I’m trying to write every day in 2025. I need to post and share and build an audience. I also need to be an adult and do adult things because no one else is coming to do them for me. This of course includes last night’s problem with the snow blower.

I was able to come at this problem again at 4 PM today. Time to yank this hat out of the chute and have my new favorite toy ready to roll once again. I sat down on the cold garage floor and thought how do I get this out of there without risking any damage to myself? Now, the blower is completely turned off and the key is 5 feet away, but I’m paranoid. I figure I need a hook. Some way to grasp the obstruction. Digging through all the tools, the perfect solution manifests. A crowbar. Why do I have a crowbar? Because two years ago my son wanted to dress as DC comics character the Red Hood for Halloween and that was part of the costume. I put my feet up on each end of the snow blower like they’re up in stirrups and hook onto a chunk of fabric. It takes two or three passes before I really get in there and then one giant pull.

It’s a slipper. A rubber sole slipper. One that it turns out, was left behind earlier in the day when my neighbor was bringing in groceries. She slipped out of her footwear and couldn’t find it to retrieve the shoe. Thus it became my problem. Well, was my problem. Now I’m just happy to hold my snow chute baby. A quick double check and it was smooth sailing with the wind, and the snow, blowing right back at me. But I didn’t care. Because the panic of last night was passed and led to the victory that was today.

Also all of this led to me getting very little sleep last night and over exerting myself today as 2-3 feet of snow was finally moved. As many of you can see on my video of the day, I can barely keep my eyes open. But I was smart, I took a breath, I didn’t break anything out of frustration, and I still accomplished most of my goals for today. I’m calling all of it a win.

In closing for the night, thank you to those of you who are joining me this year. I have received feedback and I will be working on things to improve these posts and this site.