okay.. where to put the snow... (Waterville, Skowhegan: house, live, moving)

[maineborzoi]

Yea- I know .. dumb question - but I am curious- how do you all put the snow for removal- and would love pictures..
Do you make a big standing pile?
Do you get creative and park it everywhere in mounds etc?

12" before juno- then 26" afterwards and now another 12-18 coming.. and its uh... in the teens so no chance of a melt.
I will say this - our front yard ditch, thats like 8 feet deep, is now level with the rest of the front yard LOL

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Unless you have a big flat area where you can push the snow with a pickup, you need a snowblower.

[Mark S.]

The pile in our front yard is about 6 ft high at the moment. After tomorrow's shoveling, we may get it up to 7 or 8 ft.

[Nor'Eastah]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

Unless you have a big flat area where you can push the snow with a pickup

Yeah, that's what we did. Go straight through the parking area to the graveled side yard. Plenty of space.

Come summer, that gravel doesn't have to be mowed, either!

[maineborzoi]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

Unless you have a big flat area where you can push the snow with a pickup, you need a snowblower.

Yea we are snow blowing it now. The issue comes with the back yard- ie the dogs yard- and there is no where to put it short of blowing it on the other side the fence.
Then the issue comes, with a hard pack, and animal from the outside could walk into the yard.
While one might wonder why making a path in the dog yard with 5 big dogs- the reason- one of them is older and deep snow is harder on her.

Originally Posted by Mark S.

The pile in our front yard is about 6 ft high at the moment. After tomorrow's shoveling, we may get it up to 7 or 8 ft.

Yea if this keeps up, we won't be able to see the abandoned house next door from the snow pile

Originally Posted by Nor'Eastah

Yeah, that's what we did. Go straight through the parking area to the graveled side yard. Plenty of space.

Come summer, that gravel doesn't have to be mowed, either!

Good point ! Lets see- I hate to weed trim along the edge.. sending it that way

[DauntlessDan]

Just cleared our driveway, wife and I, yet again. It is Saturday morning and STILL snowing here in central Maine. Yes, I am running out of places to put all this snow. Banks along our driveway are 5' plus in some places. Town plow keeps the road clear BUT now we have mountains along the sides of the road, including the driveway, and it is hard to see if there is traffic coming. I could actually tunnel through this stuff in some areas and make a snow cave or an igloo. I banked the snow along the foundation on the north side of the house to insulate and keep out the wind to prevent freeze-ups. Had one there already. At least it is good for something.

[GreenGene]

Originally Posted by DauntlessDan

Just cleared our driveway, wife and I, yet again. It is Saturday morning and STILL snowing here in central Maine. Yes, I am running out of places to put all this snow. Banks along our driveway are 5' plus in some places. Town plow keeps the road clear BUT now we have mountains along the sides of the road, including the driveway, and it is hard to see if there is traffic coming.

Yeah, my wife and I - also central Maine - are waiting until the snow stops falling (this storm anyway), so I guess we'll spend the afternoon shoveling. So far we're doing OK in the front re: places to put the snow.

I noticed yesterday - we had to go to Waterville for a doctor's appointment - that some intersections are getting to be more of a challenge than usual, due to the height of the snow piled up there. This is our first winter in Maine - when weather permits, do any of the crews come back around and try to push some of the snow back further, so drivers can see without actually getting into intersections?

[DauntlessDan]

My first winter in Maine as well GreenGene but lived in NEK Vermont which was just about the same snowfall wise. Some towns do the "snow augur" on the bucket loader where they go down along the roadways and blow the snow into dump trucks, like a giant snow blower, and haul it away to a proper dump area. Don't know for sure but suspect that the town of Waterville would have one or two of these. The small NEK town where we lived, about the size of Skowhegan, had one.

[maureenb]

Where to put the snow? Higher and higher piles. Not near the house where the melt could end up in your cellar.

I am moving piles, bucketful by miserable bucketful.

[slyfox2]

I snow blow it, but would be happy to have the next few storms not have huge amounts of wind. this is because it won't blow in the north direction when the wind is blowing at 30 mph from that direction. The south side is gittin' kind of high.