After 25 years of faithful service, I replaced our trusty Toro snowblower, Big Red, with a new snow blower, the Husqvarna Big Orange. The weather guessers are predicting a Bad Winter for Western NY so I figured we needed to be prepared. Plenty of our friends have snow plowing services but the truth be told, I actually enjoy going out and snowblowing. Of course, if the wind is blowing the Wrong Way I end up eating snow. The crispness of a snowy winter day lights up my life. And, of course, I’m built for snow and cold. I had a lump in my throat as my fix-it guy took Big Red away (he wanted Big Red for parts). Saying good-bye to a reliable, dependable machine isn’t easy. I’ll let you know how Big Orange deals with the first big snowfall.
I hate winter, every day of it. Maybe Buffalo, despite getting more snow than Detroit, is not as gray. It’s the gray that bothers me most.
Well, it’s black and orange George, like the colors of my SF Giants, so I like it!
Roy Bobbin Hovey/Old DAPA Dude
(yes, I’m peeking in on you now after all these years – go Bills! (not! – go Niners!)
😉
Patti, we have plenty of gray days in Buffalo. But when it snows and the sun comes out, there’s no brighter place.
Glad to hear from you, Roy!
I hope you don’t have to use it too often!
Bill, the weather all Fall has been mild. Today we’ll be in the 40s (above Normal temps!). But the snow will arrive sometime…and I’m ready!
I’m with Patti. The older I get the more I hate winter. For me it’s the early sundown as much as anything else, though the cold and the wind suck too.
Way to keep stimulating the economy, George! You are Jackie’s #1 role model. Enjoy it.
At least you’re expecting precipitation. Here in all too sunny N. Cal. they’re predicting a dry winter, water shortages to follow. Man, that’s a scary looking machine; bet it eats leaf blowers for breakfast.
Jeff, everyone at our latitude should be taking Vitamin-D because we have so little sunshine (especially in the winter). Diane and I did some more stimulating of the economy yesterday when we bought a new Samsung 39″ HDTV for a Christmas present for Diane’s mother. Patrick will install it when he’s home.
Congrats, George, on that mighty fine looking machine. Well, Big Orange. You’re a Syracuse fan.
It’s 29 here as I type this (8:15 a.m.) and was four or five degrees colder during the night. Dry today, but yesterday we had hard frost. It will stay dry and cold the rest of the week, but when the next storm comes in we’ll likely have the first, light, snow of the season. It snowed around Thanksgiving the year we moved here, so we start expecting some by the end of November. Last year the first snow was much later, and we never get heavy enough to need one of those monsters you bought.
We do take Vitamin D too.
It’s been really up and down here but definitely has been colder than normal lately. We are way down in rainfall from the normal totals since September 1 but the reservoirs are 10% higher than normal because upstate has gotten the heavy rains that missed us. That’s good for the drinking supply but bad for the lawns.
Art, Big Orange is a big-ass snowblower, bigger by far than Big Red. I don’t know what kind of winter we’re going to have, but I’m ready for it!
Rick, Western NY usually averages about 100 inches of snow. Some years we get a few inches at a time, other years we get hit with a couple of feet of snow. I’m ready for the Worst Case Scenario.
Jeff, we’ve had a wet 2013. We’re about six inches of precipitation above Normal. Lake Erie is the warmest it’s ever been. An arctic blast could create a massive lake-effect snow event! The conditions are ideal.
Whoosh! What a relief. I was afraid you were announcing the demise of Big Red, the official soda pop of true Texans everywhere.
Evan, I remember Big Red chewing gum, too!
I’ve got your number, George. You’re going to make a fortune clearing neighbors’ driveways and sidewalks with that industrial grade monster. NTTAWWI.