Lovably Wovel-able Snow

Another 3 inches of snow this morning.  Rog didn't have time to clear snow before leaving for work, but he used the wovel (shovel on a wheel) to  make two tire tread paths out to the road. He came in and said the snow was perfectly wovelable today.  So, after chores and coffee, I went back out to deal with the snow and I decided to wovel rather than snowblow.

Most of our snowfalls this year have been too deep, densely-packed, or icy   for easy woveling or the weather has been bitterly cold and we wanted the fastest result, so we have resorted to the snowblower. To use the wovel, you wheel the blade along the ground scooping up snow, then push the handle down to flick the snow off.  Today's snow is a bit heavier than powder and our tall snowbanks have receded enough that it is now easy to flip the snow up onto them.

I bought the wovel because shoveling is so hard on my back. The wovel is comparatively effortless, altho of course doesn't work on the steps.  It took me about  45 minutes to wovel out our long driveway and parking areas--maybe 10-15minutes longer than snowblowing would have, but the wovel is quiet, you don't have to wrestle a heavy snowblower around, it uses no gasoline and emits no carbon, and best of all, does not  make snow blow in your face and down your neck.  Plus, it is an aesthetically pleasing tool to use.

If you are a more obsessive person who desires machine-perfect snowbank edges, the wovel is not for you. A driveway  cleared by a wovel is a bit more handcrafted, like a sweater made with hand-spun yarn.

When I got this wovel I loved it so much I interviewed the guy who invented it for a newspaper story.  I told him they needed to invent a wovel-rake (a wrake?), and he said they were working on it.  Now if only he could invent a wovel-manure-fork, my back would be so happy.