Shyheels Posted January 12 Share Posted January 12 We’re meant to be getting some snow here in the UK, maybe I can give that a try.. whatever their crampon-like qualities on snow or ice, I think I’d still prefer block heeled boots. Stilettos just seem too dressy for wearing in snow. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkrenzer Posted January 12 Share Posted January 12 I don't believe stilettos are too dressy for any situation. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cali Posted January 12 Share Posted January 12 Maybe not, but I wont wear them to a beach wedding, or curling. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyheels Posted January 12 Share Posted January 12 And sports days aren't so goo either, especially if you're participating in the long jump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlroseplant Posted January 12 Author Share Posted January 12 21 hours ago, Jkrenzer said: Honestly having lived in the Syracuse area for 15 yrs of my heeling life I found stilettos better than block heels. The spike stilettos penetrate the hard pack snow better. Neither are ideal on ice. I have found very little difference between the two as far as traction/walkability goes. But that depends greatly upon what we are talking about. We obviously don't get as much snow as upstate New York, but I cannot imagine a situation where the type of heel makes any difference walking in deep, soft snow, such as the kind I am going to have to face momentarily--it all just sucks, and takes a lot of effort. As far as hard packed snow, I am wondering why you would want to penetrate its surface, and particularly only with the heel. In such a situation, I would think the forefoot would not sink equally to the heel, much the same as walking on soft earth. I'd prefer to not sink at all if I can get away with it, even if the coefficient of friction on the surface is quite low. I can deal with that, within reason. In any case, I won't be wearing any of that stuff when I go to clear out a portion of my driveway so my wife can go to work. It will be regular old flat snow boots. My job got called today, so I don't have to worry about much. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkrenzer Posted January 12 Share Posted January 12 Hard pack is usually thinner, packed. Parking lots and drive ways, places often walked on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyheels Posted January 12 Share Posted January 12 Yes in deep snow or any kind of soft surface I’d much prefer block heels or better still rugged, flat Vibram soles. In fact I have several pair of otherwise elegant knee boots with just those soles for just these occasions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluejay Posted January 12 Share Posted January 12 Being from upstate NY, I'll chide in here with what I wear in snow or ice. I would never wear a stiletto heel in either. I wear my Uggs "Seldon" knee boots with 2" big block heels. They are great for snow and ice.Those I've had for several years and are no longer available any more. They are extremely warm too and I wear them with knee socks when the weather gets to the teens (F). They are not those ugly looking Uggs boots, but a true knee boot. Happy heeling, bluejay 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkrenzer Posted January 12 Share Posted January 12 Neither type is really ideal. Buejay where abouts in upstate did you live? If I were still in the syracuse area we could have met up. Will be at Keuka Lake for 2 weeks next summer. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pebblesf Posted January 12 Share Posted January 12 18 hours ago, Jkrenzer said: I don't believe stilettos are too dressy for any situation. agree! 6 hours ago, Jkrenzer said: Neither type is really ideal. Buejay where abouts in upstate did you live? If I were still in the syracuse area we could have met up. Will be at Keuka Lake for 2 weeks next summer. I layover in Syracuse/Buffalo sometimes as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlroseplant Posted January 13 Author Share Posted January 13 (edited) "Stuff" has gotten real here. I have not left the house for about 36 hours. Let me rephrase that. I have not gotten in the car for 36 hours. I certainly have been outside for a substantial amount of time, clearing snow. I will do so again today, not because it has snowed more, but because the winds have kicked up, and the snow has drifted substantially over what I cleared yesterday. Before I get off the subject, @Jkrenzer, I now know what you mean about snowpack, and it makes sense. It also seems like one of those things that I will feel compelled to study in more detail, even though I know it won't really affect my footwear choices in any given situation all that much. I like my block heeled boots mainly because the shafts fit my calves better, and because they are less "cheap" looking, not necessarily because they are block heeled. Speaking of block heels, I spent most of the day in these knee high low heeled boots from Easy Spirit. I did not buy these for myself, but they have turned out to be handy in several situations, one of which was this deep snow. I wore them because I realized that I had left my real snow boots in my car, which was then buried. By the time I got the car unburied, I realized that the Easy Spirit boots are superior to the purpose made snow boots in every way except warmth, so I kept them on. Being as I was only outside for less than an hour at a time, and I was doing physical labor, warmth was not an issue. Anyway, I am glad that my dad bought a bigger snow blower than he thought he needed some 15 years ago, which is now mine. It's not too big. I should be thankful that I have the equipment to dispatch the job easily. I may grumble about it, but this machine makes pretty quick work of what would be an incredibly daunting task if one had to do it by hand. The story is that my dad went down to our local hardware store to buy a snow blower, and they had run out of the model that he really wanted, so he wound up buying the next model up, because they had one right there that he could take home. That was serendipitous, because the model he really wanted would have turned out to be unsatisfactory in the years to come. Despite being equipped with the notoriously troublesome Tecumseh engine, I've kept on top of it over the years, and it hasn't caused me a bit of trouble. Thankfully, I don't put a lot of hours on it in a year. For the third photograph, this is what I had to deal with last night. Snow drifting over my intake pipe for my furnace. This causes it to quit working. I had to go out twice and dig it out last night. I must have accidentally created some kind of fortress, because the furnace is still working fine this morning as I write this. I was mentally prepared to put on my coat and boots to go out there and shovel it out, but I didn't have to. I did put that photo up on social media as a PSA to all my local friends to not panic if the furnace quits working suddenly. I got a message from a dear friend who lives in Buffalo, NY, saying "You guys have more snow than we do right now!" Edit: Pictures are in reverse order somehow. You'll figure it out. Edited January 13 by mlroseplant 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkrenzer Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 I really don't miss this. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyheels Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 Sounds like you’re really copping the snow! Over here in the UK we’re getting a blast of what we call cold weather - which means about -3°C where I am (that’s about 26°F for you guys). I have to say though the British cold can be more unpleasant than the temperature figure suggests. I think it’s because there is a rawness to it that just seeps into your bones. At any rate it’s perfect weather for knee and OTK boots! I am certainly getting good use out of mine! I like the boots you were wearing. I’m quite a fan of low- to mid-heel knee boots - a nice combination of stylishness and everyday practicality 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlroseplant Posted January 14 Author Share Posted January 14 I guess I can always look forward to the fact that I'm leaving for Vietnam three weeks from today, where I see temps are considerably warmer than the awfully-close-to-30 below that it is right now. That's -20 F. It might make it to -30 still. Sunrise is not for another hour and a half. It looks like we're supposed to come out of this in about a week, and be back to "normal" January temperatures, which is to say approaching 0º for a high, and about -12º for a low. Let's hope so. I'm getting pretty behind on my walking quota. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyheels Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 It’s just about exactly freezing in my part of the UK and I’m not exactly enjoying it! Bring on summer!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pebblesf Posted January 14 Share Posted January 14 On 1/13/2024 at 6:53 AM, mlroseplant said: "Stuff" has gotten real here. I have not left the house for about 36 hours. Let me rephrase that. I have not gotten in the car for 36 hours. I certainly have been outside for a substantial amount of time, clearing snow. I will do so again today, not because it has snowed more, but because the winds have kicked up, and the snow has drifted substantially over what I cleared yesterday. Before I get off the subject, @Jkrenzer, I now know what you mean about snowpack, and it makes sense. It also seems like one of those things that I will feel compelled to study in more detail, even though I know it won't really affect my footwear choices in any given situation all that much. I like my block heeled boots mainly because the shafts fit my calves better, and because they are less "cheap" looking, not necessarily because they are block heeled. Speaking of block heels, I spent most of the day in these knee high low heeled boots from Easy Spirit. I did not buy these for myself, but they have turned out to be handy in several situations, one of which was this deep snow. I wore them because I realized that I had left my real snow boots in my car, which was then buried. By the time I got the car unburied, I realized that the Easy Spirit boots are superior to the purpose made snow boots in every way except warmth, so I kept them on. Being as I was only outside for less than an hour at a time, and I was doing physical labor, warmth was not an issue. Anyway, I am glad that my dad bought a bigger snow blower than he thought he needed some 15 years ago, which is now mine. It's not too big. I should be thankful that I have the equipment to dispatch the job easily. I may grumble about it, but this machine makes pretty quick work of what would be an incredibly daunting task if one had to do it by hand. The story is that my dad went down to our local hardware store to buy a snow blower, and they had run out of the model that he really wanted, so he wound up buying the next model up, because they had one right there that he could take home. That was serendipitous, because the model he really wanted would have turned out to be unsatisfactory in the years to come. Despite being equipped with the notoriously troublesome Tecumseh engine, I've kept on top of it over the years, and it hasn't caused me a bit of trouble. Thankfully, I don't put a lot of hours on it in a year. For the third photograph, this is what I had to deal with last night. Snow drifting over my intake pipe for my furnace. This causes it to quit working. I had to go out twice and dig it out last night. I must have accidentally created some kind of fortress, because the furnace is still working fine this morning as I write this. I was mentally prepared to put on my coat and boots to go out there and shovel it out, but I didn't have to. I did put that photo up on social media as a PSA to all my local friends to not panic if the furnace quits working suddenly. I got a message from a dear friend who lives in Buffalo, NY, saying "You guys have more snow than we do right now!" Edit: Pictures are in reverse order somehow. You'll figure it out. Always better to have a little more than you might think you need when it comes to snowblowers for sure. Those tecumsehs aren't so bad...Yeah, not quite as rugged as on old Briggs, but you can't get the good ol Briggs engines anymore. Just be sure to physically drain the fuel/carb bowl every year and you will be fine. Just "running it out of gas" doesn't get all the fuel out of the bowl, leaving some in there to spoil. Perfect boots for snow removal indeed! I wear my Dingo campus boots when running the snowblower, makes me look forward to an otherwise dreaded job. Hoping your crappy weather isn't headed our way in the northeast! Good advice on that furnace inlet, surprised it is positioned so low like that.  1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlroseplant Posted January 15 Author Share Posted January 15 17 hours ago, pebblesf said: Always better to have a little more than you might think you need when it comes to snowblowers for sure. Those tecumsehs aren't so bad...Yeah, not quite as rugged as on old Briggs, but you can't get the good ol Briggs engines anymore. Just be sure to physically drain the fuel/carb bowl every year and you will be fine. Just "running it out of gas" doesn't get all the fuel out of the bowl, leaving some in there to spoil. Perfect boots for snow removal indeed! I wear my Dingo campus boots when running the snowblower, makes me look forward to an otherwise dreaded job. Hoping your crappy weather isn't headed our way in the northeast! Good advice on that furnace inlet, surprised it is positioned so low like that.   17 hours ago, pebblesf said: Always better to have a little more than you might think you need when it comes to snowblowers for sure. Those tecumsehs aren't so bad...Yeah, not quite as rugged as on old Briggs, but you can't get the good ol Briggs engines anymore. Just be sure to physically drain the fuel/carb bowl every year and you will be fine. Just "running it out of gas" doesn't get all the fuel out of the bowl, leaving some in there to spoil. Perfect boots for snow removal indeed! I wear my Dingo campus boots when running the snowblower, makes me look forward to an otherwise dreaded job. Hoping your crappy weather isn't headed our way in the northeast! Good advice on that furnace inlet, surprised it is positioned so low like that.  I don't really have any experience with older Tecumsehs, it's the newer ones (made a decade or less before bankruptcy) that worry me. I run synthetic oil, and it gets changed once a year, whether it needs it or not. We are not in a super heavy snow belt. This is somewhat unusual. I'll bet that machine gets 10 hours a year, at most. I don't know that it will outlive me, but it might come close. I take the opposite approach to off season storage--I start adding fuel stabilizer to my 5 gallon gas can toward the end of the season, and fill everything full. If I get around to it, I will try to exercise dormant machines several times during the off season. And if that doesn't work, I got a 14 year old kid who is willing to take that stuff apart at the drop of a hat, and fix it. I haven't had one not start in more than a decade. Also, I never run ethanol in my small engines. I still have that option around here. My furnace inlet/exhaust is not as low as you think it is. We just have that much snow! 😆 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pebblesf Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 3 hours ago, mlroseplant said:  I don't really have any experience with older Tecumsehs, it's the newer ones (made a decade or less before bankruptcy) that worry me. I run synthetic oil, and it gets changed once a year, whether it needs it or not. We are not in a super heavy snow belt. This is somewhat unusual. I'll bet that machine gets 10 hours a year, at most. I don't know that it will outlive me, but it might come close. I take the opposite approach to off season storage--I start adding fuel stabilizer to my 5 gallon gas can toward the end of the season, and fill everything full. If I get around to it, I will try to exercise dormant machines several times during the off season. And if that doesn't work, I got a 14 year old kid who is willing to take that stuff apart at the drop of a hat, and fix it. I haven't had one not start in more than a decade. Also, I never run ethanol in my small engines. I still have that option around here. My furnace inlet/exhaust is not as low as you think it is. We just have that much snow! 😆 Stabilizer and non ethanol fuel, coupled with occasional start ups during the off season is a winning procedure as well! Just now, pebblesf said: Stabilizer and non ethanol fuel, coupled with occasional start ups during the off season is a winning procedure as well! The newer Briggs engines can't compare with the older stuff either... I remember older briggs mowers coming into the shop seized up from running out of oil. I usually just put a pipe wrench on them freed em up, filled em with oil and got em going again.... Never once did one of those hack repair jobs come back with a rod through the side.  Tecumsehs were another story though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkrenzer Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 1 hour ago, pebblesf said: Stabilizer and non ethanol fuel, coupled with occasional start ups during the off season is a winning procedure as well! The newer Briggs engines can't compare with the older stuff either... I remember older briggs mowers coming into the shop seized up from running out of oil. I usually just put a pipe wrench on them freed em up, filled em with oil and got em going again.... Never once did one of those hack repair jobs come back with a rod through the side.  Tecumsehs were another story though I seized an old Arons Briggs snowblower years ago. Pounded the piston out the by hand wet sanded the bore with old oil and 400 grit wet/dry paper. Put her back together and ran another 5 yrs until moving to North Carolina. Left the blower with the house. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyheels Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 I really admire the practicality and hand on abilities of people such as yourselves who can do these things. I have precisely zero aptitude 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pebblesf Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 2 minutes ago, Shyheels said: I really admire the practicality and hand on abilities of people such as yourselves who can do these things. I have precisely zero aptitude Well, working on outboards and mowers has been my life's passion for sure. But, sure wish I had some other aptitudes, some that might translate into more income!  I really admire those who can work with wood, carpentry, cabinets, etc... True artwork... Anything I ever made of wood got so greasy, I just ended up cutting two notches into it calling it an ashtray! For now, I envy guys that can pull off the outfits and heels I have only dreamed of wearing... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyheels Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 But you can!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pebblesf Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 14 minutes ago, Shyheels said: But you can!!! Thanks for the encouragement buddy! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlroseplant Posted January 16 Author Share Posted January 16 Sure, there is a measure of natural mechanical ability factored in there, but most of it has to do with opportunities, means, and desires. I didn't really have either of the first two, and not a whole lot of the third, until much later in life. Most of the reason why you can get away with doing such rough-shod, cowboy work on these old little engines is because they are very low-performance, low efficiency affairs. They were not built when new to particularly tight specifications. They will run ok for a long time with a big gouge in the cylinder wall. Try that with a modern automobile! Ha! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puffer Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 On 1/15/2024 at 4:51 PM, Shyheels said: I really admire the practicality and hand on abilities of people such as yourselves who can do these things. I have precisely zero aptitude I am sure you will soon find those skills necessarily develop, however modestly, as you get to grips with a narrowboat. On 1/16/2024 at 11:18 AM, mlroseplant said: ... Most of the reason why you can get away with doing such rough-shod, cowboy work on these old little engines is because they are very low-performance, low efficiency affairs. They were not built when new to particularly tight specifications. They will run ok for a long time with a big gouge in the cylinder wall. Try that with a modern automobile! Ha! As a means of reducing unemployment at Woolwich Arsenal (London) after WW1, it was given the task of building a number of steam locomotives from sets of parts already to hand.  When the first completed locos were initially steamed, they refused to move.  The reason was that the machining of the critical moving parts (valve gear etc) had been undertaken to the sort of fine tolerances used in making weapons and aircraft.  After opening everything out with a degree of 'slop', the locos moved easily and gave many years of good service.  1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkrenzer Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 Wow WWI. I wish I had your genes. Your heels in the 20's must have been amazing. 😀 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puffer Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 22 hours ago, Jkrenzer said: Wow WWI. I wish I had your genes. Your heels in the 20's must have been amazing. 😀 I often wish that I had indeed been around a century ago, to witness and enjoy many things now lost to us.  But the decadent lifestyle and fashions of the 1920s do NOT appeal to me at all - give me the decade from 1955 any day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyheels Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 I would have loved the decadent 20s - as long as I had the money to participate and not be one of the doormen, waiters or ship stewards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlroseplant Posted January 20 Author Share Posted January 20 I think I've set a new record. I haven't worn heels for a week and a half. Other than my trips to Vietnam (where I am not allowed to wear heels), I don't think I've gone that long in a decade. Between this lousy weather and lingering illness, I haven't felt like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyheels Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 Go with the flow - it’s all about wearing what you feel like and not being moulded by convention, your own or anybody else’s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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