Snowblowers

Years ago, I inherited an electric snow thrower that my dad used to own. He had given it to my aunt after he moved to Florida. But when I returned to the Chicago area, my aunt gave it to me. It has served me well for many years, but it was always a little difficult to work with since it had small wheels that always iced up making it hard to roll. Being a small snow thrower, its small width required more passes to finish the driveway. Also, its narrow snow chute always clogged up with snow. And let's not forget the hassle of dragging around a 100' extension cord!

This year, my sister-in-law gave me a two-stage gas snowblower. It has made life a lot easier. No more clogged wheels, but on occasion, it would have a clogged snow chute if the snow was especially wet.

This week we had a huge amount of snowfall and it was so easy to deal with by using the new blower. The only major problem I have is smelling like the oil and gas exhaust from the blower. Regardless of how hard I try to avoid the gas fumes, I still smell of gas when I'm done snowblowing.

We have a very long driveway and so the use of a snowblower is essential. I've just been lucky to have been given snowblowers instead of having to buy them for myself. The blower images pictured above were borrowed from the internet.