Done In!!

I am completely, utterly exhausted after nearly 2 hours of shovelling out the front of our house and the sidewalk along the street in -27C temperatures.  O my....this is only the second time in the past 5 years that I can remember the snow being up past my knees along most of the sidewalk areas and so encrusted by the constant wind that I had to break it into chunks to manage to remove it.  It is quickly turning into the kind of hard snow that is good for making igloos.  When the length of sidewalk I am responsible for equals approximately half of the entire block it does take some time to clear it.

My husband made me come inside and take a break part way through and I am glad he did.  I am not always wise enough to take a break from any task without being urged to do so, particularly one that is so physically tiring but in such need of being done.  Whew!

It is going to be extremely odd to me when we move to our new place in the city. There will be no shovelling or yard work for us to do as it is all done by the management company.  It will be kind of like condo living in that respect.  On the one hand I am really going to miss it. On the other hand my aging body is starting to rebel during these prolonged times of working so hard outside in the seasons of extreme cold and heat.  I found myself this past summer waiting for the grass to be somewhat longer between cuttings than I have ever waited before and feeling the occasional sense of relief when the rain would come teeming down on a designated cutting day, forcing me to wait an extra day or two until the lawn was dry enough again to cut.

Well, I suppose I had better get moving and get some lunch fixings underway.  I have a roast chicken dinner to prepare for a friend visiting this evening and by mid afternoon there will be sufficient snow blown over the sidewalks again to warrant a second round of shovelling.  Nice to know in advance how my day will unfold.  So far so good!!