Updated: 12/25/2008 1:32 PM KSTP.com | Print Story
By: Tim Sherno

SHERNO: When push comes to shovel

With snow now officially here.. and here to stay until Memorial day, I found myself standing at my local hardware store shovel shopping.  My personal shovel of choice is the big yellow Ya-hoo shovel. A large, wide, yellow scooper at the end of a stout oak handle. Great for shoving snow, and not bad for shoveling. But there are others to choose from. A sample is below.

It's not a SHOVEL, it's a WOVEL. (I guess it's a combination between a shovel and a wheel, maybe?) I found it on the web. The inventor says by heaving down on the handle bars at the same moment you lunge forward --it'll throw the show 5 feet. With no back ache.  While 'heaving' and 'lunging' were my words... it seems like an invention that would require both 'heaving,' and 'lunging,' and no small amount of either. Not for me.

But here's another one.

It's called "The Ohio Steel Snow Pusher." Slick, right? While I'm not quite sure what the wheels do, but I'm pretty sure they make it cost more. Look for the "Self-Propelled Ohio Steel Snow Pusher" next year. And then the "Green, All Electric Self-Propelled Ohio Steel Snow Pusher," after that. Put me down for two. No wait. Three, I need three.

Here's another one.

This folding shovel is handy. Fits in your trunk. It may even fit in your glove-compartment. While the idea is good, looks flimsy to me. I see myself doubled over with a full load of heavy snow, the hand starts to bend, the shovel snaps off and I pull something in my back.  I'm on the sofa with a heat pad. I'll pass.

Finally this one. It's called the "Personal Snow Shovel." It looks like a shovel for your windshield, maybe? Not a bad idea. I'm thinking back to last winter, standing in the parking lot with 5 inches of fresh snow on my car. Using the sweep broom on my scraper just didn't cut it. All it did was push the snow around. I made no progress. This handy-dandy little device shoves the snow across the windshield and off the other side. Now, I'm not sure that's the manufacturer's intention, but that's what I'd use if for if I got one.  Or on the toilet. It also looks like it might do something to the toilet.