Training Day

What is the only thing worse than having your favorite golf course closed because of snow? The enormously enjoyable task of snow removal on your driveway. I hate shoveling snow. The past couple of years in Utah have been odd. It isn't that we have had a huge amount of snow (that is fairly typical here) it is that we seemed to get snow every other day. I tend to have a little bit of OCD when it comes to snow because snow put under pressure becomes ice and ice sucks even more than snow. We have moved into a new house and with this new house comes about 3x the amount of exterior concrete. My boys are getting older and are becoming much more of an asset around the house so last year they were the main removers of snow, but this year, they will get a bit of a break because of our work today.

We have a lawn tractor with some good American power (Wisconsin based Kohler) under the hood. This tractor hasn't had much to do the last couple of years and has been somewhat neglected as it has been in storage. I thought, what if I put a snow blade on the front of that neglected tractor ? A Saturday project was born.

This baby needed some tlc. The front tires were flat, there was a oily grime under the hood. I am not sure when any of the filters or the fluids had been changed. Off the boys and I went to the parts store for supplies to tune this baby up. We came back and got to work. The oil was drained, fuel filter replaced, oil filter replaced, spark plug replaced and the oil refilled. My two boys, Zach & Matt were right there with me watching and doing the whole way as I tried to explain to them what each part did and how to do each task. We got to the carburetor and decided we might as well take a look at that. We ripped apart the carburetor, got some carb cleaner and went to work. We opened the carb and cleaned it all out and blew it dry with our air compressor. We put it back together and mounted it to the engine then replaced the air filter. I got out the power washer (more Wisconsin power by Briggs and Stratton) and got the grime off the engine and frame. We then put the hood and fenders back on the tractor, hooked up the electrical connections, inflated the tires, put the key in the ignition, and she fired right up. Honestly I thought for sure the battery would be dead. She is purring like a kitten. I let the boys take a celebratory lap around the cul-de-sac.

Like most men, when you can take a menial task and put a toy between the task and the man, the task is now fun. I now look forward to the snow and will have to fight the boys to push that snow around.

So...If women truly understood that more toys, er I mean tools equals more stuff gets done around the house with a better attitude. Perhaps they wouldn't object so much when we "need" something. Just a little thought.

BTW- More meat marinating in the fridge for a date with the smoker in the morning. Details to follow...