And So It Begins ...

We had 26° and frost this morning. AccuHunch guesses that today's high might make it to 37.

Our original plans were to finish raking the leaves, but they're all frozen to what's left of the grass. So we did a long-overdue reorganization of the garage, instead.

One of the reasons for the rearranging that took place was to make room for the new toy.

Ariens ST30DLE Deluxe

When we bought our house in the mountains, last year, we purchased what seemed like a sufficiently-powered snow blower.

Not even close.

Our driveway, a C-shaped drive-through, is 270 feet long, and varies from one to two lanes wide, with the widest portion in front of the house. Last winter's snows frequently exceeded the height of the chute opening on the unit we bought, and it wasn't self-propelled.

We pushed, struggled, strained, and coerced that machine through snow it was never designed to cope with. The tires were only 7", and the exhaust port blew directly on the left tire. That turned all the snow stuck to the tire into a non-rotating ice clump.

So, not self-propelled, and only one functioning wheel. And then the local snow plows come by, usually within a half-hour, and close both ends of the driveway.

But experience provides wisdom. This model has a 30" mouth, and a two-stage auger/impeller system which will throw snow up to 55' away. 16" knobby tires, and did I mention it has heated handles?

For the technically-minded among you, Gentle Readers, it has a 306cc engine with either pull- or electric-start. It should be able to laugh at the 3' snow boulders left by the plow as it chews up the end of our asphalt.

I'm actually looking forward to clearing the drive, now.  :)

What We Did on Saturday

After the morning shopping and refueling run yesterday, we went back out and started looking for a replacement for my wife's '07 Taurus. The Taurus was reliable and never failed to start, but it has a weakness.

It doesn't like snowy, icy weather. You can see how that would be a drawback in Alaska.

Truth be told, it went in the snow just fine. But as soon as the plows had passed, and enough traffic drove on the remainder to pack it down into the consistency of a hockey rink, that car slid like a puck.

Ungood, to say the least.

So we started with car lots close to home, and gradually expanded our search. She had a very specific wish list:

1. no black or white paint jobs
2. domestic manufacture
3. SUV, small to midsize
4. 2009 to 2013 model years
5. Preference: Ford Escape

With that in mind, we wandered ... and walked ... and perused. Drive to the next lot. Lather, rinse, repeat. Oh, and did I mention it was raining the whole time? All those sunny weekends we squandered...   :)

Then, in a lot in mid-town, there were three Escapes. One was white, but the other two were not black. The result?

Only a year old, and barely broken in.

So this morning I've been scanning through the operator's manual from the shuttle for the starship Enterprise for the Escape ... and soon it will be time to go play with it.

And just in time, too: there's an early snowstorm in the forecast for Tuesday. And you know what that means.

A New Year, a Turn of the Page, and

this has been a good weekend already, even if it's only Saturday morning.

I haven't discussed this much ... at least not lately ... but I've been playing guitar since 1969.

When my wife & I took sabbatical from ministry, a few years ago, we were serving in the capacity as music ministers of our church. She plays keyboards, and I play guitar - six strings, 12, and bass. Rhythm & occasionally the odd lead break, if the song permits. I also finger-pick. (I love finger-picking!)

I went through a series of different guitars while at that church, starting out with an Italian electric 12-string which I bought in Naples in 1975. It played well, but the pickups were ... well, let's just say it had a funky sound ... sounding sometimes more like an electric banjo than a guitar. It took a bit of experimentation with tone controls & the sound man to make it okay.

After that, I had an Alvarez Yairi acoustic-electric ... then a Fender Stratocaster ... and finally wound up with another Alvarez acoustic-electric.

But then we had to step down. We'd been providing the music for two different churches (three, in my case) for 20 years, and finally became burnt out.


But it's been five years, and the muse is finally stirring again. Time to get out the guitar, replace the strings, and start building calluses. I pulled out the Alvarez, but it didn't inspire me. It's a nice guitar, but there was no excitement there.

After some conversation w/ Mrs. Paul, we agreed that we both need new instruments: she wants an electric piano, and it's high time she had one of her own.

While her keyboard has been selected, it will be a month or two before we pick it up. We went shopping yesterday for the guitar, and I found my new toy.

Happy New Year!