72 thoughts on “April 3, 2018: Curse Of The Snowblower”

  1. The granddog is not happy with the thunderstorms we've had over the last two days, this on top of the snow on Easter afternoon. It's been an interesting Spring.

    [EDIT: Oh, and hail]

  2. Wild make the playoffs for the 6th straight season. Almost assuredly they will play the Jets and be pretty significant underdogs in the first round.

    FUN FACT: 6 seasons is the longest active playoff streak in the Western Conference*

    * SelectShow

    1. I went to my one Wild game per year last week Thursday against Dallas (win!).

      My ticket was free to me, top row, lower deck between blue line and goal. The goal was the one that the Wild shoot at once. There is an overhang that makes it tough to see the scoreboard. Immediately behind me was a rail for standing. Forty-one home games. Guess the face value of that ticket.

      'Spoiler' SelectShow

      1. We went to a game over Christmas, and I was a little overwhelmed at how much so many MN hockey fans have obviously plunked down for this team (tickets, jerseys, other gear, etc.)

        I'm no one's anti-capitalist, but yikes, it was a little much for me. I'm pretty comfortable just following them from afar.

        1. Even if the tickets were free, getting to the stadium and sitting through 41 hockey games and paying $11 for a can of beer... well, that seems more than I could take.

        2. Also interesting... just in case anyone thinks MN hockey fans have gotten over the North Stars leaving... before the game against Dallas, the Wild gave some award to the original owner of the franchise for bringing hockey back to Minnesota, 20 years after the franchise was awarded to St. Paul.

          1. Drew Pearson pushed off.

            Also, we just celebrated two holidays commemorating events that happened over 2,000 years ago. 😉

            1. Dude. One event over 2000 years old and one that's 1985 years old (give or take). 😉

            2. Most Vikings fans have moved on from that disappointment to a bazillion other subsequent disappointments. I'll bet most Vikings fans of this time don't even know who Drew Pearson is. And it's not like the Vikings themselves are dwelling on that.

              As for the other thing, are you equating hockey with religion? Don't answer that.

    1. 'Nothing to sniff at, Free, but...' SelectShow

      1. Yeah, 112 points ain’t exactly making me a bracket whisperer. I also did popular picks but then made some changes. I was all over Villanova from the start however.

    2. I managed to win my family's bracket. I had 92 points. More than a third of my total points came in the final game.

      1. I'm not sure I like the final game being weighted so heavily. For the people who correctly picked Loyola to go to the final four in your family, they come away with nothing, just like the 2001 Mariners are a footnote. I'd appreciate some system whereby points are weighted by seed or something so you can't simply win an entire bracket by picking the winner but otherwise doing not much else impressive as long as not everyone else also picked that winner.

        1. I understand, but reject your complaint; I've won several times over my life by exactly this strategy (including the first time I ever did a bracket: the one run by Misters Rothstein and Nelson).

    5. I spent the majority of the tournament in first in both my leagues, but in the end was second even in my own home, as the sports-apathetic Skim filled out a bracket with nothing but the knowledge of how seeding works, and picked Villanova to win.

  4. I put the snowblower away, again, last week. We received five inches of snow yesterday but the shovels and snowblower stayed put. It was all melted by sunset.

    1. I decided that driving through a few inches of extremely fluffy snow was better than blowing tons of gravel into my yard.

      I did not regret my decision this morning, and likely won't come May, either.

  5. My snowblower is not put away and may be used tonight. I'm not sure how much gas I have left, but running out tonight would be a pretty good result.

    2. I ran all the gas off of mine on Saturday doing the whole block. I still have a little gas in the garage, so I can do a quick fill-up tonight and burn it all off, too.

    4. My son finally found the spare key for his vehicle a couple weeks ago. Saturday morning he was snowblowing our driveway and dropped his keys, then ran them through the blower. Wrecked the key and now his lanyard is all tangled up in the blower. Not sure if I will tackle it yet, or just let mother nature clear off my driveway.

  6. Sorry, everyone. I knew the weather gods would be a bit upset with me, didn't know they'd punish me by striking at others, though.

      1. Thirty miles and probably about 2-3 more inches expected, too. I think the snow itself is great, I just don't want to have to estimate how much gas to put in the tank for one pass over the driveway, especially because I pretty much nailed the amount at the beginning of the season so I didn't waste more than a few drops.

  7. On another weather related note:

    If I hear one more person reference this unseasonably cold weather as "proof" that global warming is a myth, I may just snap. I would just say SSS, but people around here would not get it.

    1. 'Spoiler' SelectShow

      It's a shame it was never 60º this past February for you to retort with.... hang on a sec, I'm being told that that did, in fact, happen.

    3. If I remember right, it was pretty nice and warm to almost up to Christmas because I was still working outside well into December.

    4. To be fair, I also hear people reference unseasonably warm weather as "proof" that global warming exists.

    6. If I hear one more person reference this unseasonably cold weather as "proof" that global warming is a myth, I may just snap.

      "Global warming IS A LIE!" is one of my stock joaks. But I think most people subjected to it get the joke.

    7. I haven’t heard it once this year, and I’ve been wondering how I got so lucky. Not living near the Milkmaid’s science-averse family has helped.

  8. One bit of weather-related good news: the graveside service I had scheduled for today has been moved indoors. I still have to drive ten miles to get there, which isn't going to be a lot of fun, but it should work out all right.

      1. I made my last batch of split pea soup in mine, starting with ham hocks and water to make porky ham stock. I would recommend going that route, since you can then filter and defat the stock and, if desired, pick the meat. No issue with essploding hock bones.

        1. I did toss a hock on mine and encountered no problems. Doing it under pressure is great, too, because the peas got all mushed during the rapid boiling of the quick pressure release.

    3. Would this be a good device for making Nawlins style red beans? I've got a rice cooker already.

      1. I haven't tried, but I'm sure it would work. I made an extremely successful batch of risotto in it, after all.

    1. Grandpa would buy a bottle of Robitussin, empty it, and WITHOUT RINSING, filled the bottle with blackberry brandy.

      I’m guessing Grandpa was from Wisconsin. Also, hitting classic Robitussin out of the bottle like a cowboy was a great way to experience Matrix-like bullettime in reality.

      1. Heh, I can only imagine what old school robitussin would have done to me. Present day nyquil messes me up and gives me some crazy dreams as it is.

        Also, blackberry brandy is gross. Korbel is gross too, so I think I have too much Minnesota in me.

  12. Went to put a little more gas in the snowblower and... I'm out of gas in the garage. Well, guess we're done for the season after all.

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