No Kill, No Catch Mouse Trap And Other Maintenance Adventures

Living would be truly great if one didn't have to spend so much time just keeping things maintained.  But such isn't the case.  While the film festival was going on, we are also trying to maintain, and in some cases, even get ahead.

First issue was health.  Our granddaughter shared her cold/cough with us when we saw her over Thanksgiving.  It wasn't debilitating, but it sure was persistent.  You can tell how the news infiltrates our minds by the metaphor I started using.  My body is mostly back to normal, but there are still insurgents hiding, taking advantage of any weak points they can find.  Fortunately for you, the Film Festival kept me too busy to do a post on phlegm.

Last week we had the plumber out because the upstairs thermostat wasn't working.  He fixed that, but while he was here he noticed a leak in the new water heater that he installed in September.  (It's good to have the same guy come out.)  The good news is that it's tiny and not urgent so it doesn't have to be done immediately.  The better news is that it's still under warranty for parts AND labor.  It's good to have honest workers.  He could have overlooked it, but he didn't.

While I was cleaning things up (what I do instead of looking for something, which always leads to frustration because I never find it;  but if I clean up, I'll find other things and get something done even if I don't find what I was looking for), I found the notice we got from Subaru last July saying the passenger airbag on J's car needed to be replaced but they don't have the parts yet and will notify us when they do.  It's almost six months now.  What originally caught my attention was the part that said

". . .the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants potentially resulting in serious injury or death."

So I called the number and asked why, almost six months later I hadn't gotten a new notice, that it's really a hassle not letting anyone sit in the passenger seat.   He got me a name and number of the local Subaru dealer.  The dealer set up an appointment for January (since it was going to take a week or more to get the part and we're headed out of town.)  But they called back later that day, and today J took her car in and got the new airbag.

I picked up some copies of Peter Dunlap-Shohl's My Degeneration at Blue.Holloman gallery at 36th and Arctic, and I'll do a post on that book before too long.  Peter's been blogging about his Parkinson's adventure for years now, rendering it something like a superhero comic book about fighting the forces of his disease.  You can see parts of it at his blog Off and On: The Alaska Parkinson's Rag  which I've had in my Alaska Blogs list on the right for a long time now.  It's a great book for anyone with Parkinson's and probably better for the people around them, who are trying to figure out what's going on.

I bought a mouse trap.  I'm calling it my No Kill - No Catch trap.  There's a very cute mouse who's moved in and runs around the living room and kitchen, and sometimes goes downstairs.  So far, I haven't had my camera handy when I've seen him and he moves pretty fast.

Every website about catching mice said to use peanut butter.  We only had almond butter and maybe that's too healthy.

The closest I've gotten to capturing him on the camera are footprints in the snow.  But I'm not really sure if these are mice or not or how he gets from outside to inside.  Maybe he opens the sliding glass door to let his friends in when we're out.

I've been trying to spend at least 30 minutes a day going through the boxes I throw things in to clean up when company's coming.  When they're in the boxes it seems easier to go through them and toss things or put other things where they belong.  My mom's house is a great incentive to clean up here.

And I'm looking forward to 2016 because I bought this planner that appealed to my current mood.

For each week, it's got a page with the following categories:

• Things I have to do but that can wait a day, or two, or three ...

• Small things I have to do before I can do the big things I have to do

• Things I absolutely have to do unless I absolutely don't want to do them

• Things people have been bugging me to do for a really long time

I'll let you know how it works out.

[Sorry for reposting - more Feedburner problems]

Getting Things Done Part 2: The Unexpected

We discovered that we had come home to a leaking water heater.   This fits yesterday's unexpected tasks.  Things that sneak up on you unexpectedly. 

The plumber came out and we're finally just going to toss the Amtrol (this is the 3rd or 4th one - after the first one exploded, they've given us new ones when we had problems) and go to a totally different company.  This water heater thing has been a multi-year failed attempt to get something done - get the shower water to not drop 10 degrees after two minutes in the shower.  One company cost us a ton of money as they tried this and that to fix it.  Whatever they did then led to the furnace shutting down on its own and not starting up again without help.  Eventually we got a new company and the guy fixed the furnace shutting down problem in 30 minutes.  But the hot water for the shower didn't get fixed.

The guy who came today, K, sounds like he knows what he's doing.  He's already diagnosed the shower problem and thinks he can fix it.  He pointed to a cold water pipe that starts adding water to the shower water.  He even tested it by having me turn on the bathtub water.  No hype.  Modest and straightforward.  Enough grey hairs to suggest he's got experience. 

But it will be an all day job and there wasn't enough time today to finish.  And we'd be out of hot water for the weekend.  So he's coming back Tuesday.  Meanwhile it's dripping - from the bolts on the bottom.  I'm hopeful. 

Meanwhile, another unexpected problem has been solved well.  Our internet speed was slow on tests so I called ACS and they tested it and agreed.  The solution was to get a new modem and a shorter telephone outlet cord.  So the new modem includes a router.  So we went from this:

to this:

This definitely simplifies our life by getting rid of all that stuff and replacing it with just this one small item and two cords.  And the speed is back up where it belongs.  This was very satisfying. 

These are two long term fixes - that is, you get them done right and you don't have to mess with them for a long time.  And I'm sure hoping our water heater blues are over. 

Indoor Flowers

It is still April and while there are some tulip leaves along the side of the house, and I saw the first iris leaves peeking out, it is still very early for flowers outside.  And yesterday's enemic  [anemic] snow fall was a reminder that we are in Alaska.



But we do have a couple of flowering plants in the house right now.

The hoya flowers are always spectacular.  Each is about the diameter of a dime.



Here's some good advice I didn't know from Guide to Houseplants:

 "You can prune back long vines if you want to keep it compact. The best time to prune is early spring, before Hoyas start their most vigorous time of growth. Don't prune off the leafless stem -- or spur -- where flowers have been produced because flowers will form on the same spurs year after year."

The Dracaena fragranta   

"It is also very tolerant of neglect, and has been shown by the NASA Clean Air Study to help remove indoor pollutants such as formaldehyde, xylene and toluene.^[4] The plant is known as "masale" and is a holy plant to the Chagga people^[5]"

of Tanzania.

The Opposite Of Home Depot - B&B; Plus DTOAR Mural

You need a damper for your old . . . did he say furnace or water heater?  B&B is an old, old neighborhood hardware store in Culver City.  It's ramshackle, doesn't have everything you need, but has things others don't have.  Like these dampers. 

And the people who work there know what they're doing.  I was working on the shower knob for my mom and I also needed a new stem.  Fernando, in the plumbing department, saved me a ton of money last time I did repairs for my mom, so I went back to him again for his sage advice before tackling the project. 

There's a sense of community here that I don't get at Home Depot or Lowe's.  Having thirty types of everything isn't as good as having exactly what you need and someone who cares that you get it for a fair price along with a really deep knowledge of (in this case) plumbing. 

I didn't realize that people still use waterbeds.  And this kit looks like it's from the days when waterbeds were big.  (I did look online and you can get this from Sears for a couple dollars less (plus shipping) and from others for a couple dollars more.) 







And there was one more part they were out of so on the way to another local hardware store, I passed this mural.

And using the DTOAR that was on the lower right of the mural, I found this:

DTOAR / Mural in Venice California of the singer Lissie
Painted and Conceptualized by Gianni Arone and Angelina Christina

Doing lots of paper work and house stuff while I'm here as well as getting in some Mom time, so this will be a relative quickie.

Mr. Rooter Makes Alaska Plumbers Seem Like A Bargain

We got into LA at midnight, got to my mom's and went to bed.  The next morning when I got up the plumber was coming in.  The caregiver had called because the shower knob wasn't working right and the kitchen faucet was leaking.  I'm thinking, I could do this myself, but, ok, let the plumber do it.

He shows me the agreement to sign.  $988! 

"What?! This is for real?" I asked.  "Even in Alaska this would be very high."  They were going to go buy the parts and come back. 

"The parts don't cost that much.  I'll go to the hardware store and get them."

"OK"  he says, "that will make it much cheaper.  I'll refigure the estimate."

He comes back after a while having recalculated the bill.  Now it's only $488. 

"It was $500 for parts?"  I asked incredulously.  "That leaves almost another $500 for labor?  Even if it takes you an hour for each faucet, that's almost $250 an hour."

He points out that since my mom is a member of Mr. Rooter, there's a discount for that, and also a 15% senior discount.  That was already taken off the bill!

"OK, I'll get the parts and call you back."

Silver faucet pops up out of pipe and leaks

I drove to B&B Hardware.  They're a crazy old time hardware store.   I ask for the someone to help with plumbing and they point me to guy who's helping another customer in Spanish.  He turns out to be from Peru. When she's done, I explain what I need.  I took pictures so I show him the kitchen sink issue first.  This part pops up when you turn the water on.

He pulls out a demo of that wall mounted fixture and shows me the part.

"Mine doesn't have this red o-ring."
"That's what keeps it from popping up."   Long story short, he finds an o-ring that sells for 40 cents.   Yes, 40 cents.  Then he gets what I need for the shower.  That's a lot more expensive - $8.95.

In the picture you can see two grooves.  The lower one has a black O-ring.  The upper one has nothing.  That's what was missing. 

I go home and get the kitchen sink fixed in eight minutes.  The shower is a little trickier because an old screw is rusted into the old fixture.  So I can't secure the new faucet handle in with a screw. But I made a few adjustments and the shower handle fits on and works.  I may do a little more work late.

But for under $10 and less than two hours, this amateur plumber, fixed what the 'professional'  plumber said would cost $988.

In my opinion, that borders on criminal.  Get little old ladies (my mom's 92) and get a cute young, sweet talking salesman to accompany the plumber, and presto, lots of bucks.  Add in guarantees - for who knows how much extra - and senior discounts, and you quickly convince these folks who really don't understand plumbing, that you are giving them a bargain when you're making huge, evil profits. 

I don't even want to think about how much my mom has paid to Mr. Rooter before.

On the up side, I saved her $990, which is more than cost of our trip down here.  And I met Fernando, who was very helpful, and he will come out to my mom's if she has any other plumbing problems.  He said he was flying several times a year to Peru when his mom was older, so he understands. 

Why I Live Here - Breakfast on the Deck

The best room in the house isn't in the house.  It's our summer extra room - on the deck.  Here's what I saw when I looked at the ceiling while I ate breakfast this morning.

 Here's one of the walls.  














OK, I can see a little more than trees, but it's a bit of wooded paradise on a normal city lot right in the middle of town.  It helps that there's a hill, but otherwise, it's just that no one cut the trees in the back ever.  We too have just left it natural.  And we've added trees on the sides to keep a little green summer oasis in the city.  It's also relatively low maintenance.


And they say it's good for our mental health. 

Clutter War - Recapturing Old Territory For T

Monday T moved in.  He's a teacher at the Confucius Institute at UAA.  He's a warm, curious, bright, and funny young man.  An ulterior motive was that we'd have to totally reclaim the downstairs storage room, a battle, without a strong motive, we had been losing for ten years. 

Here's an image I posted in December.

December 20, 2013

And here's what the room looked like on Sunday. 

January 26, 2014

And now we have to learn how to adjust to having a new member of the household.  But he's making that very easy so far.  And we have to decide how much of a role he'll play on the blog here.  He decided he liked having a photoshopped mask like I've been using on my granddaughter.

Things Hanging In The Air

This huge spider didn't like me getting close to its web and ran off quickly so this was the best shot I could get. 

Later, there was a helicopter sitting as stationary as it could above my mom's house for a ten minute period or so.  Then after a while it was back.  Making a lot of noise.  No search lights.  Just sitting there.  

What was going on?  Was this security for VIPs flying to or from the Santa Monica Airport two blocks away?  When the electrician called to finalize coming out today to rewire my mom's house, he asked if we'd seen the big plume of smoke that seemed to be in Santa Monica.  We hadn't.  And we didn't connect the helicopter and the smoke until just now when I found this LA Times story online. 

Coroner's officials have yet to sift through the charred wreckage of the crash of a small plane at Santa Monica Airport this weekend as they await special equipment to clear the heavily damaged site.
Fire officials said the crash -- which occurred about 6:20 p.m. Sunday when a twin-engine Cessna Citation coming from Hailey, Idaho, veered off the right side of the runway and slammed into a nearby storage hangar -- was unsurvivable.

Both the hangar and the jet burst into flames, officials said, and the hangar collapsed.
The jet holds up to eight people, according to Cessna and registration information, but authorities have not said how many people were on the plane.
Early Monday morning, David Goddard, chairman of the Santa Monica Airport Commission, estimated that the crash site was about 150 feet from residences. Had the plane not hit the hangar, it could have gone up an embankment and gotten over a wall before slamming into homes, he said. . .

The hangar fire burned at a relatively high temperature because jet fuel was involved, fire officials said. The flames then spread to two hangars nearby and caused minor damage.
The intensity of the fire and the collapsed hangar made it hard to access the wreckage of the plane or read its tail number, making it difficult to identify those on board, sources told The Times.

 The complete story is here.

My condolences go out to the families of those killed in this accident.  People die every day in all sorts of ways.  We don't have the time or emotional energy to invest in every death.  But we should be respectful to those who are immediately impacted and then review our own lives to be sure we're doing what's really important with people we really love. 

Who's Calling From 1 800 816 3521?

Today I got a call from  1 800 816 3521 and chose not to answer.  They left no number.  So I googled.

The site that had something that looked the most authentic was everycall.us.  It had this chart and then comments below.

Doesn't tell a lot, but it's consistent with the comments I saw from people posting about calls from this number on other websites.  Most comments seem to be around October and early November 2012 - the last presidential election.  Others say they've gotten calls from non-profits.   They don't seem to leave a message.  Some report they ask for someone by name, but then hang up.  Others say they are pushing a particular client or ballot measure or a charity. 

The everycall site offers a device to block such calls from your home phone.  I have no idea who they are or how legit they are.  They have a Kickstarter campaign at the moment with a picture of a little white box that says:

"Plug into your home phone and those pesky telemarketing and robocalls just stop. The 1st crowd sourced spam blocker for the home."

 Kickstarter does screen the people that use them, so there was at least one level of scrutiny.  they have raised - as of today - $5,361 out of a target of $100,000.  There a Bellvue, Washington company, so they are in the heart of Techland, USA. 

There's a small industry popping up on the net to help people find out who is generating the annoying calls that come from 800 numbers. Here are a couple of the websites where people leave comments about 1 800 816 3521:

• Who Calls Me?
• 800 Notes

I've previously posted about 1 800 695 6950.  There I was able to find out it was a collection agency.  I also posted a link there  to the Do Not Call registry.  But that doesn't work for political calls.  And I'm not sure I want to block political calls.  I have to think through the free speech implications more.  But there is a website where people are trying to block political calls at home with a registry.  It says on there:

Join the National Political Do Not Contact Registry a non-partisan grass-roots movement to take control back by asking our elected representatives to stop calling us at home.

 Yeah, I can see them setting up the registry, but I can't imagine too many legislators limiting their right to call you at home. 

Alaskan Log Dream Home

When we first got to Anchorage 35 years ago, log homes were the hot item.  Genuine Alaskan.   They had character and were the image of real Alaska.

 We have good friends who live in a beautiful log home he built long ago on the hillside.  There are a couple of acres of land.  These folks owned a commercial greenhouse for a while and the grounds are beautiful.  They were having moose problems - eating some of their special trees and plants - so they built an eight foot fence around the whole property!

Their kids moved south and grandma wants to spend more time near the grandchildren.  So they've put the house on the market.

You'd think a place like this would be snapped up, but it hasn't sold.

part of yard from garaage

My theory is this:  This is a unique house.  It's not the typical cookie cutter home with  granite counters in a neighborhood full similar homes right next door.  Instead it's a one of a kind home on a secluded piece of Alaska heaven right in town.

Well, it's about ten miles out of downtown.  And people might perceive it as way out of town.  But I biked there last week (mostly uphill from near the University) in 40 minutes on Lake Otis.  Driving back a couple of weeks before took 12 minutes (I was timing it.)  So it's not really that far out.

Kitchen behind books

Back to my theory.  It's a unique and wonderful house, but not for everyone.  It's priced higher than your average Anchorage home (they lowered it to somewhat over $500,000) and probably people looking at that price range want something more luxurious.  And younger people looking for a house like this might be looking in a lower price range.


But somewhere out there is someone for whom this is the perfect home.  Someone who can afford it and can appreciate and take care of it.  But that family just doesn't know it's there.  Maybe they aren't actively looking.

It's also a lot of land with beautiful flower beds and a lot of lawn.  What I really like is that while gardens are spectacular, they don't have that  artificial look that look like someone worked hard to copy some garden magazine look.  Rather it's a more an artist's love that created flower beds and lawn that blend easily into the natural Alaskan birch habitat.  It takes work to keep things up.  So it will take a family willing to do the work or able to hire someone to help out.  I know the present owners, who put a lot of love into this property, would be willing consultants to the folks that move in.

Back of the house

Garage

Along with the house comes the two car garage,













and another building that's a studio/office on its own  (no bathroom or running water in there.)

To the left is the studio/office.  The main house is on the right.  In the middle, in the distance, is another small log cabin out in the yard. 

I was standing above the garage when I took this shot.  It was about 9:00pm at the end of July.

Just off the living room

This is one of many flower beds with hardy perennials.

This rock wall is between the house and the large circular driveway that goes around the studio/office and to the remote control gate.

 

I'm not in the real estate business, and I don't put ads up here.  I think of this more as a public service - a way to help connect the right family to a piece of Anchorage that really should be preserved. 

Some of these pictures are mine.  The better shots, mostly ones with black borders (and both interiors), were taken by Dave M. Davis Photography for a realtor.

If anyone is interested, you can email me here and I'll pass it on.
[UPDATE October 11, 2014:  As of the end of September, this house has a new owner.]

Wet Little Magpie and Noisy Parent

We have a magpie nest in the back yard again this year.  Last time  - years ago - we were restricted by the protective parents to a small part of our yard.

Yesterday morning one of the chick was taking advantage of the sprinkler.

Then we went off to the Redistricting Board meeting and the Sunday market.

When we got home, several hours later, it was still sitting in the spray.

And Mama (or Poppa?) showed up and let me know I needed to keep my distance, as she told her baby he'd had enough water and to get back up to the nest.

[No one corrected my original spelling of magpie (magpy) but I finally caught it.  By the way, these are photos with the new camera.  These are the kinds of shots where it makes a bit difference.]

It's Cold!

We got to Seattle fine, but the flight to Anchorage was delayed 90 minutes.  We went straight from the airport to our Chinese class, got there at the halfway point.  Then a classmate took us home where it was, well, chilly.  40˚F (4.4˚C) inside.  (About 25˚ outside.)

We'd been having trouble with our water heater and had warned our house sitter about it and how to fix it.  It was in error mode when we got home.  I fixed that, but the furnace didn't kick in.

Fortunately we have a wood stove and lots of wood.  And now by the wood stove it's comfy, but getting the rest of the house warmer is taking time.  We've gotten it close to 60˚ degrees upstairs. 

I left a message with the plumber.  The housesitter was here last night and reset the water heater then and all was fine this morning when he checked out. 

Maybe we'll sleep downstairs. 

Sun, Snow, And Fixing Things Myself

It was a beautiful sunny day yesterday, the third in a row.  Here's a view from the University.

Although I did take my camera to the repair shop this week, I decided to try to fix my own headlight.  The manual helped me get the right bulb.  But what it looks like in the book and what it looks like under the hood are two different things.  Here's the book view:

 Here's what it actually looked like.

 It says to take off the cap that twists.  OK, I was able to figure that much out. And it's off in the picture.   But then it says to pull the wire connection out.  I could see the wires - they aren't shown in the book.  When I try to do the obvious and it doesn't work easily, I worry that I might be doing it wrong and if I try harder I might break something.  I tried to pull the wires connection, but it wasn't moving.  After looking at things several times and finding a head lamp to see it better, I just pulled that black part and it finally came out.

Then that wire thing - #2 in the picture.  Pull down, it says.  (The actual picture is looking down at the parts at issue.)  Well, after lots of head scratching I finally figured out that the wire loop at the bottom of the picture locks the light in place and it pulls out of the white part and pops open so the light can be pulled out.  Maybe figured out is the wrong term.  I played with it, and it just happened.  No real figuring on my part.  Pure trial and error.

From there it was easy.  Take the new bulb out of the package - careful not to touch the bulb itself - and pull the old one out and put the new one in.  Then reconnect the wire that holds the bulb tight.  Then reconnect the colored wires and screw on the cap.  Turn on the engine.  Turn on the lights.  Presto.  It works.

The sun shining through the windows yesterday also screamed loudly that our windows were pretty dirty.  With winter coming soon, I decided to get some of them cleaned up a bit.  A few years ago I bought a window cleaning kit with a nice gadget for scrubbing the windows, some cleaner (a spoonful per gallon), a squeegee, and a pole.  Five windows looked much better in under 30 minutes.  Only a few windows can be opened this way allowing me to clean from inside.


And just now, J called my attention to the fact that it has started to snow.

We're headed to the chamber music concert at the UAA Fine Arts building tonight.  One of the new faculty members in my group will be playing the Bach cello suite, one of my favorites.  7:30pm.  Other faculty string players will perform as well.

Mt. Ash berries with fresh snow

Ptolemy Grey's Apartment Motivates Me To Renew Clutter War Efforts

In The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, Walter Mosley writes about a 91 year old man whose grand nephew comes by his apartment twice a week to take him shopping for cans of tuna.  I'll skip ahead to where Reggie is out of the picture and 17 year old Robyn is now over to look out for Ptolemy.

Ptolemy's mind is not always in the present and his apartment is a mess.  No, that doesn't describe it.  In fact, reading this made my mom's garage seem eligible for a spread in Better Homes and Gardens.  Let me give you the picture.

"What is that smell?"  Robyn asked him.
"I don't know.  There's parts'a the house I cain't get into anymore.  The bathroom, half the kitchen.  I ain't been deep in the bedroom since before what's-his-name, uh, Reggie, would come."
"You got a bedroom an' you sleepin' under a table?"
. . .
"Don't go in there," Ptolemy said when Robyn opened the door to the bathroom.
"I got to, Mr. Grey,"  she said.  "If I'ma be comin' here an' looking' aftah you I got to have a toilet to go to."
While Ptolemy tried to think of some other way he could have Robyin's company and keep her out of the bathroom, she opened the door and went in.
"Oh my God,"  she said.  "What is this?"
A large wad of blackened towels flew out from the doorway and landed with a thump on the small bare area of the crowded floor.
Ptolemy covered his face with his hands.
"You got suitcases in the bathtub,"  Robyn called out.  "An' there's black stuff growin' in the commode.  There's, oh my God, oh no. . ."

The kitchen and the bedroom have similar problems.  But soon Robyn takes Mr. Grey to the hardware store and buys a bunch of cleaning equipment and garbage bags.  And some bug bombs.  They go to a motel for two nights while the bug bombs are killing the cockroaches and other vermin in the house and then she spends five days cleaning the apartment.

Five days.  That's all.  I was embarrassed.  I've been fighting the clutter wars at a downright leisurely pace.   I've even got a clutter war tag on the blog.

Five days.  I need to set some deadlines for making room in this house.  Mind you, our commodes have no evil black gunk nor are there suitcases in the bathtubs.  There's just one room downstairs which has been a staging area for things moving out of the house.  The garage is the next way station for outgoing junk.

Five days.   OK, now I'm getting serious.  And while most of you probably don't care about any of this, posting it, I hope, will force me to speed up the pace and really get the garage and downstairs storage room into much more aesthetic and usable space.





An hour tonight in the garage.  It's not a lot, but it's a start.  I find taking pictures of big jobs before I start, helps remind me when I'm done for the day, that I actually have accomplished something.  (I hope you can tell which is the before and which is the after picture.)



I still have to figure out where to get rid of a couple of old computer printers.  OK, thanks for indulging me here.

By the way, The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey isn't a great book, but it's good, and it did get inside the mind  of a 91 year old who is having troubles staying in the present.  As a youngster myself, I can't judge the accuracy, but it did make me think about what the world might look like when my brain isn't always functioning right.  

Clear Roof Snow Easily With Snow Chute

[UPDATE Sat 3:53 pm: I couldn't remember my student's last name when I posted this.  But I got an email from a reader who looked up the patent and asked if Leroy Groat was the man with the patent.  Yes he is.  And I've now left a message with his daughter's business and hope to find out soon if the snow chute is still available to buy.  Or if you know how to get hold of Leroy, email me .]


A long time ago I was paired as a mentor for a student at the University.  I've lost touch with her over the years, but I thought about her today as I went looking in the garage for my Snow Chute.  This is a patented device her dad had invented.  It's so obvious and simple and easy to use.  So I bought one.  I haven't used it for a long time, but this year with all the snow, and stories of roofs having trouble in Cordova, I decided it might be a good idea to get some snow off the roof.  So today I decided to find it and experiment with the lower roof over our 'greenhouse.'

The device is a rectangle with a long plastic tail attached.  You put the metal as close to the end of the roof as you can and then pull it up the roof.  It neatly slices the snow and sends it down the plastic tail and off the roof.  I know that's hard to imagine from that description, so I took my camera out with me and made a video.

The video shows how easy this is because I had to do it one handed to use the video.  With two hands it's nothing at all to do.  Brilliant in it's simplicity and effectiveness.