Things I Hate

[lydy]

On my rather extensive list of things I hate, right at the top are being cold and heavy physical activity.  Guess where snow removal falls on my list of hated activities.  

Pamela did some shoveling yesterday, and David and I did a bunch of snow-blowing and shoveling today.  And it's snowed at least three inches since then, plus a lot of blowing and drifting.  So it's all to be done again.

I am not going to do more today. But tomorrow, I will probably have to get out the snowblower again.  WTF, April.

Even though I dress appropriately, in layers, if I spend much time outside, when I come inside my legs, especially my thighs, develop cherry red and fish-belly white splotches.  Sometimes big splotches, sometimes little ones that look like a rash.  After a while, they start to itch.  Sometimes, this also happens to my face.  I find that if I get into a hot bath as quickly as possible, that deals with the problems, and I usually don't get the itches.  I have no idea what causes this.

I am so done with winter I could scream.  So much snow! 

Comments

[naomikritzer]

Right there with you. Shoveling/snowblowing absolutely wrecked me today. We have a high-quality large snow blower but I swear it weighs approximately as much as a Volkswagon Bug, so it's still exhausting to use.

I hate snow shoveling but can put something of a good face on it for a few months a year. Not when we get 18 inches in April.

[lydy]

We have an adorable electric snow blower, light and useful, but it does require managing long extension cords. I didn't want a gas driven one, as those tend to be the devil himself to start. A battery powered one with multiple batteries might be better, but this does the job. Mostly.

[naomikritzer]

We have a battery powered lawn mower. Worked fine on our dinky Minneapolis lot but our St. Paul lot is bigger and it's pretty dysfunctional. But I hate it VASTLY less than I hate our snow blower.

Electric start?

[lsanderson]

A lot of smaller gas snowblowers have electric starters that run off 110v. They involve no actual work to start other than setting the gas, choke, pushing a gas primer a few times, engage the safety, and pushing a button once it's plugged in. They cost $50 - $100 more than a manual start, and are well worth it (At least to me).