30° and Partly Cloudy
We still don't have snow. I should check on the snowblower. It is in the garage. I think. It has been taken for granted for more than 40 years, 20 since I gave an old man $100 for it. I had a newer Ariens when I bought an older Ariens. I put both in my truck and brought them to John at Hector's Hardware and asked him which I should sell. He looked at the newer one. "That one has garbage parts and won't last." It was 10 years old and I had paid $450 for it. I sold it on Craigslist for $250 and never looked back.
Then there is the matter of the snow shovel, used so far this Fall to remove leaves.
The shovel, with a rake, and a plastic can, and a two-wheeler, carts leaves to the compost pile.
The compost pile, even when I steal bagged leaves from my ignorant neighbors who send them to the landfill, never seems to gather the volume for which I hoped.
Still, I keep gathering, and adding and composting.
I have a big, old, Honda rototiller I brought here from Clarence. It needs some love. Most of the time it worked but it annoyed me because it would not dig deeply enough.
Before we left Clarence, the soil in my garden did not need that tiller. It was fortified with compost, from the town, where it was free, and from our yard, where it was deliberate.
The soil crumbled in hand like the best stuff from the store, rich, filled with hummus, bountiful.
Niagara Falls should have a pile of finished compost gardeners can take gratis, just like it should have a tree plan. It does not cost money to be thoughtful or write an application for a grant. We only need to say “hey, all trees matter, especially the indigenous ones.”
Then there is the shovel. There is only one. It was winter, 1987. Beth was in grad school. I was self-absorbed. (I might still be.) We were living on LaSalle Avenue near Bailey. I asked her to stop on her way home from some since-forgottten storm. She went to ABC Hardware on Bailey and paid $35. I was livid. Too much!
I see now, a bargain. I have replaced the gromets that worked free. The steel strip on the edge is worn through. The blade wiggles a bit. I may use it tomorrow. To collect leaves. I should have been grateful, not livid. Thank God for Beth and snowshovels that last forever.
