In Which Bob Inexplicably Prays for Snow and Other Oddities

Okay, so that's why Bob is praying for snow... he went and bought (not entirely unexpectedly) a brand new, shiny bright orange snow blower. Of course, all we got today was freezing rain (or sleet; not sure which one) and a half inch of ice.
The snow blower wasn't just a good idea. It really was a necessity. The first winter we were here, we sort of lucked out because despite twenty million inches of never ending snow, we had a neighbor who snow blew (snow blowed?) the entire driveway and a nice guy from a near by tree farm who plowed for cheap. The next winter, we had almost no snow... except when we were having dinner guests and I actually shoveled the entire length of the driveway. (Really don't look forward to doing that again). Last winter was an entirely different story and Bob and I threw around all kinds of solutions/ideas: buy a junker truck with a plow on it, get a snow blower, get a lawn tractor with a plow, get a blow torch and melt the stuff as it fell from the sky... we considered everything. And wound up hiring an extortionist to plow. I think I related the epic struggle with this particular shyster- Mike by name- who double dipped and charged us and our next door neighbors for plowing the same driveway twice. He also tried to charge three times what his agreed upon price was after that particularly heavy snow fall. When I threatened him with a call to the Attorney General's Office, he returned our check. Anyway, Bob decided to take the law into his own hands. (See above picture: Bob's hands to the right hand side).
That's how Pascal, the newest addition to the family came to live with us. I think the snow blower was christened Pascal because the instruction manual was in English and French. That figures!

Here's another angle. And here's an accompanying rant. To those local businesses that would like local business, please remember to be pleasant and courteous to your customers who are spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars. When I went with Bob to pick the snow blower up, I was properly dismayed to be confronted by yet another grumpus man. These bearish oafs cannot seem to muster the most rudimentary manners and simply grunt and behave as if engaging in basic courtesy was an unheard of chore. Bob had warned me that these gentlemen were taciturn louts, but I was impressed at just how uncivil they were. I was charmed by a tiny toy chainsaw on the counter, available no doubt for Xmas giving, and I thought to chuckle, "Haha! A tiny chainsaw!" and I made appropriate tiny chain saw like noises. The man behind the counter grunted, "Here's the receipt; we'll bring the blower around to your truck." Maybe I'm crazy, but I'd appreciate a brief, "Thanks so much for your business" or even a phony, "Have a nice holiday." Too much to ask, I guess! I've had nicer responses while buying cheap socks.
On the other hand, I assured Bob that maybe the snow blower will do the trick and we'll have no more snow for the remainder of the winter... (Yes, I am aware the winter hasn't even started. Secretly, I think Bob is hoping for endless quantities of snow!)