My Guardian Angel Works Overtime!

Did you ever wonder why we need a guardian angel?

Last Saturday night we had gotten about three inches of snow so on Sunday morning I went out to clear it. Now I do not bother using my snow blower – I actually keep that in the shed so it’s out of my way.  No, instead I use my Bobcat scoop because why slowly move two feet of snow walking behind a snow blower if you can quickly move five feet while sitting? 

I got the Bobcat started and glanced down by my right leg as I moved the choke up and down a bit to help the engine warm up. I noticed the seatbelt laying down by the choke. I briefly considered putting it on since I always do while I’m working in the back yard. I thought, ‘…no need. I’ll just be on the flat driveway and a little in the street so I won’t be on any tilt to worry about it.’

So I revved the engine and took off out of the garage in high gear at full speed….about 6 mph. I plowed the first path along the west edge of my driveway all the way to the street and then continued to push it where the city plow dumps most of the snow from our cul-de-sac. This particular snow event the city plow did not get nearly as close to the curb as they normally do so I began moving the snow around so there wasn’t a big pile in front of our driveway. As I pushed it through the street and picked up a few small piles, I decided to put this load between our mailbox and our neighbor’s. I headed towards the edge to dump it but still had the scoop flat on the street.

Our curb is basically a ramp with a lip where it connects with the street so I normally don’t worry too much about it but I still like to raise the scoop before I run into it. For whatever reason, this time I was a little slow at raising it and I slammed into the curb.  Did I tell you it was at full speed?  And although the manual says high gear can only go 6 mph, I’m pretty sure I was doing 7 or maybe even 8! Well you know that physics principal about a body in motion stays in motion unless acted on by another opposite force? It’s true … painfully true. I flew forward amazingly fast and my skull connected with one of the steel support beams for the cage intended to protect the driver. After I finished swearing and checking body parts to make sure everything was still connected, I made a couple of quick passes through the drive to clear out the middle lane behind my wife’s little car since I knew we were probably heading to the hospital. By the time I put the Bobcat in the third spot in the garage I could feel the top of my head getting cool from blood.
   

The hospital staff was very nice as they fixed me up and did a brain scan (apparently it’s still in there!). They thought that I was very lucky to have been wearing a hat or I might have been scalped!  Six stitches and a big Band-Aid later we left in time for lunch.

So there are two schools of thought about this event. The pessimist says, “why the hell didn’t my guardian angel make me put on the seatbelt?”  While the optimist says, “wow…what a great life lesson. I lived through it without any major damage. My guardian angel really helped me out after letting me make a mistake!”

I’m an optimist.

I have to be. I’ve had too many things in my life where it really should have turned out much worse than it did – this is just the latest example. I’ve nearly died at least three times which I write about in my book: Hungry For Mars? Here’s Your Menu!   (I know – it’s a little odd to talk about me almost dying three times in a book about what food you will likely eat on Mars but trust me, I tie it in well with what I was talking about in each section).

I won’t go into the details of each but basically they involve a power line, a SCUD missile, and some pissed-off ground hornets that I’m apparently deathly allergic to.

Although I grew up Catholic, I’m not sure I remember ever being told about the different types of angels other than our mom always talking about us having a guardian angel with us at all times. According to catholicexchange.com, a guardian angel does 20 things for us including warding off demons and strengthening our minds. The wikipedia article on “Angel” says they are a supernatural being who is God’s servant and that personal guardian angels are part of that group.

I don’t know what category they are or what department head they report to but I certainly appreciate them!

Author:  Bill Claman               3/11/22            Blog #00004