You may have heard media hysteria that there is a storm in New England right now, a snow storm, in case you aren't sure. Anyway, it snowed all day yesterday and most of the night last night. Raj shoveled the front path and the path by the barn for the car last night shortly before going to bed; this morning, after another 3 - 4" fell you couldn't tell. This morning it continued to snow ever so delicately but around 8:30 I began hearing tiny castanets of ice pecking at the windows.
Somehow in the general shock and awe of our lives we never managed to get our hands on a snow blower; I wasn't surprised when the sound of castanets was shortly followed by Raj entering the room and announcing, "It's time to SHOVEL." I cannot in good conscience stand back and let Raj do it all; it is a testament to the benefits of physical therapy that I can, actually, dig and lift a shovel, flinging snow with such abandon. Raj tutored me in proper snow shoveling techniques: lift with your legs, not your back; use your arms to to swing and fling the snow, not your back; and stay away from the ice beasties clinging malevolently to the eaves, don't turn your back I added that last one myself.
After donning the 39 layers of clothing required for stepping outside in the middle of a nice rambunctious storm, I picked up "my" snow shovel and set out to beat the path from the Coal Room to the driveway into submission. Raj, already outside, had the good sense to turn the radio in The Bahn on so we shoveled and grooved with Jimmy Eat World, Sting, and The Stones.
Shoveling snow, for those of you who have never had the pleasure, is an excellent workout, especially if you lift with your legs not your back and swing and fling. Upper body workout, lower body workout, cardio...really! The only thing that kept me from really getting into 'The Zone' of my workout was, to paraphrase Ian Anderson/Jethro Tull, the "snot running down my nose." It is difficult enough to reach 'The Zone' but with snot stinging (and, I was certain, freezing to) my upper lip, I just couldn't get there. Even so, the end result is very worth it, and although unsupervised, I completed the task without injury or other mishap.
Raj dug a path from the stall where we park the car to the driveway, a task made harder by the giant drifts deposited in our driveway by the Town Snow Plow.
All in all, a most excellent morning exercise session!
Somehow in the general shock and awe of our lives we never managed to get our hands on a snow blower; I wasn't surprised when the sound of castanets was shortly followed by Raj entering the room and announcing, "It's time to SHOVEL." I cannot in good conscience stand back and let Raj do it all; it is a testament to the benefits of physical therapy that I can, actually, dig and lift a shovel, flinging snow with such abandon. Raj tutored me in proper snow shoveling techniques: lift with your legs, not your back; use your arms to to swing and fling the snow, not your back; and stay away from the ice beasties clinging malevolently to the eaves, don't turn your back I added that last one myself.
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| Malevolent Ice Beasties, mid-storm, 02.02.11 |
Shoveling snow, for those of you who have never had the pleasure, is an excellent workout, especially if you lift with your legs not your back and swing and fling. Upper body workout, lower body workout, cardio...really! The only thing that kept me from really getting into 'The Zone' of my workout was, to paraphrase Ian Anderson/Jethro Tull, the "snot running down my nose." It is difficult enough to reach 'The Zone' but with snot stinging (and, I was certain, freezing to) my upper lip, I just couldn't get there. Even so, the end result is very worth it, and although unsupervised, I completed the task without injury or other mishap.
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| That's some damn fine snow shoveling right there |
All in all, a most excellent morning exercise session!
