Myra Scheibel has seen some bad blizzards in her 91 years.

She remembers one in particular - back when her husband was in the service during the war.

She was still living in Massachusetts then. After the wind stopped howling and the snow falling, she was out with her shovel, offering to clear every drive in the neighborhood.

"Everything stood still," she said.

More than a half-century later, Myra is still out shoveling.

She and neighbor Babe Tinant, 90, are the first ones out when the snow quiets in their south Rapid City neighborhood, clearing their driveways without asking for help.

For them, it's just how they were raised.

For their neighbors, the "snow-shovel queens of Lookout Lane" are putting everyone else to shame.

"They are totally amazing women," neighbor Suzan Nolan said. "They can shovel snow like an 18-year-old."

When the storm settled on Tuesday, Suzan and her husband started clearing Babe's driveway for her.

When Babe noticed, she was out there as soon as could be, shovel in hand.

"She can out-shovel us both," Suzan said.

Soon, they joined up with Myra, whose granddaughter lives next door to Babe, to shovel together.

Myra lives down the street with her daughter but helps around the house when her granddaughter is away on business.

"Oh, I love it," Myra said. "Yard work, I love. I'm out raking those blessed pine needles. I enjoy shoveling, don't you?"

"If I had to do it for a living, no," Babe said.

"Oh, no," Myra agreed. "My back wouldn't take it."

Myra isn't as steady on her feet as she once was, but even that doesn't stop her from breaking out the shovel.

For both ladies, 90-something isn't much different from 80.

"I don't feel any different," Myra said. "It's just another day to me. I do the same things I did 10 years ago."

The key to their vitality? "I don't know," Babe said. "I have been very busy all my life."

Babe's parents were ranchers, and the family moved to Belle Fourche when she was 12.

She still remembers the '49 blizzard, back when her father was Butte County highway superintendent.

They were driving home after vacationing in Wyoming, and the farther east they got, the worse the storm.

Babe's parents dropped her off in Rapid City, but her father refused to stay the night. He had to get back to Butte County.

The roads were so bad her father had to hang his head out the car's left window, her mother out the right, to see enough to get back to Belle Fourche.

"We were really buttoned in," Babe said. "The whole south side of the house - the windows were covered."

Babe later moved to Florida, and after 23 years in sunny Orlando, she retired to Rapid City - the opposite direction from most people - to be closer to her sons. That was 22 years ago.

And with a combined 181 years between them, it's going to take more than Tuesday's storm to get Babe and Myra to hang up their shovels.

"That was a piece of cake," Myra said.

Contact Emilie Rusch at 394-8453 or emilie.rusch@rapidcityjournal.com.