You have read endless accounts of man meets beast, how about woman meets machine? I got to use our humongous snow blower for the first time yesterday.
Getting it started is the biggest challenge. You need to set one lever at neutral, another half way down, you need to pull out the choke and push in a little rubber button to pump some fuel, then you turn the ignition on and finally you PULL! Yes yes, the old rope pull like gasoline lawn mowers. There is something so frustrating about the force you put in the initial pull and then you end up with a limp cord in your hand and no motor sound. And so you pull again…and again…and again…and then you figure “lets do the ritual all over” as if this is a sacrifice to some mechanic God. So you turn off the ignition, you move the levers a few times, pull the choke and pump some fuel, and you worry that you might flood the engine (whatever that means…it seems obvious that flooding must be related to liquid addition), and you pull again…and again…and then… OH surprise!! A cloud of smelly black smoke , a thundering sound. It is RUNNING!! Quick! push back the throttle, stand back, breathe and be proud!
But that is not enough. I needed to get it moving and chewing up some snow. This stage is both easier and harder. Easier because there are only three things to watch, harder because it requires concentration and physical force.
I had to hold down a lever attached to the left handle to make the wheels move after having chosen a forward or back up position on another lever. That was easy enough but I sometimes forgot to let go and the machine would keep on going and it bumped into the garage doors a few times. On the other hand there were times when it would get stuck in a hole or, the wheels would spin on a patch of ice and no amount of encouragement would help. I had to push the monster out. Man it is a heavy machine!
The handle on the right side controlled the blowing mechanism, no challenge there: if I went through a big pile of snow it would spit out a graceful jet of write snow. If, on the other hand, I was going over an already cleared patch then it would drool some gray slush (I will save you the image that came to mind…but it is impossible to miss the Freudian symbolism of the bended neck spewing…)
Speaking of which, the last handle to watch is the one controlling said neck and thus the direction taken by the thrown snow. This may sound easy but if you forget to turn it every time you change direction you mess up the area you just cleared.. I had to be vigilant as the driveway is not very long and I quickly reached the sidewalk or the front steps, two areas you do not want to throw snow on. Another thing I discovered is that the “peeing downwind out of a canoe” concept is a useful one to follow unless you want all that snow to get blown back in your face.
I am proud to report I mastered the beast and succeeded in cleaning my driveway! I am woman hear me roar!
