Mechanical Porn

Yes, it's very cliche that men love our toys, especially mechanical ones, but let's face it, when we DO get it right (and I know it's debatable how often) we can look pure genius.

Over the last week it's snowed, but last night/today it SNOWED. We probably ended up just shy of eight inches in the far western suburbs of Chicago and like an almost full rocks glass of near frozen Lemoncello, I have the cure for what ails ya'.

After ensuring that the gas tank was full, I set out to forcefully remove that white stuff from my driveway and sidewalks. Who do I call on buy my trusty Yard Machine. Now, what the engine sits on is inconsequential as we know that the Tecumseh engine that propels both drive shaft and auger shafts is really what matters when it comes to moving large quantities of snow. So let me whet your appetite, boys, with a side shot of my blessed machine.
It handles quite nicely and has up to 8 speeds. Now, I consider myself an "expert user" and even _I_ have never had it above the 3rd gear. That's even too fast for normal snow conditions, but I guess if you needed some extra push, you could whip that badboy all the way up to the 8th gear and let her fly. As you can see it has two engagement handles which have a built in safety feature. The left handle engages the auger and the right, the drive train. If, for some reason, you slipped or fell, the minute your hands let go of them, they immediately stop.

Okay, so here's a front shot showing the blades (careful)
This is a post-use shot so some of the carnage left on the blades and shoot is fresh kill.

So why do I get so jazzed about this beauty? Well, we have a slightly extra-long driveway since we're on the corner and our house is set back just a little bit further than our neighbors AND we have over 300 feet of sidewalk to clear as well. Yes, that's a football field worth of cement "public" sidewalk.

So here's the result. Nice clean lines and excellent adherence to the ground. Notice that large hump at the end of the driveway on the right? Well, that's left over from an earlier snow but it turned into rock-solid ice thanks to the Village plows as they kept coming by. One thing I've learned is NOT to take this baby through large chunks of ice. No matter how sharp those blades are, if you get choked up on ice, you could blow the auger's drive shaft and then you'd be up the creek without a snowblower.
So there you have it. Playboy for gearheads. Always remember to keep a good maintenance log and change the oil on it at the end of every season. Take care of your machinery and it'll take care of you.