jducoeur

That is to say, the way to make a profit is to sell customers what they want. And the way *not* to make profits is to not be able to.

*That* shopping trip was a complete washout. First stop was Lowe's; after hunting in vain for several minutes, I stop at the Customer Service desk.

"Can we help you?"
"Yeah -- I'm looking for the usual sorts of winter stuff."
The lady behind the counter starts to shake her head.
"Ice melt? Sand?"
"Oh, we've got some sand left. Aisle 1."
"I suppose it would be too much to ask for a snow rake?"
Sad smile. "Yes -- yes, that would be too much to ask."

*Sigh*. On to Target, for more mundane things like a furnace filter and some floss refills. Surely *that* will go well.

I get to the parking lot, which is suspiciously underpopulated for a Saturday. Halfway to the door, someone walking from it tells me that there are signs on the doors, saying that they are closed until they can get all the snow off their roof. Driving away, I see an *army* on the roof -- it looks like every employee of the store, probably 50 people, are up there piling snow onto blankets and tossing it over the side. They're making good progress, but of course that roof is half the size of a football field, so there's a lot to do.

So when next month's economic numbers come in a bit weak, I think we've got a couple of good examples of why...

My deck is likely one of the better representations of the season to date. It's sheltered from the wind, so hasn't gotten much drifting on or off. It's mostly shaded from direct sunlight, and open underneath, so the melting has been slow. Basically, the snow falls onto it and stays there.

It's piled up to my waist. Maybe higher: there's at least some ice on the bottom, so I don't know precisely how much I'm standing on at the deepest I can dig. The top foot or so is light and fluffy; it gets progressively denser as I go further down.

Anyway, I've just shoveled out. Not all of it by any means, but I've dug some pathways around on it, to relieve a little of the weight -- I probably threw 300-500 pounds over the side. Hopefully that's enough to more than compensate for what will be added tomorrow.

I confess, I'm a bit worried about the roof: it's sloped, but not enough to be confident. That's harder to do much about, but after I dig out on Thursday, I may see about getting a roof rake to at least take some of the weight off...