I wasn't the least bit surprised this morning when I ambled into the garage to start the snowblower for the first time this season. I poured in some year-old gas, pushed the primer button a few times and pulled the cord -- about 20 times.

Nothing.

Before I even walked out the door, I said to my wife, "Wanna take bets on whether the snowblower starts?" She politely declined.

As I spent the next hour shoveling like a sucker, I pondered the reasons the old Toro failed me in my time of need:

1. I didn't completely empty the tank last spring.
2. I didn't so much as check the spark plugs.
3. I didn't buy new gas for the season.
4. I didn't try to start it before my neighborhood got hit with a bunch of snow.

So I totally had it coming. But wait, I have an excuse!

I actually have three, yes three, snowblowers in my garage. My father-in-law gave them to me a few years ago: one good one, one crappy one and one for parts.

The "good" one worked perfectly when he demonstrated it to me. Then, the day I fired it up for the first time, it worked for about 30 seconds, then died. And never started again. The most impressive thing I could get it to do was to shoot a blue flame out the side (yes, I know it's probably a carburetor issue).

I even changed the spark plug, which turned into an empowering but useless venture. Finally, I stuffed the "good" snowblower into the corner and began using the crappy one.

The crappy one has been fickle but generally useful. It seems to start when it feels like it, and usually refuses to work during heavy snowstorms.

That's why, last Saturday, I finally took the "good" snowblower to Ace Hardware to get it fixed.

And, like the rest of Milwaukee, I'll probably wait till July to have it ready.

So no, I wasn't surprised when the crappy snowblower didn't start, and I admit that it's probably my fault. But somehow that didn't make me feel any better during my morning shoveling.

Next call: Ace, to get an update on that repair ...