Threat to mechanical advantage overcome

We had about 5 inches, maybe 6, of new snow here beginning yesterday afternoon and ending sometime overnight. It had pretty much stopped and the plow had been past by 9am this morning. Six inches of snow is a lot if you live on a cul de sac as the plow leaves all of that snow from half of the big paved area at the foot of your driveway. Actually, of course, my driveway. The pile was about two and a half feet deep and about four feet wide. This calls for machinery.

I had a can with a small amount of gas so I just needed to wrestle the machinery out from behind the car to the open door of the garage and get it going. For reasons I was not able to fully discern until I had completed that task I had a heck of a hard time. I discovered when I had the room to examine the entire situation that I had a flat tire on the snow blower. OK, it wasn't completely flat, just on that one side. This seemed for not even a second to be a problem. If there is one snow removal problem for which I am COMPLETELY prepared, it is a flat tire. I am bicyclist, hear me roar. I have a pump. In fact, I have three.

The snow blower is electric start so I string a winter weight blue extension cord from the power source at the back of the garage out to the open door to plug the blower in for starting. After getting the engine going today I retreated to the bowels of the garage and emerged with my old electric pump. I only use one or another of my pricey hand pumps on my bicycles now but when I was first starting out I used to use an electric. I still have it. The snow blower tire only requires 20 pounds of air pressure, I was done in two shakes of a lamb's tail.

I decided that snow blowing and the shovel clean up that follows was not enough for today so I still went out and took a walk early this afternoon. Here is my version of snowy woods. That's in the neighborhood, two blocks over to the south and about even on the east-west axis to where we live.It has been three weeks since the end of bicycling season so I have no new mileage to report but I am able to report that today I exceeded 50 miles walked so far this winter.

**pause**

Yes, of course I keep track. Just exactly who did you think you were dealing with here anyway?

Yesterday in France, FC Istres 2:1 FC Nantes. The string ends at ten. FC Nantes had best get another one going if they intend to contend for promotion.