Investing in winter

I was walking around a Lowe's the other day and spotted a nice little snowblower. I've got a problem with small gasoline engines as the fumes bother my lungs a lot. That's why I use electric chain saws. The neat thing about this snowblower was that it was a battery powered electric. It would be pretty handy around my house. I'd just spent two days shoveling so it looked pretty good.

Then it struck me, how much do I want to invest in winter? It's bad enough that I had to get fuel for the woodstove and furnace. The car needed snow tires so that was another expense. Winter clothing and new boots had be purchased. Heck, I even bought a new snow shovel.

Next year I'm hoping to avoid the whole winter thing completely. Money spent on things like a snowblower takes away from the sailboat kitty. If all goes well my lovely wife and I will be somewhere in the Caribbean. I hope it doesn't take longer than that to get our sailboat situation sorted out.

There are times when I wonder if I should sell my place in the hills of the Great North Woods. When I'm drinking a cold drink on my beach in the summer those thoughts are far away. Now that temperatures are dropping down into subzero territory and the snow's piling up . . .

I do love New England in the summer. Most of my family and friends are here. Then again, New England has a coastline. Summers off the coast of Maine and winters in the warm islands is totally doable.

Now if only I could find a boat my lovely wife will fall in love with and is in our budget . . .

-Sixbears