Sunday, February 3, 2008

"The hills are alive...

...with the sound of single-cylinder engines!"

This is what I've been up to today. So has everyone else in the 'hood. I counted eight of these things runnin' all at once this morning:

Clicking will make it huge!

I am dedicating this post to that little machine, which makes it possible (just barely, sometimes!) for me to live here. All the snow in my driveway is since yesterday afternoon.

Except for one winter when the thing was broke down, it has been clearing snow for 15 years. It is powered by 8 tired horses and one smelly ol' goat.

Kindly notice a unique feature, the crank-operated wind direction changer, nominally known as the 'discharge chute'. No matter which direction you want to throw the snow, a few turns of the crank will automatically change the wind direction so it is always discharged into the wind and thence onto the operator.

Should I ever move to the tropics, I think I'll take it with me. I think I've figured out how to harvest coconuts with it. Should be able to shoot 'em right into the bed of a pickup. I just gotta figure out how to climb a palm tree with it...

Somebody has kindly been removing my berms for me and today I caught him at it: it's Dave, who's a huntin' buddy of my next door neighbor Clancy. I may have blown the whole deal when I asked him, "Are you my berm fairy?". I gotta remember to put my brain in gear before engaging my mouth...

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