Storming & blowing

We’ve had a couple of winters with loads of snow and this one started to show similar signs already in early December. My husband couldn’t face the risk so my persuasions finally paid off and he agreed we should acquire a snow blower.

In mid-December, he ordered the device from an online store that promised delivery in two working days. Naturally, it took a week to reach us – because of Christmas panic at the post office logistic services they claimed – and of course it wasn’t assembled. So it was only on Boxing Day that he made the first rounds with the blower in our yard. I suppose it’s needless to add it was around this time that snowfall ceased completely, the temperature rose and the heaps he had piled up with so much effort and manpower started slowly flattening down. Not that it wouldn’t require manpower even with the blower; I had a go and the device certainly was harder to maneuver than I had expected.

However, these days any phase in weather seems to be only very temporary and soon enough we had a new period of heavy frost and then more snowfall. As you might guess, now that we would have needed all the help we could get we encountered another incident with the new device. The blower just didn’t begin to rotate. It turned out the V-band generating the spinning was broken after less than two hours of operation.

Another week of waiting, now for the spare part. Another morning for him fighting with the assembly, now lying down on the freezing floor of the garage to replace the band. But today the latest episode was completed: the blower was again rotating and throwing snow through the chute as high as ever. Just in time for the wet snow storm we’ve had since this afternoon.