SNOWBLOWER

This is the 30th winter I have endured the frozen 'north.' As a born-and-bred Missouri boy, we got snow. As I remember, at least. But I didn't have to get out and shovel it much. Not that I remember. Spoiled, I know. But frankly, it was Missouri. So if you just waited a couple of days, the warmer weather would just take care of it, so it really wasn't any big deal. That I remember.

So right after getting married, God had this really weird idea about sending me and my Kentucky-born-southern bride North to do ministry. Crazy. Thirty years later, here we are - having spent our entire ministry in extreme Northern Illinois to begin - then nine years in Minnesota - and these past 17 years in Wisconsin. Go figure.

All this time, I have managed life without a snowblower. Thru all those ridiculous winters with snow up to 'here' (picture my hand at some horizontal level above my waist right now - I have a very tall waist). For integrity's sake, I should clarify that for a couple of winters I DID have what I fondly called a 'snow-cougher.' I saw it at an auction when Joelene and I used to be rabid for that kind of thing - buying everything we could to furnish our home cheaply, including buying random 'surprise boxes' for $1 and then eagerly looking inside to see what treasures we had snatched up. Typically inside were items such as old dried-up sponges, assorted rusty tools (the kind that give you tetanus if you puncture your skin using them), old toys, things that you couldn't figure out what they were, etc...

So at one of those estate/auction sales, I bought a snow-cougher. It was just a little guy that, if we got more than 2.5 inches of snow, it just kind of 'coughed' it to the side, as opposed to BLOWING it or THROWING it. Anything beyond that, and it would literally sit there and THINK about coughing it up. Nothing more. That I remember, at least.

Last winter, my neighbor - who has a 225 foot driveway - had a 4x4 with a plow attached. He's just a big kid at heart. So he came over and gladly shoved my snow out of the way for me every time I needed it. He got rid of the 4x4 this year though, so ...

Then, someone from my church offered a really really great price to come do it for me when it got above the number of inches I wasn't willing to shovel myself (number of inches to remain known only to me and him to avoid unwanton criticism). Last night when it snowed some inches that were more than I am willing to shovel myself, he told me he was busy and couldn't make it over, but he was so gracious to drop off his snowblower FOR me. Very kind.

It did the job - even though it still took me an hour - because the thing was TORTOISE slow. It wouldn't move beyond 2 mph no matter how hard I squeezed the self-propelled bar, and I was squeezing it very hard - that I remember. But it was still better than shoveling.

Thanks, Bill.

And be blessed.