by Laura Stahl

Created on: January 17, 2009

The obsession started with a John Deere lawn tractor my husband purchased when he was a kid mowing lawns. The one block distance in which our property sits quickly became too much space for my husband to want to handle with just a shovel. So, as a result one night I found him in the garage with a blow torch constructing a homemade plow for the front of his trusty John Deere (which turned out to take a couple weeks to construct). Living in Colorado the winters can be mild or there could be a blizzard. On average the winters require only one snow blower and maybe a couple shovels. Well, after the construction of the plow was complete my husband waited patiently for the next snow storm to occur. He put on his down coat and a long knit striped hat that looked like it came out of a Where's Waldo book. The vibrations from the tractor rang through the lower part of the house as he started up the tractor and opened the garage door. Strong fumes of exhaust could be smelled as they filtered into the house. Still in my bathrobe and slippers, I popped my head into the garage to see him put the tractor into gear and drive off into the two, maybe three inches of snow on the driveway. Scrapping noises were soon heard and down the driveway my husband went, his red striped hat blowing along behind him. The plow worked great and all was going good until he came across an uneven patch of cement between the driveway and the sidewalk. The plow slammed into the cement and stopped the tractor dead in its tracks. With the same motion of a person about to be thrown from a wild bull, my husband went flying forward on the tractor and his hat toppled over his head into his face. Almost thrown completely from the tractor my husband gathered himself and put the tractor into reverse to complete the job. Meanwhile I stood laughing as I watched him from the front window now, my coffee cup in hand. Later, when the snow melted, we noticed that the plow had put scraps in the driveway and the sidewalk, so the plow immediately became obsolete. The next plan of action was a snow blower for the front of the tractor. Finding a great deal on EBay, my husband immediately had it shipped to him, along with another snow blower, the kind one would see in most suburban neighborhoods. The John Deere snow blower has been brought out one time since we purchased it, and when it ran, well let me just say it can blow the snow out of its way, but it also can blow snow almost to the roof of the house. Luckily we haven't had a blizzard in two years. So, so far only the "average" snow blower has made dbuts, along with a couple shovels here and there. The next time we do have a big blizzard though, we will be able to clear out the drive way and bury our neighbors in more snow then what they already had. In addition my husband won't have to worry about holding on for dear life like he did with the plow.

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