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Last winter I took out my little toy snow blower to combat the nineteen inch snow that dropped on us all at once. This puny eighteen inch Toro could handle about four inches of powder, but anything beyond that or if the snow was at all wet, it was...how can I say this?...worthless.
I took it out to battle the elements anyway and it not only failed me completely, it sputtered, stopped, refused to start again and its starter rope broke off in my hand. Just when I needed it most, the little engine that could...couldn't.
I decided that day I was through playing around. That for this winter I would purchase the mother of all snow blowers. A snow blower that could eat up our whole block if necessary. A snow blower so monstrous that children would run and dogs would hide when they saw it coming.
This fall I was good to my word. I bought myself a beast. It's a bright red Troy-Bilt Storm 2620 with a 26 inch clearing width good for up to twenty inches of snow. It's a two-stage, self propelled, electric starter, with six forward speeds, two reverse speeds and...wait for it...a headlight. All that's missing is a seat and a horn. There are bigger snow blowers around, but none beastier.
I brought it home and went over it with fine-tooth comb. I gassed it up, started the engine, walked it around a bit. I made myself familiar with every idiosyncrasy. I and the machine became one.
I parked it at the opening of the garage facing out to the driveway right next to the outlet, ready to destroy the first snow storm that dared find its way to our home.
And there it has sat since the first week of November.
I've waited...and I've waited...and I've waited...and I've waited...and I've...well, you get the drift. A few days ago, the temperature was fifty-one degrees outside. The next ten days don't look promising either.
Oh, we had a couple of small dustings in December, but nothing worthy of this magnificent machine. And the dustings melted off or blew away within 24 hours. (By the way, "experts" predicted this would be a brutal winter. Just sayin'.)
So my machine sits. So some decisions go.
Is a decision a bad decision simply because forces beyond our control negate them? I think not. Decisions should be judged by understanding the light people had when they made them. If the president of a company makes a decision, and then the economy unforeseeably tanks, the decision wasn't necessarily bad given the information he or she had at the time. In sports, because a player gets injured after being traded for doesn't make that a bad trade given the information available when the trade was made. In this regard, we cannot judge decisions solely on results. We can only judge them fairly by understanding the information the decision maker had at the time.
Besides, I still think I made a terrific investment in my snow blower. I have no doubt that it has scared away the snow through sheer intimidation.
And for that I think all of Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin should thank me. Except, of course, those poor folks who bought brand new snowmobiles in anticipation of this winter...or skis...or snowshoes...or ice fishing shanties...or sleds...or snowboards...
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