankles got very tired after a session of ice 
slidding, and later Pilar met the ground (nothing serious though).

So far, I've only had to shovel my car out a couple of mornings... and 
BTW that day I thought about asking here about what is the right 
technique for shoveling in order to avoid back injuries. Any tips?

>You also put rock salt outside your door ... so *you* don't fall while 
>fumbling about for your house keys ... and more salt on the front steps 
>.... 'cuz if there is too much snow and ice the postman won't deliver 
>your mail.  'Course the salt chews up the concrete leaving you with 
>repair chores in the Spring. (You _could_ try that 'crunchy paint' ... 
>adding small stones or sand while painting your wooden steps ... but 
>the shovel catches on that crap and jars the heck out of you.)
>  
>
Speaking of... I don't get mail at home because my area is too rural 
(I'd have to add another bill to my list for that) so I simply get all 
my mail at the university office.

Today we're expecting cold record breaking cold, I've already had to use 
double layers of gloves and hats (I actually felt like my hair was 
building uo ice with only a double fleece hat, so I had to put over it 
my polartec layered jacket hat).  So far, I don't complain, it's all 
still too exciting for that.

BTW most folks here tend to think that Chile has tropical weather, they 
put all Latin America in a single bag, truth is Santiago's extreme temps 
range between 100 - 20 F (yes, I've learned the conversions).

Yes, I know... the pictures, the pictures.
;)
javier