Shoveling snow is hard work

This will hopefully be the last installment in what has become an extended series on snow in Ohio.

This week I shoveled two suburban driveways, entirely by hand. I’ve spent a total of six hours shoveling snow this past week, broken into three sessions. (It snowed twice this week.)

One of two shoveled driveways

I am in good shape. I regularly run and lift weights. But even I find two hours of snow removal difficult. I feel like I’ve completed a triathlon or two this week.

Why not a snowblower, you ask? Snowblowers really don’t make sense in Southern Ohio, where we might have a bad winter only one year out of four or five. And here’s the thing about snowblowers: you have to store them year-round.

(I may relent on my snowblower policy, however: I was looking at several electric snowblowers on Amazon earlier this morning.)

Here’s the main takeaway, though: If you’re over a certain age and you aren’t in good shape, you should definitely avoid manual snow removal unaided by technology.

Like I said, I’m in good shape. And I’m worn out from this past week.

-ET