I Suck At Shoveling Snow

forecasters at the national weather service were predicting 6 to 8 inches (insert "that's what she said" comment) of snowfall today for the winter storm and mother nature did not disappoint. the good news, however, is that my commute home did not take 5 hours like the last time during the snow storm back in december... stupid mema (massachusetts emergency management agency)... where was the emergency management back in december?

anyway, even though my commute home in today's snow storm was much shorter than the commute in december, i still had some shoveling to look forward to when i arrived home. i suck at shoveling snow. part of the problem is that i have a driveway that could potentially fit four cars (two rows of two cars).

lucky for me, i had my trusty snow blower (insert "that's what he said" comment). back in december, i could not get the snow blower working. my snow blower is a pull chain, much like a lawn mower. during that fateful december day, i kept pulling and pulling. yes, i know, it sounds so dirty. i finally gave up, feeling defeated, because the snow blower would not start. my advice for those who have a pull chain on their snow blower, get one with an electrical starter. it will be much easier.

but that was then. today was a another day and a different snow storm. because i suck at shoveling snow, i figured i'd tempt fate again by attempting to use the snow blower. feeling all manly and all, i opened the garage door and wheeled out the snow blower. with my eyes toward heaven, i prayed that the snow blower would start with a few pulls of the chain. (okay, maybe i didn't really play. it was more like a "please please please please start").

the first attempt... nothing.

the second attempt... nothing.

finally, the third attempt... the motor started humming. too bad i played with the controls and accidentally shut the motor off... d'oh!

attempt number four... nothing.

lastly, on the fifth try, i got the motor starting again and actually kept it running. whew! needless to say, it didn't take long to shovel the driveway today...