A comedy of frustration

Almost two weeks ago we drove to our cabin to get more firewood and change the blade on our chipper.  The latter was to set it up for winter storage.

After I hit a deer in March, I’ve been leery of driving alone.  I try to go only when my “eagle-eye” wife can also watch for deer.  She is pretty good at seeing deer dozens of feet from the road and even calls attention to deer busy eating dozens of feet from the road.

But, probably close to where I hit the deer in March, another deer was in front of the car.  I slammed on the brakes, hit the deer, and then it was standing well off the road wondering what happened.  I got out and checked the front end but found nothing even scratched.

We continued on to our cabin and discovered a snowplow mound of snow across our drive.  OK, I’ll get out the shovel in back and clear it off.

Except there was no shovel in the back.  We hadn’t put it in before we left.

OK, I’ll get the snowblower.  It had started with only a couple of pulls a few  weeks ago.  I uncovered it, pushed the primer a few times, and pulled the starter cord.  One times, two times, three times… Nothing!

I pushed it back to the cabin in order to plug it in.  Even though there was not much snow, it still was an effort to get the wheels to turn.

i unburied the cord from under the splitter and plugged it into the outside outlet and into the snowblower.  The power-on light on the cord didn’t come on.  With a bit of wiggling, I got it to come on.  I plugged it into the snow blower and pushed the ignition button.  Nothing!  Not even a few turnovers.

So, I grabbed a snow shovel and went back to the road.  My wife had used a little shovel that belongs in her car to clear a goodly amount of the snow.  I used the bigger shovel to get more out of the way.

Finally we were able to drive into our parking space and unload the car.

We ate our lunch and then I went back out to put the snowblower back by the parking space.  As I started to heave it along, I noticed that the electric cord was not attached to the spark plug!

I put the cord back on the spark plug, and I think I had the snowblower going in three pulls.

The good news was that I was able to work on getting the chipper blade off.  I had already spent three weekends trying to loosen the nuts holding it in place.  I used two different kinds of penetrating oil.  Now I came armed with acetone and a ten-inch breaker bar.  The hardware store recommended acetone to loosen the blue Loctite, supply the level that could be loosened with hand tools.

I decided to try the breaker bar first.  It is long-handled socket wrench.

Would you believe that the nuts loosened with only three or so pushes?

I took the nuts and bolts off the flywheel and the chipper knife, the latter well-nicked.  And I managed not to drop the knife to the bottom of the housing as I pulled it out.  That would be lots finagling to get it past the flywheel.

I didn’t put the sharp knife on.  Our time was running short.  I sort of stuffed all the tools and parts into the shed and covered the chipper up.  I did take off the battery and the solar charging panel to take home to a warm basement.

Putting the chipper back together will have to wait until spring.  ’Tis a pity!  We have a huge pile of balsam boughs to chip.

First blizzard of the season

We've had a few snowfalls in Duluth this season but all of them have been minor snow shoveling jobs.  Now we are on day 2 of a three-day blizzard.  Then the temperature will drop to 0 F to 15 F.  What snow isn't cleared now will be cement later.

This has been problematic to us for two reasons.  One is that my wife flew to Japan this morning.  Two is that I told Denny's Lawn and Garden that I would bring in my chipper for maintenance today.

So we were up very early this morning so that my wife could be at the airport two hours before takeoff.

But before we could go, I had to shovel the walk to the garage and then at least half of the apron to the alley.  I had already planned to take the SUV because I would go direct to Brimson to haul the chipper back.  Good choice.  With four-wheel drive it was easier to maneuver into the alley. Done!  Onto the side street.  Oops!  Intersection was blocked by ridge made by snowplow on through street.  Back up in snow.  Don't hit parked cars.  Back into alley and go another way.  Hurray!  No ridge on the other through street.  All streets were packed snow, even plowed streets.  Three cheers again for SUV with its super-duper tires that are skid-resistant.  Drive 5-10 mph under the limit.

Arrive at airport with plenty of time before my wife's flight.  Haul out her humongous suitcase and place on dry part of sidewalk.  Give her a long hug and wish her a good trip.

Drive on plowed roads at 40mph because they had packed snow.  As I was outbound in the morning I don't think I had a single car behind me.

The snow kept falling and falling as I drove.  I had visions of having to get the cabin snowblower out of the shed, fueling it, and getting it started by hand rather than electrically.  Should I abandon this chore.  No, I told Denny's that I would bring the chipper in today.  After all, they had called me last week that my service request had come up and I had said I would bring it in today.

When I was in the Brimson area the snow seemed to be less deep, in fact it looked like there was three inches or snow or less on the side of the road.  As I drove the final road to our cabin, I thought I might be able to just pull in.

No such luck!  The snowplow ridge was just to high to plow through with four-wheel drive.  I'll have to hand shovel an opening.  Oops!  I didn't put a snow shovel in the SUV!  Trudge through the ridge and walk down the drive to the cabin.  Oops!  Where's the snow shovel by the stoop?  Ah! There it is covered by snow, but at least I can still see its outline.

Trudge back to the road (we're talking about a football field length).  Clear snow from end of drive.  That really was enough exercise for the day, and I had already cleared about 200 sq  ft at home that was fluffy.  This wasn't!

Take lock off driveway cable.  Oops!  I dropped the lock.  I don't see it.  Whew!  With enough foot scuffling I found it.

Drive in close to chipper.

But first check sheds for mice.  Oops!  One shed has an open lock.  How did we not check it on our last visit?  Good news for me and for the mice; none were in any of the traps.

Get trailer hitch out and insert it with the correct ball up.  It has to be the one with the most wear.

Drag chipper to car.  Thank goodness for the wheeled hauling bar I bought.  But the increased leverage won't get one wheel over a frozen ridge.  Great!  Pull this direction.  Pull that direction.  After too many minutes I get the chipper moving.  Then another ridge.  Pull!  Puff!  Pull! Puff!  Finally I get chipper's trailer tongue near the hitch.

But the hitch won't fit over the ball!  I try and try.  I clean out debris from the hitch.  To do this, I let the chipper go back on its feed end (which is about five feet high).  Check the ball, check the hitch.  This has to be the right ball.

Oh, no!  I can't get the chipper upright again.  Am I going to have to abandon the project?  After several tries, I get the chipper upright again.  This time, the hitch fits over the ball and I can latch them together.

I had a few more details to tend to, but you've probably read too many already.

Finally I am ready to leave.  I drive out, lock up the cable, and turn onto the road out stressing the hitch or hitting the SUV with it.

The drive to Denny's Lawn and Garden was slow but uneventful.   The speed limit for the trailer the chipper is mounted on is 45 mph.  Because of the packed snow I generally went 35-40 mph.  Still, the chipper bounced around a couple of times that made me wonder how much it could take.

When I arrived at Denny's the place was packed!  More than I had ever seen it.  It was lots of people in to buy snowblowers or get parts for snowblowers!  The manager asked me why I brought my chipper in during a blizzard.  I replied that I had said I would bring it in on Tuesday when they called last week that they could take it in for maintenance.

After a couple of other stops, I finally got home about one o'clock.  I knew I should go out and shovel and blow snow, but not just yet.  The snow had really piled up since we left at seven.

When I checked for mail, I saw a neighbor shoveling a path on our sidewalk. I thanked her but said don't bother, I'll do it later with a snowblower.

After a leisurely lunch I put long underwear on under my shirt and jeans.  It was a-blowing and getting colder.  I better clear the snow before it set.

I got out, fueled, and started our Duluth snowblower without too much difficulty.  I got most of the snow off our apron including the ridge made by a grader while I was out there.  I also cleared the ridge for a neighbor.

After I finished that, I brought the snowblower around the garage to the walk to the house and the front sidewalk.  It kept riding up over the snow.  I looked at the blades and they were packed with snow.  I cleaned them out, but the same thing happened again.  And again.  And again.  Finally, when I got to the house, I did a more thorough check.

One of the blades wasn't turning or would catch on the housing.  The blade was bent and the shear pin was broken.  Rather than looking for the shear pin, I put the snowblower away

So much for doing the front walk with the snowblower.  Off I went with the shovel.  Even shoveling smart, that is, lifting snow in layers rather than from the sidewalk up, it was a lot of work.

Finally at about four (was it that late) I called it quits.  I'll need to do it all again tomorrow.  At least, I hope, it won't be a 12-15 inches deep.

Now I'm wondering how I managed to reheat some of the food my wife had left me.  I do know that I was so tired, I didn't even want to have wine.  That would have put me to sleep and you wouldn't be able to read this long tale, if you did get this far.  Thanks for reading!

Tired of pouring gas on your shoes?

How often have you poured gas into your lawnmower or snowblower, looked down at your shoes or the tires, and seen gas dribbling on them?  Gosh, darn, you tightened the spout on as much as you could.

Somehow, a couple of years ago, after decades of frustration, I came upon a little trick to get the spout on really tight.  Most of the time, that is.

Place the spout 1/4 turn counterclockwise from where you want it, place the screw ring around the spout, hold the spout a bit up and in its turned position, and tighten the screw ring as best you can.  Then without holding the spout, tighten the ring even more.  The spout should turn close to the desired position.

Now, maybe, just maybe, the spout should be the gas can sufficiently tight so that no gas dribbles out.

Of course, all bets are off with these new "safety cans" with their little stops to prevent accidental opening.  Of course, they also deter planned opening.  How can something be safer if users become so frustrated using it that they become careless in some other aspect?