Winter’s a-coming
2 November 2007Now, you know I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it sounds as though they’ve decided to go ahead and have Winter this year. I know that many of you voted against it – I’m sorry – it just wasn’t enough. In order to make the transition easier, I’m going to give you a few pointers.
First of all, if you’re the jerk who goes to the store at 6:30 p.m. on the day of the first snowstorm to pick up your new shovel and ice melt, and you have the gall to ask for more variety or lower prices…let’s just say you deserve to get a Hummer up your rear bumper on the way home. Be the bestest little scout you can be and buy that stuff now. Get your windshield scraper, your wiper fluid, your tube sand for the trunk, your plastic for the windows…get it now.
Along the same lines (and we’ll go over this again in the spring when it’s time for lawnmowers and window screens) how’s your snowblower/thrower? Does it need a spark plug? Paddles? Oil change? Ditto. Now.
Here’s a little product that everyone should be turned on to. It’s called Opti 2 and it’s an engine oil with a fuel stabilizer. The primary beauty of Opti 2 is that you no longer have to worry about the mix ratio for 2-cycle engines. You can use 1 can of gas with this in it for every 2-cycle engine you have. I can use it in the Vespa. You can use it in chain saws, mowers, blowers, vacs – we use it in our rental equipment at the store and every employee has switched over to it. It has the highest ISO rating you can get and the stabilizer means the shelf life of the gas is longer – though you’ll worry less about it since you won’t have 4 different mix cans sitting in the garage getting old. Tecumseh and B&S support it, as well as all other engine manufacturers.
Feel free to thumb your nose at the dude down the street trying to dig his car out in a 3-piece suit when the snow hits. Or go down and bail him out, you samaritan, you.
Sounds pretty awesome that lube of which you speak.
Both my neighbors have snow blowers and do not do my sidewalk and it is maybe 20 feet worth. Bastards.
And drain yer lawnmowers and weedeaters while you’re at it people! I still got me some mulching to do though.
Gene, you’re a man after my own heart. If you’re smart enough to do some maintenance on your mower this time of year, a brilliant idea is to take the blade off now, get it sharpened ($5.00, and we can almost always do it while you wait) and give it a light coat of mineral oil. It will be ready to shear to high heaven come spring. Again, if you like, with the nose thumbing at the neighbors.
Schteve, I’m sorry that your neighbors – while born with the ’snowblower gene’ were not also born with the ‘do the whole damn block gene’ as most seem to be. My neighbor’s landlord (an ACE customer, btw) has a 4-wheeler with a snow blade. Since we share a driveway with them, I’m thrilled that he does it all and spares us the ridiculously back-breaking task of scooping the entire length of the lot, front to back. I’m sure I’ve never said this about him before, but, what an angel!