SOB Stole My Snowblower!

[sparrowhawk]

The people here are filled with so much good will that I forget there are others capable of doing the opposite. Here in Michigan, we were hammered by the snow storm, not as bad as in the East, fortunately. But the gents we hire to plow our snow use the snowplow to clear our walks. When the fellow who regularly does our snow came today, he discovered that the blower was missing. Called the cops, but what can they do? A couple of suspects, but without a serial number to identify it (it's about 20 years old, but works well), we couldn't claim a snowblower was ours in any event. The only thing I think I know for sure is that the thief doesn't smoke a pipe. That would be unimaginable. So guys waiting to see the photos of my desk, you'll have to wait a day or so until we find another working blower. Sorrry to lay this on you, but I have nowhere else to blow off (pun unintended) steam. :|

 

[allan]

It is impossible for me to even conceive that the perpetrator could every have been a pipe smoker.
My sympathies to you.
We are locked in with about 10 inches of snow (which I realize, if you live in Buffalo, NY, is nearly springtime) and our plow guy broke his plow on a hidden rock.
Sometimes I wish that I had Peck's little plow machine that he has up there in Canada-but wait, I don't want to live in Canada.
Oh, well.

 

[woodsroad]

We have 4" of slush, and a 150 yards of gravel driveway. Not much to be done about it. I moved what I could with the snow blower, it was more like squeezing it through a Play-Doh Fun Factory. It will all freeze solid tonight.
My condolences on the loss of your snowblower. It isn't fun spending $ on a machine that gets used only a few times a year. Keep your eye on Craigslist, there are usually a few for sale in the Spring, when folks move. If you are lucky, you'll find one that was well kept by an old guy who is moving to Florida.

 

[mephistopheles]

That sucks. I hope justice comes swiftly to the thief!
I live in Michigan too. Speaking of snow blowers... My dad recently purchased an electric blower. We've been using it for the sidewalk and to create a path for our dog, Avery. Anyway, my brother took it out today to clear the dog path and the lever that turns the shoot is totally broken/disconnected.
Feel better, SparrowHawk.

 

[johnnyreb]

Several years ago now we had a big hail storm come thru the area. Lots of people were getting new roofs, gutters & siding. Roofers were really backed up with work. I gave my roof job to a local company with a good reputation but he in turn subbed it out to some cheaper labor people from south of the border; the kind that always follow the story season around. My roof had two layers of shingles already so it had to be stripped down to the sheeting. They brought in a big stake bed truck for the trash instead of a dumpster.
The last day of the job I came home about noon and noticed they were all taking their lunch break sitting around on my covered patio in back. Two or three days later after the job was complete and they had cleaned up and left I noticed my big stainless steel BBQ grill with cabinet & side burner was gone from my patio! I believe those SOB's put it up in the back of the stake bed truck and took it when they left!

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Snowblower? What is that? Is that what they use to make fake snow on the ski slopes?

 

[woodsroad]

An interesting theft conundrum:
We bought our house from the estate of a childless couple who had lived here since 1949. We feel a real kinship to them, even though we never met them. For the first 5 years or so, total strangers would stop by and tell us stories about them. They seem to have been a wonderful, eccentric and charming couple who lived their lives as they chose, and enjoyed every minute of it.
Anyway, they were a bit superstitious. There were horseshoes everywhere, hanging off the front steps railing, slung over the propane line where it enters the house, one on top of the electric meter box...found one around the TV antenna on the roof, one on the mailbox and one hanging on the well line. Just about every place where bad juju could enter the house. Well, over the years, almost all of them have gone missing. Vanished. Delivery people, repairmen and the occasional passerby actually stole the good luck out from under us. Part of me says that they must have needed the good luck more than we did, the other part of me asks what happens when you steal someone's shield of good fortune? Isn't a stolen good luck charm antithetical to the peace and comfort that it purports to bestow? I don't feel any less safe now, I think that those old horseshoes had already done their work, but I pity the man who vests his well being in the precarious position of stolen goods.

 

[sparrowhawk]

Yeah, cosmic, I blow the snow into a waiting dump truck and drive to the nearest ski resort and blow it on the slopes. :D

 

[woodsroad]

Snowblower? Ah...that harkens back to a certain woman and a ski trip in Vermont...

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Coming from someone who lives where it has actually snowed less than ten times in my life, why blow the snow? Why not just use a heater or flame thrower? But then again, I'm always looking for a reason to use a flamethrower. He he.

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

Sorry to hear about your snowblower. I truly believe there are good people in this world (many of whom post here regularly) and then there are pieces of complete trash (may they all stay away from this forum).

 

[lordofthepiperings]

I'm from Vegas, what's a snow blower?

 

[danielplainview]

Sorry to hear you got ripped off. Are you saying you know who took it, but since you don't have a serial #, there is nothing the police can do? A detailed description of your missing item should be enough for the cops to question these dirt bags. Good luck.

 

[sparrowhawk]

Yes indeed I do have a good idea of a possible thief, but that's a long story about a potentially homocidal maniac who lives down the block from us (he even has a Facebook page showing off his muscles on a naked chest), but the police said they can't go to his door and knock accusing him of burglery. I understand their position. In fact, if this individual does have it, I'd as soon leave him alone, but as I said he's demonstrated in the past that he could be dangerous, and I have an 81 yr old mother to care for. The blower is 20 years old, and technically and monetarily worthless. It's not worth taking a chance over, and the police apparently don't want to either. Someone will come along, in the meanwhile, to shovel us out. But we're all vulnerable these days. What I will do in the spring is close the worn and damaged side door, put a lock on the inside permanently, so the only way anyone can enter is through the main garage door itself, which would be quite loud. (The keys don't work anymore for either door.) The pleasant alternative would be to get a dog, but both of us are too old to manage the problems with a dog, as much as I miss one.

 

[woodsroad]

Well, as others have said, that sux.
Replacing the garage door lock is a pretty simple operation and not very expensive. It's a DIY job for anyone but the dead.

 

[warren]

I'm really reaching here, but if there is a positive to the theft, there will be more room for the desk repair.
Seriously, I'd drive my tractor to your place and blow the snow but, with a top speed of nearly 15mph it might take me a while to get there.

 

[buroak]

Sorry to hear that. I would be less upset if the thief had made off with a new snowblower - they made them better 20 years ago.

 

[sparrowhawk]

The rot of it is, we're pretty sure who stole the blower, but the police say they can't accuse him of anything--constitutional rights, police limitations of power, that sort of thing. And, in theory, even if they did find the thief, they couldn't prove the blower is ours because, silly me, 20 years ago I didn't think to record the serial number on the machine. BTW, the fellow we believe who stole it is a genuine, consciousless psycho kid, probably no more than 20 yrs old. The future of America. Glad I won't be around to see it. In the meanwhile, we're filling out applications to have the city attend to matters such as snow removal and lawn care, since my mum is 81 yrs and I'm disabled and approaching 60. So it will work itself out. I only count myself lucky he didn't take anything else from the garage, or damage my car. Maybe I can use this as an excuse as a reason for getting a dog!

 

[sparrowhawk]

UPDATE: I broached the subject about having a dog as a watchdog for the above reasons: Mum actually assumed a thoughtful look in her face (she usually scowls), and seems to be considering that it might indeed be a good idea to have a dog in the house. One of our dogs in the past alerted us to a flooded basement, and another alerted us to a roaring fire in a building across the rear wall of the house. So maybe this will have a happy ending after all.

I had always wanted a bulldog, but they are worthless as watchdogs. It would have to be small to medium size. A spaniel, or a spaniel mix, perhaps?