So this weekend, we got 5+ inches of snow (I live in Minnesota). Normally, I would let my husband take care of the snow removal. It’s kind of a backstory, my husband is a CPA and from January 15 through April 15, works easily 60 hours a week. When I was pregnant with my middle child 32 years ago, my husband would come home at 10 o’clock at night or later, and he would shovel our doublewide, double two car, deep driveway, walkway, deck, and other areas of the house. No complaints from his end however, I knew it was a lot for him. In January, I decided that his health and sleep was more important and I hired a service to come and plow us out. Back then, they also shoveled our walkways.

This practice of hiring a service to plow out our driveway, went on for 30 years or so, until a few years ago when the cost kept increasing, and our contractors were asking for a monthly retainer regardless, if it’s snowed or not.

it was then I decided that we needed to buy a snowblower. I did the research, asked neighbors and friends who had one, made my selection and bought it in the spring of 2022.

Of course, we got no snow in the spring, and very little snow during the winter of 2023/2024. 

Even though I had told my husband, I would be responsible for using the snowblower, he ended up doing it. I’ve never asked him to show me to run it though I plan on it every week. Then, this past fall, I saw something in consumer reports about something called a snow thrower. This was smaller, lighter, and I thought would be good for me to do the walkways, deck, stairs, etc. So I bought it.

That brings us to this weekend when we got 5 inches of snow. My husband was at work and snow is coming down. When it ended at about noon, I took the dog out for a walk. When I got back, I decided that I would use my snow thrower to get things started. But first, I hand shoveled the very fine, very light snow. From the front walk on the stairs. Easy. Then I read the directions and brought out the snow thrower. Sucker is much heavier than I thought, has to be close to 30 pounds. I used it in the back and on the side of the house and then decided I would try my hand at the Driveway with it. It took me a while to figure out how to use it in a way that would not just throw the snow in an area that I had already cleaned, and when I was about a third of the way done with the driveway, the battery died. So I picked up a shovel and decided to do the rest myself. That leads me to where I am today, one day later.

Last night, my back was sore so we skipped an event we were supposed to go to. I took some ibuprofen and went to bed early. I woke up today, and felt better. So we did our usual grocery shopping pick up around the house, meal preparation, etc., and then took the dog out for a 4 mile walk. When I got back, I had planned to go to the gym for my leg day. However, my back was still sore and I was tired. Just tired. So I decided not to go

Now I’m sitting here, wondering if I made the right decision. I know everybody talks about listening to your body and I’m trying to convince myself that I listened to mine. After all, I’m 65 years old.

As I sit here, I’m trying to look at my schedule and figure out. When am I going to get my 3 to 4 lifts in. It’s a busier week and I know I could go in the basement and do 30 minutes of something but I just am tired and don’t want to. So am I listening to my body or am I being lazy? They’re in lies the question.