My Life As A Dumbass

We got hit with snow last Monday.

It started falling Sunday night and went on through Monday. I decided I needed to get ahead of the impending flurry so I went out before leaving for work and fired up the snow blower.

I usually use Premium gas for the snow blower. I have a gas can dedicated for Premium. Unfortunately, it was empty. So I poured what I had of regular from my five gallon gas can and topped off the tank.

I did the driveway and the sidewalk up to Cleveland street. I was making my way back to do my sidewalk when the snow blower started to sputter. It choked along the sidewalk and died right at the driveway.

I pushed it into the garage so I could fire it up again with the electric starter. It's very difficult to start with the pull cord, even when it is warmed up. It ran for a couple of seconds and died.

I concluded that the gas in the five gallon tank must have gone bad or been contaminated. I have had it since sometime last Summer so it seemed logical.

I ended up shoveling our walkway but leaving the sidewalk untouched before I left for work.

It snowed all day and into the night. It continued to snow on Tuesday. What little I had blown was covered up again with another couple of inches of snow.

I decided I had to wait for the weekend to drain the gas, refill it with fresh Premium, and hopefully get it running again.

I specifically set my Saturday morning for Snow Blower repair.

As I was heading upstairs to get dressed, Mom called and said she was having some chest pains. Susan and I dressed quickly, jumped in the car and headed for Mom.

We decided it was prudent to go to the E.R. and get her checked out properly. Saturday shot.

Mom's okay, by the way, but I was at Sacred Heart for four hours.

So now it fell to Sunday to get this damn thing working again. It was becoming more critical because the forecast is calling for snow later in the week.

After church, I ran out to fill a prescription for Mom.  Then I went to the valley Winco store to get some peanuts for the squirrels. They have been looking through the French Doors wondering where their meal was.

On my way home, I stopped at a gas station and filled my designated Premium Gas Can with non-ethanol gasoline.

I set up my workshop in the garage. I backed Susan's car out. I laid down a tarp. I brought in some halogen shop lights to light my way, and began my task of draining the tank.

I grabbed a mostly empty gas can I have for the bad gas. I tipped the snow blower on its side and held the can next to the tank spout to catch the gas. I had it all the way over on its side and nothing was coming out. I grabbed my flash light and peered into a bone dry gas tank.

Perhaps that was the reason the snow blower behaved like it was out of gas.

I was positive that I had topped it off, or at least nearly topped it off when I added gas at the start. I also thought I had about a half tank when I filled it. 

But I have a habit of not paying attention to detail and then concocting some plausible story to explain my lack of attention to detail.

I once tore the whole electrical system of my motorcycle apart because the tail light wasn't working rather than check the bulb.

The good news is that it was an easy fix. I got it running, I finished clearing off the sidewalk. I finished the driveway and the backyard. And now I have time to sit here and write about my stupidity.