February 8: Snow Job

Local news announced today that we're expecting our biggest snowfall of the season beginning this Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday. It was this news that finally lit a fire beneath me to load our Craftsman snow thrower into the back of the car and take it over to the Sears repair shop. I'd been having major problems with it starting with our first snowfall back in November 2009. Basically, it doesn't throw any snow...at all! As a result, I've just been manually shoveling the 1-2-inch increments we've been seeing here and there since then. The plain truth is I've just been too lazy to take the darn thing in to find out what's wrong with it; other, higher priorities in life right now. But, with the news of a potential dropping of 7-10 inches in our part of town, I figured I'd better get off my keister and do something about it. Upon arriving at a nearby Sears store, my immediate concern was the wait. I'd never dropped off a product for repair and I didn't know what to expect. Fortunately, no one else was waiting, and it took less than a minute for the service guy to come out and begin the process. Now, we bought this snow thrower back in 2005, shortly after moving into our current house. So, I was expecting to pay something out-of-pocket in order to get my snow thrower back in working condition. But, that's when the scales of justice kicked into full balance for me and my beloved snow thrower. The service guy promptly gave me the good news first, which is that we happened to invest in an extended warranty at the time of purchase, meaning the cost to me would be zilch! However, before I could break into the "happy dance", out came the bad news. It seems that the earliest I can get my newly repaired snow thrower back into my garage is 7-10 days. As Shaggy would say..."zoinks!" I guess I should just be thankful that my snow thrower will soon be working again, despite a short wait, and that it won't cost me a dime to make that happen. In the meantime, I suppose a little shoveling never hurt anyone. Then again, ask me that same question tomorrow. After digging out of 7-10" of snow, I may have a different opinion.