Robot Claw

We had our first snow on…Thursday. Over 8 inches of snow fell during the day, and it was an absolute bear to shovel on Friday morning before we left for work. Here’s the driveway after we had finished:

Yesterday we got a snowthrower. More specifically, a Toro brand, 828-LXE model. And it’s a beast, both bigger and more powerful than the one we used to have for the Marcy home.

We were supposed to get a mighty storm today (and through last night), but so far the total snowfall seems less than Thursday. Even so, it was more than enough to put our new toy through a workout:

The leftmost image is KLS, the rightmost (obviously) me. Since I don’t really mind shovelling, much of the driving force behind getting this was KLS, especially since I’ll be gone for 3 weeks just after Christmas. She loves it, so I’m glad 🙂

Here’s a video of me using it. The manual claims it can throw snow 45 feet, and I don’t doubt it!

We bought this lovely item yesterday:

As you can see it’s apparently a crazy-loud plastic horn toy. How loud? Who knows, I haven’t yet opened it. The warning about earplugs and outdoor use only is promising though.

Anyway, the possibility of obscenely high noise was enough to win me over on this product (found in a grocery store). Especially with Christmas so close (right now it is wrapped waiting to be opened by someone very lucky). But one particular aspect of this product made it an absolute, no-question, must buy…

IT’S FROM THE FUTURE!!

On Christmas day, we will know what next week sounds like 🙂

We put our Christmas tree up earlier this week. Here’s a shot:

< Our tree, sans decorations What's that you say? You'd like a closer look? Here you are: < A closer look I know what you're thinking - “Isn’t there something strange about that tree?”

Ok ok! You got me! I’ll just come out and admit it – yes, the tree is fake.

But hey! It’s the 21st century and this is the golden age of artificial trees! Real trees are so 1984! Fake as it is, the tree looks beautiful

To prove that, here are two more shots showing the detail of the realistic branches and how nicely the lights are entwined into the tree:

< Two closeups For reasons I'd rather not go into we haven't added the decorations yet. That may have to wait until the absolute last minute ;)