The disaster took place almost a year ago to the day.

At the time I was the proud owner of a ‘middle- aged’ Snapper snow blower. Being a mechanic of a very, very low skill level I had just had the motor gone over by a ‘real’ mechanic and it was starting and running just like it had come off the assembly line. Life was good. 🙂

Then my son came home for a short visit. He loves to blow snow and so he asked me if I minded if he used the snow blower to widen out the snow drifts lining our driveway. That sounded like a good deal to me so I agreed with his request.

Little did we know at the time that a tiny wheel that regulated the belt on the snow blower was becoming loose and preparing to fall off. Once the ‘falling off’ would take place bad things would occur to my ‘middle-aged’ fine tuned snow blower.

So my son began his snow blowing efforts and the yard filled with the roar of a perfectly running snow blower along with a plume of discharged snow flying high into the winter sky.

As I sat in the house I listened to the roar of the snow blower engine smiling and content with my perfectly performing machine.

Then suddenly it became very quiet. The roaring stopped and there was no more flying plumes of snow filling the air.

Several minutes of silence occurred and then the front door opened and there stood my son holding the starter rope in one hand as he spoke, “Dad, I think the belt just broke on the snow blower and as you can see  the starting rope did too.”

Remember now I’m not a mechanic. In spite of that I stayed very calm and together my son and I walked out into the yard to examine the damages.

As we approached the disabled snow blower steam was rising as melting snow dripped onto the hot engine. Peering under the machine we viewed the belt that appeared to be tied into knots and was crammed into the back of the snow blower.

In the process of the belt tangling into knots it had chewed a hole in the protective cover so that one could now view the inside of the snow blower without bothering to remove the cover. And then we can’t forget the starter rope that my son was still holding.

My ‘middle-aged’ snow blower suddenly had taken a turn for the worse and appeared to be eligible for the local junk yard.

There was too much repair work for my non-mechanical brain to comprehend and the weather forecast for the coming days was snow and lots of it! So what to do, what to do?

I turned to my son and said, “Let’s go into town and visit the local Cenex store” So he laid the starting rope on top of the disabled snow blower and we made an emergency trip to the snow blower dealership in town.

The Cenex folks were very happy to see us.

I was surprised to discover that my Snapper snow blower was approaching antique status as that brand had been changed from Snapper to Simplicity. The Snapper snow blower was a thing of the past and as the memory of my steaming, dilapidated snow blower floated through my mind I decided it was time to go the Simplicity route.

It turned out my almost destroyed Snapper had a trade in value of $300. My day brightened slightly when I got that news from the Cenex folks. But then the news took a negative turn when I had to pay for the new snow blower. 🙁

This winter I was thinking back to that fateful day as I was blowing out our driveway with my new Simplicity snow blower. A machine that has all the bells and whistles that you could imagine a snow blower having.

It is equipped with hand warmers! Can you believe that? Me, a Minnesotan all my life, resorting to hand warmers as I blow out my driveway. Unthinkable!

Maybe some winter when it is bitterly cold I may cave and give them a try. Pride is such a inhibiting factor. 🙂

With my old Snapper turning around was always a wrestling match and very tiring for an old guy like me. The Simplicity has two small levers under the handles and when you squeeze one the wheel on that side quits turning while the opposite wheel continues to turn causing the snow blower to spin around quickly.

The first time I tried this new modern technology I was literally thrown into a snowbank! But I have since mastered the levers and there are no more ‘ wrestling’ turns to be made. 🙂

The Simplicity has two speeds for reverse and multiple forward speeds.

The snow spout can be regulated with a lever and the snow plume that exists the spout travels far out into the yard.

So as I look back on that disastrous breakdown of the antique Snapper a year ago I have to admit it was a blessing in disguise.

Now I’m waiting excitedly for the next snowfall. A blizzard or two would be fun too.

Now that this blog is pretty well wrapped up I think I might just head to the garage and wipe down that new snow blower of mine. I like to have it looking sharp when we’re out clearing off the driveway. You never know who might drive by. 🙂

Until next time.