Last October one of our sons and his wife moved to Alabama because “that’s where the job was.”
Whenever somebody moves to a different climate they have to get rid of various appliances that will not be used in the new location. That’s how we wound up with a new snow blower.
This new snow blower is a humdinger, apparently designed to work on airport runways, but it fit into the new storage shed out back, and the price was right.
Of course, it necessitated a general realignment of snow blowers down the family line. Our daughter bought our old one, which was practically new but not big enough to handle snow blowing for the new driveway we might get this summer.
But putting in a new driveway depends on whether we can ever get some estimates from local construction companies to build a new garage this year. We have been patient until now because before we can put the new driveway in we had to get the Dayton Power and Light to agree to move an electric pole they jammed in the middle of our front yard over 40 years ago without anybody’s permission.
We finally got their attention, paid the ransom, and hope that they will move the pole as soon as weather permits.
Meanwhile, back to the snow blower. We bought it in October, sure it would make short work of cleaning our sidewalk and old driveway along with some of the neighbors’ walks and driveways.
Unfortunately, we haven’t had enough snow to justify the big blower. However, we have gone through two buckets and two bags of stuff to melt ice.
After some “snow showers” this month, Bill decided it was time to try his new toy. Because snow was promised overnight, he had spent time in the shed preparing the new snow blower for its premier performance. It started like a champion. He wheeled it proudly through the yard over the frozen grass to our sidewalk.
In no time at all his work was done and he was wheeling the snow blower back to the shed in triumph when it stopped throwing snow. After a brief second of panic, he decided a shear pin had broken. He replaced it, but the snow blower still wouldn’t work.
Time to call our favorite mechanic. Ed looked things over and discovered a belt was broken. This apparently almost never happens. They discovered the cause. The snow blower met a piece of heavy metal under the snow in the backyard.
They made the necessary repairs and returned the incredible machine to its place in the storage shed where it is still parked waiting for a “significant snowfall.”
AUTHOR’S NOTE: This column was first published in the Greenville Advocate Feb. 11, 2004.
