Yep, Just Like I Said

It was 39° this morning, and has been raining off-and-on all day. The snow line has descended another few hundred feet, and is now only about 600 feet above where we live. Won't be long, now.

We would like just one day where the wind blows ... like today ... without enough rain to plaster the leaves to the driveway. It would be nice to be able to clear the driving surface of birch leaves before the snow comes. 

But things will happen as they must, and we have but to cope with whatever comes. Reminder to self: make sure the snowthrower tank is topped off.

Snow, in Dribbles & Drabs

We haven't had a snowy winter; not like last year. This year's snowfall has been measured in inches, rather than feet. But in the last 48 hours, we've received around 8", with another 3" in tomorrow's forecast.

Apparently, winter has been waiting for us to start harboring secret thoughts of Break-up (Spring to you Lower-48 types) in order to start sending the white stuff.

The new 30" snowthrower makes a very quick job out of light snow. Our driveway is some 270' long, and 1 to 1 1/2 lanes wide. Today's clearing took only 20 minutes.

It has gotten much faster since I discovered that it has an automatic clutch for those six forward speeds, allowing me to shift on the fly instead of stopping, changing gears, and then backing up a few feet.

Why back up? Because when shifting into 3rd gear or higher, the silly thing pops an impressive wheelie, despite the weight of the differential, augers, and chute. It probably looks like I'm playing around with it, from a distance.

Most assuredly I am not. :)

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.  :)