Snow Throw No Mo

We got another couple inches of snow over the night and I went out with my trusty snow blower to take care of it.

I got the driveway all cleaned off and then I went to work on the alley. I got that all cleaned out as well.

Next I went up the block to Cleaveland street and handled that sidewalk. I was blowing along when suddenly, the snow blower did not want to travel in a straight line.

Then it just stopped moving. Upon inspection, I realized the drive wheels were at a precarious angle that did not look right.

The damn axle broke. 

I have just returned from hauling it out to a repair shop in the valley to have it looked at. They are going to give me an estimate first and then I will decide whether to get it fixed. The higher above $500.00 it goes, the less likely I am to get it fixed. 

I bought this snow blower new in 1998 from Sears. I spent nearly a thousand dollars on it. At the time, I had a very long driveway and I wasn't about to shovel all that real estate.

Now it's 26 years later and Sears is out of business. Apparently the parts are still available but I'm not sure if I want to keep throwing money at this old snow blower or spend the money on a new one.

Susan and I were looking at them at the repair shop and we found a couple nice Cub Cadet models for around $1200.00.

I don't expect to hear from these guys until Monday so I hope we are through most of the snow for now.