Indignant Offspring

Saturday I mustered enough fortitude to cart the broken down snow blower project out that has been sagging in the corner of my garage for several months now. I put new bearings on the auger blade, Checked the timing and the gap on the points. Cleaned the spark plug and cleaned the carb out a bit. piled next to the snow blower there was a pile of shrouds and guards and shields that I had no clue how they fit back on to it. After twisting them around and holding them up to the snow blower I finally figured out how all of the puzzle pieces fit back together. Several hours into the project I stepped back and admired the assembled product. Then I reached down and gave the pull chord a mighty tug. The chord snapped off and I almost fell backward after my herculean yank.

Less than an hour later I was back with a new pull chord. I installed it, shortly admired my work and gave the chord another tug. "ZWING!" said the snow blower as the recoil spring snapped inside. Less than another hour later I was back with a new spring. I installed the spring and apprehensively gave the pull chord another tug. The 4 hp Briggs and Stratton engine jumped to life. I wheeled it out the side door of the garage and attempted to test it out on the fresh snow that was falling. When I activated the auger, it made a dull "POP" noise followed by a grinding grumble. Grinding is rarely a good sound with machinery. I turned it off and wheeled it back in the garage.

All of the calamity in the garage alerted Walker and soon he was out in the garage asking what I was doing. "Fixing the snow blower" I said. He looked bored "Hmm" he said and shrugged his shoulders as he plucked a snow ball out of the gaping mouth of the stubborn snow blower. I pulled the chain shroud off of the side and found the auger drive chain had come off. Walker peeked over my shoulder "Why did it do that dad?" I grumbled "I dunno, The stupid chain is probably too loose" I reinstalled it and made sure it was really tight.

This time when I started it, and activated the auger I would like to say I fixed it. If I couldn't claim that, then I would at least like to say that the chain stayed on for a bit longer than it did the last time. It didn't.

I went through this routine 3 more times. Each time just as unsuccessful as the previous. Walker seemed more than happy to occupy himself by tossing snowballs into the chute and watching them come splatting out the front. I sat on my work chair with my wrench in one hand and scowled at the chain lying like a dead snake on the ground and the two stubborn sprockets that kept throwing the chain off. I wiggled them to see if they were loose. It all seemed good. Walker bent down to pick up another snowball and quickly peeked over the side of the snow blower and said "Oh dad, I get it" I said "What?" expecting answer like "This thing takes snow from the driveway and puts it on the lawn!" or "This thing is like a transformer and if it had a laser gun it could shoot a hole in the wall!" instead I heard him say "These sprockets aren't lined up exactly, that's why the chain keeps coming off" I didn't even think he was paying attention. Now with a quick glance he had summed up the scene and solved the riddle.

That's what is wrong with kids these days. No respect for their elders. You gotta help people, not do everything for them. Give a man a fish and he is fed for a day, teach him to fish and he is fed for a lifetime sort of stuff. I sat there trying to figure out a way to make it sound like that was my idea. Nothing came to mind so I pretended like it would never work. "Yeah? You think so do ya? Well if your so smart how do I get them to line up? Huh?" He rocked forward on his one leg and pointed at a bolt. "That loosens up the sprocket. See. Then you can slide it in or out" Then he picked up a pry bar and placed it behind the gear "This one is perfect. Then you can pry like this Then you can pull it out. Then you can take goosey (that's what he calls the air hammer, because he says it sounds like a goose honk) and push this gear in until they line up! Easy!" and just like that he was back to throwing snowballs. I mumbled to myself and stared in amazement "Pfft! That'll never work! you can't just adjust these gears around like this. I'll bet I have to take the whole thing apart and adjust the auger in a bit... somehow" While doing this, I loosened the bolt and adjusted the gear, tightened it up. Used the air hammer and drove the auger gear further on to the auger, put the shroud back on and said "Lookout! I'm starting this and I doubt it works!" I secretly hoped it didn't. I started the engine and activated the auger. The auger sprung to life and merrily churned away, clawing for snow.

KBack in my day we might have known the answers that we could see our parents struggling for, but we respected them. We were elusive with the answers and gave them subtle hints. "What does that bolt do?" "Do you think the gear can be adjusted in or out if you were to say... loosen that bolt?" and then when they did it, we would pat them on the back and say "Dad! you're so smart! You fixed it! Why don't we celebrate with some ice cream!" Dang kids! I could have fixed it without any help. Probably.