oh i'm sure this didn't make the news anywhere; oh you mean the
walmart-! ;-) that was in leesburg (VA) (and i was responding to ray
and thinking "Al"--sorry ray! ;-) ; the toys r us in lanham (MD)
collapsing was all over the news; a barn in poolesville (MD) caved
in; the O st market in DC came in; a bunch of stray schools in DC and
MD either caved in or were threatening to; they were using snow
blowers on the roofs out in garrett county (MD); nobody (human or
equine) hurt anywhere that i know of. roofs in my neighborhood (MD)
were leaking all over the place; the local giant grocery store was
also raining inside on saturday. :-)



Now where I'm from (originally), we mocked people with flat roofs, and
we had a device called a snow-rake. I'd recommend getting one. It is a
long handled rake, and you pull snow off the roof with it. Fun, and
darn cold work. Imagine standing under the snow you are pulling down...
*grin* I suspect in some areas you might only use it once every 10
years, but when you need one you need one.

I'm glad nobody was hurt. People think that the danger in a blizzard is
limited to being out on the road, but there are plenty of ways to hurt
yourself by staying inside. Snow covers your furnace exhaust - big
trouble. Too much snow on the roof - we see what happens there. I
couldn't get my door open yesterday, and we'd only had 8" or so (with
weird drifting). Had to go out a door I never use. Glad I have two...



--
Rob's Rules: http://www.msu.edu/~halgren
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a. See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to purchase
more orchids, obtain more credit