Men and their machines

We all know the special bond that men have with their machines. This bond is even stronger than any human bonds.

So Mr. Ken and I live in New England. In spite of global warming, we still get lots of snow. But Mr. Ken, being the organized person he is, has a snowblower. And being super-organized, he starts said snowblower every week in the summer to make sure that it is ready for the snow. Irony of ironies though, the machine never starts at the first snow. According to Mr. Ken, it has something to do with sparkplug corruption. Hah, and I thought only governments were corrupt.

In spite of Mr. Ken’s love for his snowblower, he does complain about it though. He claims it doesn’t have enough horsepower or ram torque to clear a lot of snow. Judging by the amount of noise this snowblower makes, I think it has enough power to clear our entire street. But what do I know?

As Mr. Ken and I get older, we tend to injure body parts. Tell me, how can someone hurt their back by just bending over to tie one’s shoes? In an effort to stave off any more injuries, I suggested to Mr. Ken that we hire someone to clear our driveway and walkway. I don’t like to state the obvious, but the direct way is the best way. Me: “Dear Ken, you aren’t 25 any more. You are old. Let someone else do the heavy lifting.”

Well, this worked for the last snowstorm in January. I thought this latest snowstorm would be a piece of cake. Me: “So did you call Cory and ask him about clearing our snow?” Ken: “Oh no, I have a snowblower.” Note to self: “Did I dream our conversation about the weak snowblower?”

So our friend Cory comes by to do the snow. It takes him all of 15 minutes. I come downstairs, expecting to see Mr. Ken relaxing in our family room, having been released from snow clearing duties. Mr. Ken is nowhere to be found. I finally look outside and there he is “neatening up” where Cory blew the snow. At least he was using a shovel and not his snowblower.

Sigh, men will never let go of their machines.

What men and machine stories do you have to share?

Snowblower picture is courtesy of Muffet under Openverse licensing.