My saving (snow) grace

The loud, deep engine sound filled the whole block. It sounded like a monster truck had just revved up its engine.

It was also the sound of snow miracle — well, a snowblower miracle really. Maybe miracle is a bit overstated, but at the time it sure did seem miraculous.

See, on a morning not too long ago, when the valley awoke to find itself covered in a heaping amount of snow I too awoke to find my driveway seemingly impassible.

Just the day before my roommate and I had worked on the snowblower sitting in the garage. We gave it a helping of fresh gas and a squirt of ether, but to no avail, just a few chugs.

I hadn’t expected much from the snowblower.

I live in the house once owned by my grandparents and they likely purchased the snowblower sometime in the mid- to late-1970s. I realize that’s not particularly old. But you also have to take into account the snowblower hadn’t been started in about 10 years (the last time we had shovel-breaking amounts of snow). Last winter we didn’t even bother with the snowblower because there just wasn’t that much snow.

The snowblower’s age estimate was confirmed with my dad after I mentioned it’s festive coloring.

It’s a nice bright orange and white; not exactly fitting in with today’s models.

So when we set out to bring the thing back to life, I wasn’t too hopeful. After about an hour of adjusting and testing, plugging it into the wall outlet — nothing. We gave up.

Then the next morning I awoke to find a nice big dump of snow in my driveway. (Well, everyone else had it too, but somehow it felt like Mother Nature was laughing at our attempt to resurrect the snowblower.)

As I’m shoveling away in the driveway on the other side of the house I hear the booming roar of the snowblower. At first I didn’t quite believe what I was hearing. Then my heart sank when the snowblower made a few passes and died.

I thought, “It’s all over, we’ll never get it going again.” But with a few adjustments the snowblower was able to roar its way through the snowbank that was the driveway.

So I know for certain that I have witnessed a snowblower miracle. One that at the time seemed to be my saving grace.

That day the snowblower was able to eat its way through a lot of snow and make the driveway passable. It even kept us ahead of the falling snow when using a shovel seemed to only make the snow fall faster.

Sure, the snowblower isn’t perfect. Everyone in the neighborhood knows when it’s out working.

And you have to lift the back end up and drop it down again to make it shift properly from forward to reverse.

But I definitely consider it a friend now. It probably even deserves a name.

What is a good name for a snowblower? Do you name it for color or character like a car?

Maybe Ol’ Orange.

Heidi Desch is the reporter for the Hungry Horse News.