Clean Garages and Patriot Fears

Good if Troubling Win

Now that our cold symptoms seem to be in full retreat my wife and I launched into some overdue projects this past weekend.  The weather warmed up significantly but I knew I had to tackle my least favorite annual activity (other than prostate exams that is) – the mounting of the snow blower to the lawn tractor.  Obviously I missed the boat again this year with the eight inches of snow out in the driveway melting away but I’m guessing we may get some more snow this winter.

Buddy insisted on helping and didn’t pee on the garage floor this year (he considers it outside and fair game) which was his major contribution.  It went so much better this year because I let my wife help with the dreaded wheel weight mounting which can be something of a contortionist nightmare doing alone.  I removed the mowing deck and power washed all of those components before storing them for the winter.  

Part of the installation process is placing a deck of drive wheels under the mower and the directions can be misleading.  They show the deck right side up in some diagrams and inverted (as placed under the mower) for others.  It even confused the Sears technician last year (no I’m not going into that area again – fish and barrel stuff there).  When I completed the assembly I immediately attacked the vestiges of the snow on the driveway before they could melt away – small satisfaction but you take what you can get.

As stated above, the biggest reason this year’s installation went so well was due to the assistance of my wife.  The only problem was that she noticed how dirty the garage was while she was out there assisting me.  So, after I finished cleaning the garage (to be fair – she helped) I was able to settle in with Buddy to watch the Patriots game against the Bills.

Buddy normally roams the house and protects us from all sorts of dangers but yesterday he needed some football.  He actually leaned back and tried to emulate my couch potato position (see photo taken by my bemused spouse below).

The Patriots let another inferior team hang around yesterday.  Their defense is so inconsistent.  They obviously made some adjustments when they figured out they needed to apply pressure to the Buffalo quarterback.  They then abandoned that approach and let him sit back and pick apart their suspect secondary.  My wife was trying to have a phone conversation with a friend in the waning minutes and kept apologizing for my profane outbursts.  Luckily Buffalo was Buffalo and the quarterback threw a last minute interception to seal the win for the Patriots but this defense has to get more consistent if they are going anywhere this year.

I still felt like hitting something after the game so Buddy and I went out to put in the snow poles along the driveway.  These let me know where the edge of the driveway is under future snow falls.  I woke up this morning with a sore elbow for from the energetic pounding.  Getting old still sucks.

The Dreaded Annual Task

Power Washing the Mower Deck

Buddy Offering His Expertise

Revenge!!!!

Buddy Earning Couch Potato Status