Day 2344 clearing the drift

13th January 2024

It managed six inches, so much for that boast of eighteen. However it was time to get the snow blower out of hibernation. With two fully charged batteries I set out to clear the driveway.

I knew within two feet that this was going to be hard. The blower was designed for about two inches, tackling six was a lot to ask.

What made it worse was it had frozen overnight giving my machine a massive mountain to climb.

It was easier to take it in small bites, anything greater would make the motor cut out.

I was doing quite well, I manage to clear all the snow from the garage forward, the real hard stuff was at the end where the drive met the road. The snow ploughs had heaped a mound of tightly packed ice like a scale model of the Alps.

I could feel the little blower was having a hard time. I was expecting the blade to shatter into a million pieces, but what let me down was the batteries. I rushed into the garage to get another two, putting the spent ones on charge, but they were hot, and the light on the charger was red instead of green, they had to cool off first.

I loaded the fresh batteries into the blower and continued to chip away at the small mountain range at the end on the drive.

Slowly I made progress, the horrible sound of plastic blade on ice was terrifying but eventually I got through.

Now I just had to clear the snow on the other side of the car. I managed to get one full strip done before the second set of batteries ran out.

At that moment the next door neighbour arrived back. He must have been impressed with my efforts because I heard him start his snow blower up. He had a gas guzzling monster that shook the windows of all the houses nearby. It tore through the snow and ice like it was sand. He did his entire driveway in a quarter of the time it took me to do three quarters of mine.

I just had the satisfaction that he would be poisoned by the fumes and die years before me, although with the effort I had to exert, I might get a heart attack at about the same time.

I finished the drive way eventually, but if there is going to be more snow, I need to clear it as it lands.