Hosed

I hope everyone had a really nice Christmas.  I felt very lucky this year – I have a job, I’m relatively healthy and I got to spend the holiday with my family and friends.  It was perfect.

It’s funny how priorities change as we get older 

On a not-so-wonderful note - last year my snowblower died.  When I took it in to get it fixed, I was told that it would basically cost as much to get it fixed as it would to buy a brand new one.  I opted not to get it fixed.  Instead I went for a cheaper solution – I decided to get a blade for my tractor, which not only saved me a lot of money, but it also gives me more use out my tractor than just brush-hogging.  It is working out great for clearing out my driveway - once I figured out a good pattern.   Plus I’m practically able to make a five-lane highway out to the chicken coop – no shoveling or lifting involved!  There was a bit of a learning curve to get the blade at the right height where I wasn’t tearing up all the gravel in the driveway, but still removing as much snow as possible – but I think I have it figured out.
In theory, I had the perfect plan. 

In reality, something always goes wrong for me. 

The power-steering hose broke, so until I fix it, I have to hope that we don’t have any significant snowfall.  I was hoping it would have warmed up a bit this weekend – I don’t have a garage, so I have to wait for the weather to cooperate before I can work on it.  My fingers are crossed that I will get the tractor fixed before the next big snowfall – I really don’t want to have to shovel if I can help it…