Driveway Fails

Driveway as it Looked When I got Home From Work
The Short Experience of the Snow Blower Evidence in Right Center

After our late night arrival back from Keene the day before yesterday I was excited to get up in the morning and impose my will upon the driveway with my tractor mounted snow blower.  We received a little over six inches of snow and after last year’s almost snowless winter I was psyched.

That feeling of elation lasted for approximately 35 seconds.  I charged out of the garage and cut a wide swath and then the snow stopped arcing out of the chute.  I was looking around for what happened when I noticed a long black belt lying behind the tractor.  The drive belt for the snow thrower had come completely off!!!  I hope the next door’s neighbor’s kids didn’t hear my colorful reaction to that observation.

A couple hours before I got out there the snow changed to rain and the snow I was trying to throw was too heavy for the machine which decided to give up on me.   I was now faced with a tractor stuck in the middle of the driveway behind a mound of snow.  I couldn’t get the thing to turn around, even with chains on the tires, because of the rain soaked snow.  I ended up lifting the back end of the tractor and walking it around until it was pointed back towards the garage.  After moving my wife’s Highlander I was able to limp the machine back into the garage.

Putting the belt back on will be a complicated procedure that I did not have time for.  I commandeered my wife’s Highlander for the drive into work and hoped the rain would take out the snow covering the driveway.  While the Highlander performed marvelously the rain failed.

I came home to snow compacted by the rain still covering the entire driveway.  Since the temperatures were due to plummet last night I knew I only had one option.  The driveway comes up a fairly steep hill that is impassable when frozen.  It didn’t make sense to fix the snow blower because the snow was even heavier now.  My wife was worried about the arthritis in my right elbow that’s been acting up since I sawed off the Christmas tree but the only option I had was to get out the snow shovel.  I figured a little (lot) of pain was the price I needed to pay to make the driveway passable.

My wife has this weird cream from Panama that she swears by for arthritis pain.  I usually scoff at what I secretly (I’m not stupid) call “witch doctor” remedies but I was grasping at straws and liberally applied the ointment to the elbow before heading out.

To complete the ambiance of the experience, a light freezing rain was now falling as well. The compacted snow was as heavy as I feared but I refined some long forgotten techniques and was able to get most of the driveway cleared in just under two and a half hours.

I came out this morning and everything was frozen solid so I can just imagine what it would have been like if I hadn’t cleared off the snow and slush.  The biggest surprise was no major pain the elbow, I’ve got to get the name of that witch doctor.

The Rest of the Driveway

2.5 Hours Later