Normally I am deeply buried in a sci-fi pot boiler, a book on history ( Mary Beard is a favorite) or books on gardening or woodcarving. But the prompt finds me reading a product manual. It’s the manual for a GO power snow shovel. A battery powered cordless snow shovel. The snow shovel will probably soon be joined by a similar GO snow blower, and I’ll get buried in the manual for that.
Meanwhile, in the back of the house, half covered in a tarp, lies the venerable gas-powered snow blower. Heavy, a terror to navigate around the yard, and cranky to start. Last winter, after long and hard efforts to start it, I hurt myself kicking it. Attempts to use the “electro-start resulted in an almost explosion during the last storm of the season. A change was needed.
As soon as spring started, I left it to rust. Defiant to the last, not a speck of rust has appeared. But my resolve to replace it firmed up as my sore arm twinged, thinking of another winter pulling the damn starter cord. I had a bad recollection of jerking the damned thing through the snow after it stalled out. Motivated, I began researching the alternatives to vengeful metal monstrosities fueled by petrol. After haunting big box stores and local providers of yard machinery, I decided on the snow shovel and a small blower that were battery powered.
The first snows of the winter are probably only weeks away, so we’ll find out soon if I have chosen wisely.
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The image generated for this post is awesome!! Good luck with learning your new tool and with snow clearing this season. I’m so glad not to have to think about snow here in this climate.
I say you opt for the flame thrower and have some fun whilst demolishing the snow.
There is nothing like the smell of Napalm in the morning!
What battery powered machine did you get??? Expiring minds want to know.
It is an EGO Power Shovel. We’ll see soon how it performs. The reviews and videos are encouraging, and it’s fairly lightweight.
Let me know! Snow is not in our immediate forecast, but it will come and the other thing (beside roots) I don’t want to deal with is snow on my driveway that turns to ice. Not having it.
I’ll keep you posted.
Thank you!
Whatever you plan for will leave you wanting. My last husband had a snow thrower on his tractor , I manned the shovel. In the end, we had to call in a bobcat to get anything out, including us. Good luck this winter. It’s time for me to start stocking up and not going out. This may be another one of THOSE years. Good luck. Let’s see if this comment goes through.
I’ll hope for the best!
Dear friend Lou, “sometimes life’s most gripping reads are the manuals for the tools that save us from our own snowy battles!”
Well said, Dinesh!
Growing up in Buffalo before the powered blowers we passed the shovel around to everyone in the house
I remember that, in the City, we’d shovel and then run the street in front of the buildings in threes to scrape a wide area free. The supers and helpers all over the block would work as a team.