January 05, 2005

Snowblowers? How Quaint

I woke up to the symphony of a half-dozen snowblowers this morning. We have some inches of snow out there...I've yet to go out to measure it myself.

These mornings always make me think of my dad. He's from northern Wisconsin and is one of those types who doesn't think it's a proper snowstorm unless you measure it by feet rather than inches.

Dad isn't a snowblower kinda guy. Never wanted one. Never bought one.

Oh, no. Snowblowers are for pansies, you see.

Dad has an ATV outfitted with a snowplow blade.

He wakes up on mornings like this, no earlier than normal. He drinks his coffee. No rush to clear a path. All the neighbors have been blowing snow for half an hour or so...then dad'll open up the garage door and fire up the ATV. It takes about 5 minutes to clear the driveway and sidewalk, and then he's on his way.

And don't think for a minute he doesn't enjoy all five minutes of envious looks from the other men.

Posted by Jennifer at January 5, 2005 06:33 AM

Comments

Drat, my ineptitude strikes again. In your mind pretend that this is the comment I left on the other entry and there you go. Not that it doesn't work there but I meant to post on a recent one and....ugh I failed.

Posted by: TheChris at January 5, 2005 09:14 AM

Ah, the good ol' snowblower.....Fingers in the air, tears in the snow. I saw many an amputation as a fireman for 20 years.

It gets the job done.

Posted by: Leftwindwingbag at January 5, 2005 11:30 AM

And the ATV is useful for clearing carolers from the front lawn too!

He actually has a totally kick ass idea.

Its a shame I ran away from winter to California or I'd be working on my wife to let me get an ATV right now!

Posted by: Johnny Huh? at January 5, 2005 12:27 PM

A few years back, I bought raffle tickets from the antique tractor society. Had I gotten the classic Fordson it would have gotten, along with some hotrod parts for what was essentially a Ford B flathead 4banger, a snowplow. I still cherish the mental image of pulling that thing out of the garage durinng a blizzard..

By the way, yesterday morning in southeastern Wisconsin, I snowblew a path down the entire block's sidewalk. Once I get it out of the garage and started, the extra work is trivial.

Posted by: triticale at January 8, 2005 12:23 AM


Jew