I have not written in a spell, on the site at least. Nature provided a reprieve this past few days. Weather unlike anything I expected, two days reaching fifty in the shade. Much time to reflect, walk my own land, look for signs of animals, and leave technology inside. The snow appears to settle more than melt, but the height has dropped nearly eighteen inches in the last few days. Just in time for the new powder that arrived in the overnight.
It was a light, fluffy, mild affair, but this morning with the snow blower turned eventful when an unseen fallen branch fragment got between the chewing tines and found itself inside blower assembly, and suddenly, no blowing at all. Something snapped somewhere. More snow is planned for tonight, and my old dog wants his routes clear.
I rarely know why something broke when it broke, but a few minutes of snow removal from the mouth of the machine, a few more investigating and I have a working snow blower again. Another set of pins designed to break, say, if you catch a branch in the mechanism. Last Fall I purchased a large satchel of replacement pins for this machine specifically, and am now down to my last forty eight, so I should make it until the real Spring thaw.