“I ain’t cold yet. Whadya need?”

Gigantic snow-storm yesterday (Friday, December 19, 2008).

(Photo by the so-called “old guy” with the dreaded and utterly reprehensible Nikon D100.)

Ended up with about a foot.
Blew out driveway with my utterly reprehensible Jap tinker-toy not blessed with bobbie-pins and paper-clips.
Billy, across the street, the onliest son of the recently deceased 94 year old nosy neighbor, and living in their house, called last night to ask the following:
“What kind of snowblower is your husband using?”
His blower broke, so he had to have his mower-man come plow him out.
Plus he’s in his 70s.
“A Honda,” we said.
“Boy, that thing sure does the job,” he said. “It’s throwin’ the snow about 50 feet.”
“Where’dja buy it? Gotta get me a blower like that.”
“Brodner Equipment” (“BRAH-dner,” as in “bra”), we said; “long ago.”
“Don’t go all the way up to Brodner,” I interjected.
“Victor Power Equipment. That’s Ontario County; only 7.25% sales-tax. Brodner is Monroe County; 8.5%.”
“Plus Victor Power Equipment is nearer.”
“Or ya could just as well go to the Canandaigua Lowes. You’re pretty-much on your own anyway. I’ve done a lotta work on that blower.”
“Although Brodner was the one suggesting I not buy a tractor/blower combination. —That the blower I had was the best blower money could buy.”
“How big is the motor on that thing?” Billy asked.
“I don’t know,” I said; “except I know it’s big.”
“It’s a 28-inch cut, and it chewed right through the snowplow drift at the end of our driveway.
That was about two feet deep, and mostly ice.”
Just lash that there Ariens to your GeezerGlide, Boobie; and we’ll go at it, mano-a-mano.
Billy’s plow-man left a big drift in front of one garage door.
“I’m hopin’ he comes back tomorry and dresses it up.”
I took my wuss-machine across the street and removed the drift for him.
“I ain’t cold yet,” I said. “Whadya need?”

RE: “‘Old guy’ with the dreaded and utterly reprehensible Nikon D100.......” —My loudmouthed, macho, blowhard brother-from-Boston, who is 13 years younger than me, calls me “the old guy” as a put-down (I also am the oldest). I also am loudly excoriated by all my siblings for preferring a professional camera (like the Nikon D100) instead of a point-and-shoot. This is because I long ago sold photos to nationally published magazines.

We live in “Ontario County;” Rochester is in adjacent “Monroe County.” “Victor” is a small town near where we live, and is in “Ontario County.”

RE: “Just lash that there Ariens to your GeezerGlide, Boobie; and we’ll go at it, mano-a-mano........” —My brother-in-Boston has an Ariens (“ar-eee-ENZ;” as in “arrow”) snowblower, which he noisily claims is superior to my so-called “Jap-crap” snowblower; except his snowblower has minor repairs done by him with bobbie-pins and paperclips. Mine needed a new housing after the original got torn up on our stone driveway; and when I replaced the housing, I put the augurs in backwards (so they moved snow out instead of toward the rotating paddle). A cotter-pin broke, messing up the belt-idler clutch, and I repaired that. I also reinstalled the augurs the right way. But by then, it hardly moved snow at all, despite running fine, so I had the shop “tune up” the belt-drive. Now it’s a bear. —“GeezerGlide” is what I call all Harley Davidson ElectraGlide cruiser-bikes. My brother-from-Boston has a very laid back Harley Davidson cruiser-bike, and, like many Harley Davidson riders, is over 50 (51). So I call it his GeezerGlide. —I call him “Boobie.”

I threw Brodner’s “that the blower I had was the best blower money could buy” at my loudmouthed brother-in-Boston who noisily claimed Honda snowblowers were nothing compared to Ariens. He called my Honda a “wuss-machine.”