Before the phone call came about my friend Playford passing away,  the most momentous occurrence of the day was when our Toro snow blower roared to life for the first time in two years.   When there’s more than a foot of snow on the ground,  the sound of one’s own snow blower starting up is more beautiful than all nine symphonies of Gustav Mahler put together.

We bought our Toro in time for the ‘06-’07 winter season and it worked like a charm, although it didn’t get much of a workout.  That’s probably why when the winter dribbled to an end,  we forgot all about our new toy and all of the end-of-the-season stuff you’re supposed to do (like empty the fuel.)  Consequently,  when the winter of ’07 pounced like a savage cougar,  our Toro wouldn’t start- and with winter already in full swing,  the waiting period for getting it serviced was months, not weeks.  So we endured the snowiest winter on record with nothing but our shovels and our sweat while our snow blower sat up on blocks like a high-priced NFL quarterback with a hamstring injury.

With the memory of all that burned into our minds – frostbitten is more like it – we made sure that we took our toy to the place we bought it,  Central Saw,  and got it back with a clean bill of health just in time for the first ferocious snowfall of the season.   But the real moment of truth was when it came time to start the thing up for the first time yesterday morning.  Would it or wouldn’t it start? I gassed her up,  primed the fuel line, threw the choke lever to the right, plugged her in,  turned on the ignition switch, pressed the start button . . .  and dead silence.   Not even a sputter. But I hoped this was nothing more than a problem with the extension cord, and I grabbed another – reciting the Lord’s Prayer, all 150 Psalms and even a Hail, Mary or two as I plugged her in again.  And voila!   Our Toro started up like a brand new Ferrari . . .   well no, more like a ten-year-old blender,  but it started –  and it was beautiful music indeed.

pictured above:  the sight that greeted us Friday morning as we first opened the garage door.