Tuesday, February 12, 2019
Constants and Variables 121, Unneeded Ladder edition
I DIDN'T NEED THIS LADDER AT ALL.
WHY IN THE HOLY FUCK DIDN'T I TRY THIS EARLIER??????
For 10 years I've been obsessively raking the roof, using the same rake, always mounting a ladder. Last year my old 6-foot ladder was getting wobbly, so I bought a new 8-foot ladder. It's less wobbly, but it's also a lot heavier and harder to lift and move. So raking is harder than before.
I raked yesterday and again today, after back-to-back big snows. Today I was tired, the ladder was especially hard to move in deep snow, and the rake was slippery. After a brief try I said: Fuck it. Let's just work from the ground and get a halfassed partial try. At least clean the edge. Might be slightly better than nothing.
Working from the ground turned out to be BETTER than the ladder. It was IMMEDIATELY OBVIOUS. I was able to reach HIGHER than I ever could from the ladder.
Why is it better? Two reasons. (1) Feeling less precarious means I can move the rake more freely and strongly. (2) On the ground I can walk forward and backward to get the best angle for each pull. Can't do that at all on the ladder.
WHY DIDN'T I TRY THIS 10 YEARS AGO?
In fairness, I did try it a few times over the years, but for some reason didn't find the right technique or didn't move the right way. The result was halfassed.
Labels: Constants and Variables, coot-proofing
¶ 10:02 AM
