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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
They still have the ones with V-shaped blades here in St. John's. I seriously doubt if they are WWII vintage, but the blade is most definitely V-shaped. But the residential streets are extremely narrow here - a large source of frustration during this 450+ cm snow winter - but we won't go into that here, because I've ranted myself out on that one to anyone who will listen! Now why do I have this desire to use "plow" for snowplow but "plough" for the thing used on a farm? Maybe something to do with "ploughshares" not "plowshares" in some Bible verse...and I like the coherent look of snowplow (although it's pretty sick that the two halves of the word don't rhyme - they look like they should!). 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
in Michigan we also use giant blowers to remove snow from streets.
They have the blowers in some towns in New Hampshire. The DPW announcement warn people to keep cats and small dogs in the house!
wow
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
I also remember back in the 20's when to dig a really big hole, you had to get a steam shovel. Even after excavating equipment became diesel powered, some oldtimers would stlll call them steamshovels.
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Joined: Feb 2001
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member
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Posts: 116 |
In reply to:
Right now we are expecting Three Feet of snow with driving winds and full moon high tides. Market shelves stripped of bread, milk, peanut butter-and-jam, bread, batteries and candles. Hatches being battened down and shovels at the ready. Hold good thoughts.
Just a short while ago, I spoke with my sister who lives in Barre, Vermont - they already had almost a foot of snow, and it was still coming down quite hard. She & husband were trying to get the two children into bed - but my darling five year old niece was sucking her thumb, so we talked for a moment, discussing what flavour our respective thumbs had when they went into our respective mouths - we settled on chocolate for both -hers and mine! Then, the three year old boy had to get on the phone to tell me about the white stuff falling from the sky and that he loved me  - they are so precious!
Trust you are okay - warm and dry with plenty of food and other needed supplies - if you read this, then at least the electricity is working. Stay safe!
Shoshannah
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Joined: Feb 2001
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member
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In reply to:
So I want to dig a BIG hole .. what do I need?
Well, with a name like belligerentyouth, over here, you'd probably want to get your hands on a couple of mortar shells... they would certainly do the job, but I wouldn't recommend it!
Shoshannah
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Joined: Dec 2000
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old hand
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OP
old hand
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055 |
Yes well, fortunately shells are not readily available here. Come to think of it though, digging round here often leads to discoveries of WWII bombs which didn't detonate some 50 years back. Every once in a while they find a really large one and have to clear out large areas; this mainly occurs in the Ruhrgebiet though.
I'd never heard of the name 'back-hoe' that RCommando + Sparteye mentioned. It seems terms are used quite loosely for all these machines.
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Joined: Feb 2001
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member
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 116 |
In reply to:
I'd never heard of the name 'back-hoe'
My youngest brother used to have his own little landscaping business in central NC, and I saw him once on his 'back-hoe' - it worked exactly like a regular hoe, except that instead of digging in FRONT of him, he sat on this gigantic thing with a hoe-like contraption on the BACK and it dug BEHIND him... it was sorta  actually! And it made hoeing those longish rows a bit easier and quicker!
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
>Now why do I have this desire to use "plow" for snowplow but "plough" for the thing used on a farm? Maybe something to do with "ploughshares" not "plowshares" in some Bible verse...and I like the coherent look of snowplow (although it's pretty sick that the two halves of the word don't rhyme - they look like they should!).
Funny, I read snow-plow to rhyme with sno'-go. Not surprisingly, I'd go for snow plough y'all know that I love those extra letters!
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Joined: Nov 2000
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veteran
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veteran
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289 |
plow/plough
If any of you are Sherlockian fans, you will recall that in the adventure of the three Garridebs, the Master began to see what was going on in that case from an advertisement in an English newspaper supposedly placed by an Englishman but using the words plow [sic] and buckboard.
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Joined: Oct 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
Well, i don't know about the rest of you, but one of my claims to fame is the I can dig a hole and make hill at the same time!
all the tool mentions are Power tools-- no pick axes, and no discussion of spades vs. shovels. in NY before you dig a hole you need to use a "jack hammer" the NY name for a pnuematic drill, used to break up the "black top" and concrete.
and anthropologist use a whole different set of digging tools...
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