Hauling Out the ‘Blower, Because You Just Can’t Borrow Them Here

Last winter I learned a valuable lesson.  That is that every household in South Deerfield must own and maintain their own personal snowblower….because you just can’t borrow your neighbors.

It’s like a lot of things, the saying goes…if you need to borrow it more than two times you probably need to own it.

Last January when we had the biggest snowfall of the season, a solid 18 inches, I couldn’t get any of my neighbors to let me borrow their machines.   And it’s not like I didn’t own one, it’s just that I owned a very old 1970s era Ariens that was cranky and not cranking.

I thought they’d take pity on me, looking at their own snow-free driveways….but they didn’t.  Even my polite neighbors across the street, the two women who used to let us use theirs…nope.  After a second polite refusal, I offered a third neighbor $30 to do my driveway.  And then I went on Craig’s list and found a nice Toro with an electric start over in Dalton and voila.

Nope, there are some things you just need to own in this town. And a working snowblower is one of them.

I got a little kick out of how easy it was to clear the driveway, and then started making paths in my lawn to the compost bin and the woodshed. I even created a little parking area by the side of the street. I love this machine and especially that plug in starter.