Snow blowing lows

In December, we got our first big snowfall of the season here in Minnesota. It was snowing when I woke up on a Sunday morning and was still snowing when I went to bed that night. Near as I can tell, we got about 10 inches altogether. That doesn't sound like a lot until you think about having to remove 10 inches of snow from your driveway and sidewalks.

I usually check the radar before deciding how to attack the snow removal duties from a storm. If it looks like things will blow through rather quickly, I'll wait until it's done snowing before heading out with my shovel and snow blower. That way I only have to do it once. But this storm just sat over top of us and I was worried it would dump more than my medium-duty snow blower could handle. I headed out to make my first run at the job.

I ended up going through the whole routine twice on Sunday. I knew I'd need one more run at it early Monday morning before my wife left for work if nothing more than to clear a path through the hard and heavy snowplow wake left at the end of the driveway.

My blood sugar was low when I woke up that next morning (maybe from the accidental exercise involved with snow removal). I treated it, ate my breakfast, and headed outside to get started on the snow.

I struggled to get the end of our driveway cleared. It seemed so hard. Much harder than ever before. It took everything I had to get a path cleared for my wife's car. As I was walking the snow blower over to our sidewalk I thought "Boy, that low this morning really beat me up. I feel exhausted."

When I got to our sidewalk I was crushed by what I saw. There was snowplow wash blasted across two-thirds of the width of my sidewalk and a literal mountain of plowed snow where my sidewalk meets the street. The snowplows must have been driving really fast to throw that much snow onto my sidewalk. And the corner? Did they have a meeting of all snowplows in the county? Where did all of that snow come from?

I just couldn't do it. It looked completely hopeless. Impossible to clear, even with a snow blower.

I quit.

I resigned to leave that snow just as it was until the spring thaw.

I went inside, and as I started to warm up I noticed that I felt funny. Can you guess where this is going? I was low again (or still?). That low blood sugar convinced my brain to convince my body that I had nothing left. That low made the snow look impossible to move, and it blew my mind how powerful it was.

The next day I went back out with my shovel, snow blower, and a normal blood sugar and cleared the snow without any problem or complaint.

I might be lying about the complaint part, but still.