October Snowblowing

No, the weather reports are correct, we had temperatures in the low 80s over the past couple days. I have however, in the past, had to move snow in October; once notably on the driveway from hell in Charlton on Halloween. I mention that because I had failed to get my snow blower ready for that major storm and I truly hate using a snow shovel. I think of my snow blower as a very good friend who was hiding for most of my life. After so many New Hampshire winters shoveling snow on my mother’s long driveway (1978, I‘m looking at you!); I discovered the ease a snow blower provides in my post military life. I am not going back! That is a very long introduction as to why I had my trusty good friend out in the driveway this afternoon awaiting my old friends from Sears Home Service. In the past I’ve always started it up every few weeks after the winter just to keep it in fighting shape. I missed a couple over the summer and when I tried to start it in August, it refused to turn over. In September, I eventually got it to start but it would immediately quit if I didn’t keep pumping the gas button. I know what everyone is thinking – carburetor. Despite my mother’s sometimes epic battles with Sears I’ve had good experience with their home repair dudes. Today was no exception and I learned a lot.

My Good Friend Awaiting Attention

This guy had been doing this for over thirty years and once I explained the issue he grinned and said, “carburetor”, as I nodded in a fairly sagely manner. I always enjoy watching good mechanics at work because they’ve mastered something I wished I could do and I love watching experts at work. He tried cleaning out the carburetor but it still wouldn’t perform as well as it needed to, so he replaced it. He quickly got the new carburetor installed and we fired up the blower. We had a running conversation about what I should be doing with the summer storage. He said I need to use some stuff called TruFuel instead of gas at the end of winter when the machine will be idle for a long time. It protects the fuel system and could last as long as three years. He also said I shouldn’t use any gas that was older than 90 days. I politically failed to point out that the gas I had in the blower was 11 months old.

After he departed, I moved the blower out back and left it running to kill the rest of the gas in the tank. I then headed to Home Dept to secure enough TruFuel to get through the winter. As I was moving the blower, now running on TruFuel, back into the garage, a floating object caught my attention in the garage rafters. The mystery of what happened to the ABFA’s surprise birthday balloon was solved. I guess it snuck out of the car while we were loading up for last week’s trip. This confirms my status as a world class idiot. While wheeling the blower back to its nest I noticed the trees in our back yard were spectacular, the best I’ve seen this fall in spite of all the driving I’ve done in search of color, go figure.

ABFA Balloon

Home Grown Color

Four movies fell in my A-Z watch, all keepers: The Graduate, still don’t believe a young Katherine Ross would fall for Dustin Hoffman but still a fun watch; Gran Torino, may be Eastwood’s best performance, loved it; Gravity, simply great movie, keeps tension taut for the entire time and then there’s Sandra Bullock as well; The Great Santini, Duvall is so good as the maniacally flawed military dad.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS:                                     

ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete - my daughter in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; CRC - Connecticut Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor of the big river; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during him her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew – son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member; PanaGals – female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Soxfather - my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course