Is there any payback for a snow blower?

mos6507

My dad has a 2-stroke snow blower that NEVER starts each year. He has to take it in for service. Total waste of time.

People are fat slobs these days. Shoveling would not be a bad thing for them to do as the motions are pretty similar to what you'd do on an exercise machine.

I think people throw out their back becuase they try to lift too much snow with each heave. You have to break it down into chunks, especially when the snow is wet (which makes it a lot heavier).

If you're old or infirm, the classic (and apparently forgotten) solution (other than moving to Florida) is to pay for your neighbor's kids to do it. I remember doing my share of that growing up. But since people live in their own isolated bubbles, that's not considered an option anymore.

efarmer · Heavy Crude Joined: Mar 17, 2006 Posts: 485

In this area, the rare big snow event drives many to go the the big box store and get a snow blower. Once purchased, it gets trotted out for the "big one" and a few more light dustings where it does not help much. It then lives in the shed or garage and gets varnished up with aged fuel until it won't run. Next it gets rolled out for a warm season yard sale and is passed over there because it won't start and of course it is summer at that time. A very similar process is common with gasoline ac power units. There is a hierarchy with gas powered gadgets among suburban men that is not to be disrespected or belittled.

1. The push lawnmower, the least common denominator to get you
into the game. If you use an electric lawnmower you may forfeit
any neighborhood respect for your other gasoline powered stuff.
If a man must use an electric lawnmower he should do so only
at dusk or dawn.

2. The riding mower, if you have the yard for it. Around here if it
takes you more than 12 minutes to cut your yard with a push
mower, you are on the cusp of riding mower ownership.
If you have the riding mower and the little trailer that can
be towed behind it, the trailer is still shiny as new with dry
rotted tires and in the garage when the motor wears out on the
mower itself.

3. The gasoline powered leaf blower; a man has to have a big
blower hanging off of him, and those guys with the battery
or extension cord electric blowers all know that the gasoline
blower man is the well endowed blower toter in the 'hood.
They often will not get their little blowers out while his mighty
blower is on display. They nervously monitor their wife if she
is outside, to make sure she isn't fixated on the other guy's
awesome blower.

4. The next tier is reached in response to the big storm. If it is
a snowblower you start it and wait until as many people come
out as possible, and you do your yard and sidewalk and the
go around and hit several select neighbors with a "just this
time special" snow blowing to really rub it in. Then you put the
thing in the garage and often this is the end of the story for
good. If it is a ac power unit, you take it out of the box and
put it on the front porch so everyone knows you have it that is
out of power as well. After the first use, having enjoyed the
"victory" run already, it is put in the back yard if it will start
and is needed. If the power failure is during summer, you
attempt to run your central air conditioning from it at least
twice, just to make sure the book that came with it was not
lying or written for safety geeks.

5. Then there is don't ask / don't tell. This is when the other
guys in the neighborhood are over for a barbecue and you leave
the garage door open or lawn shed open with all your gasoline
powered prowess on display. At such events, it is taboo to ask
a man if any or all of it still runs or is useful and it is also taboo
for the owner to volunteer this information. The proper thing
to do is to ask how much something costs, listen attentively,
and then to emit a "phew" or a long whistle.

This is yet another intricate and rich facet of our culture that is
being threatened by the onset of petroleum decline. If we have
to go electric, can we figure out a way to get back the throaty
growls of power that add richness and pride to our lives?

P.S. I know there are many of you who really need these devices
on a regular basis. I feel sorry for you, because there is probably
not a lot of people around to see your gasoline powered stuff,
and also because your stuff is probably all beat up and worn.

TWilliam · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Nov 28, 2004 Posts: 1698

Hey efarmer you forgot one. The big, bright-orange Husqvarna chainsaw (18 - 20-inch minimum bar length) bought for taking down that one annoying 8-inch diameter tree in the back yard that drips sap on the stainless steel barbeque grill. And of course proper power prowess etiquette requires the job be commenced at 8AM Saturday morning so that everyone in the neighborhood may awaken with a deep sense of respect for your achievement of elite status amongst the lawn jockey set. After all, a chainsaw is a far more subtle and complex piece of machinery than a mere riding mower or snowblower, and it's important to signal one's elevation to that rarefied rank of Yard-Master.

After the annoying tree is removed, the big, bright-orange Husqvarna is duly retired to it's hallowed place beneath the garage workbench, from whence it may on very rare occasion be brought forth for a brief sojourn into a neighbor's yard to help with removal of his annoying 8-inch diameter tree that drips sap onto the stainless steel barbeque (at 8AM Saturday morning of course, in respectful remembrance of the Yard-Master's status). Of course, it is never to be lent for such purpose, as only a genuine Yard-Master has the requisite acumen for operating such a subtle and complex piece of machinery.
_________________
"It means buckle your seatbelt, Dorothy, because Kansas? Is goin' bye-bye... "

efarmer · Heavy Crude Joined: Mar 17, 2006 Posts: 485

TWilliam,
In my spiritual belief system, I am forbidden from saying the sacred
name of H*******a, the Orange One, either aloud or in writing.
But you speak the truth, and it is sweet to my ears and warms my
heart. By the goodness and assistance of H*******a, the Orange
One, may your manliness be extolled widely, and your grill be free of
sap and affliction from any profane woody mischief.

Blacksmith

burnfromwithin · Coal Joined: Jan 16, 2008 Posts: 4 Location: Milwaukee, WI

Personally, I'm not buying a snowblower. I'm 22, I live in an urban environment and the only surface I have to shovel is a small parking slab, a small walkway, and a sidewalk. In addition, I enjoy the physical labor of shoveling snow. When my boss suggested I buy a snowblower, I looked at her as if she was crazy! Very Happy

Even if the snowblower cost just as much as a shovel, I think I'd buy the shovel.

But I'm certain that for some people's situation, having a snowblower is almost a 'must'.