Bad day for snow clearing equipment

It was cold enough today so that everything would be frozen and I wouldn't have had issues with the snowblower auger clogging up, so instead it decided to die.  I was in the middle of a pass up the driveway, and it threw the auger belt. 


So I put the belt back on, which was in surprisingly decent condition, and fired it up.  As soon as I hit the auger though, large quantities of smoke came out.  I double checked, and both stages (which are what are run from this belt) are free.  Dad mentioned a couple of other things to try, but unless I get lucky, the snowblower is out of commission until I have a place to take it apart, since I have to remove the entire front end of it.  The belt is no longer in surprisingly decent condition.


I did manage to get over to the power with the snowblower before it gave up.  The last snowstorm had ripped out the cord going up to the slab since it is stretched a little bit tight.


So with that bad news, I decided partially clearing it was better than just leaving it.  I completed the driveway with the wheeler.




This is supposed to be a couple feet further back, and now that there is a huge bank there, it is not clearable with the snowblower (if it ran). 


Likewise, I was unable to push it far enough to on the other side, so turning around if I do pull all the way up will be rather tricky. 


I then decided to do something a little crazy, and cleared a path off the slab.  If you hit it in third gear wound most of the way up, it will push it a lot further, but at a cost.  There is a rapid change in slope at the slab, where it goes from a 5% grade to flat instantly.  This acts as a ramp.  Surprisingly the plow didn't get destroyed, but there is a new bend in the front rack on the wheeler.  It isn't bad, I only did one pass like that and learned my lesson. 


I do at least have one pass cleared at the slab though. 


I also shoveled out the steps by hand.  This was pretty much all ice, so I just cleared/carved steps in the ice.



Next up was the roof.  Because I wasn't able to clear the slab, I didn't have access to the other end of the cord I had plugged in earlier, so I had to clear it the old fashioned way with a roof rake.  It needed it.


The roof is all done.  I missed a little bit on the ridge itself, but that is fine.  It had melted down to under a foot, but it was literally solid ice.  I had to chop it with the roof rake to get it to come off in chunks. 




When I got down to the truck after clearing the roof, I discovered that apparently there was enough wind to blow the socket set off the tailgate of my truck.  Since they were in a black container in the sun, they melted into the ice, and then promptly froze.  I think I got them all, as annoying as it was with them all frozen into the ground.  Thankfully this is my cheapo made in Malaysia set, so if one is missing, oh well.


Now that I spent all this time clearing, the storm on Tuesday is now supposed to miss us, which means I could have gone down to KY this weekend, though I would have no longer had the wheeler to clear with, so I guess it is for the best. 

I don't know if Mike reads this, but congrats to Mike on getting engaged :)