When I was a kid, I feel like I remember always getting a ton of snow during the winter months. Maybe it was because I was small and it felt like a lot. I'm not sure. It seems as though as I've aged, we don't get nearly as much snow as we used to, 30 years ago. Global Warming, anyone?
When we lived in our old house, we had a normal length driveway. Steve's dad bought us a new snowblower as a housewarming gift and we used that to remove the snow. It worked like a charm for 7 years.
Then we moved.
Our new driveway is 500 feet long (roughly).
It's not paved.
Snow drifts are FOR REAL.
So when we bought our new house, we had to look into how we'd remove snow from our driveway so we could safely make it to the house.
This isn't even the entire length of the driveway. We're about 1/3 - 1/2 way down from the house.
The blowing snow from either side creates massive drifts!
Steve's dad had this friend who had passed away and had this OLD, POS shit truck that apparently "still ran" and it had a shitty plow on it. Let me be clear: I did NOT want this truck. I didn't want someone else's piece of shit - even if it was for $300. Even if the plow on the truck alone is worth $300. I immediately saw $$$$$$ and Steve's precious time, fixing this stupid truck.
I was right.
I was SO right.
It was a 1994 Chevy.
The body was so rusted, I feared for Steve's safety each time he got in it.
The inside was SO disgusting, I worried about contracting a disease while sitting in it.
The first year, we got a shit ton of snow (the year I stayed home on Maternity Leave from December 20 - end of March). He got the truck stuck, spent 8 hours in our driveway trying to dig it out. I was coming outside (snow pants, jacket, hat, gloves, etc.) to help in 15 minute increments because I had a 2.5 year old and a NEWBORN inside. Someone stopped to help him, got him unstuck, and then my dear husband got the bright idea to try to keep plowing (instead of just coming inside).
And then blew up the engine for one final hurrah.
Tell me why on Earth this man then decided to put an engine into this POS.
He'd spend HOURS on his day off (sometimes, the ONLY day off with the whole family home) to work on this stupid truck. Week after week. I begged him to get rid of it. I begged him to get a better truck (we could afford like a $5,000 truck). Nope. I asked if it had sentimental value to him, because it belonged to Tucker at one point. Nope. I didn't get it. We fought about this truck. Over and over again.
The newer engine kept us going that second year. Barely. It was frustrating beyond belief.
Then, FINALLY, the truck died. Like really died.
For fuck's sake. FINALLY.
So we needed a new plan. A plan that wouldn't cost us an arm and a leg. Steve didn't want a $5,000 truck - he felt that it could and probably would have issues and need work.
So, what did we do? We made a good decision and bought this bad boy. This thing is legit! I was a little worried that an ATV wouldn't be able to move the amount of snow we had. I was wrong. We got snow tires and chains for it, and sand bags to weigh it down. We've had zero issues with clearing snow and this thing can handle a LOT.
For this season (2018/2019), we got a good taste of snow during a November snow storm. I don't remember what the totals were, but they were up in the high teens, if I remember correctly. Then, after that storm, we really didn't much accumulation until about a week ago.
I know how to use it and last week when we got 20" of snow in 2 days (Steve was at work) I was VERY happy that I could plow our driveway enough for him to make it up with the truck (the alternative would be for him to park at the road, walk down our 500 ft driveway and then plow).
Just more "stuff" to think about, living this country life!
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