Shoveling is NOT the greener choice when it comes to snow removal

We are being hit with yet another winter storm here in the northeast, yet another reminder and motivator for finding opportunities to move to where the palm trees grow.  So school was canceled and Paul got up extra early to take care of the driveway before leaving for work on the slippery roads.  The prediction was the snow would fall at an inch an hour so I did a little math and realized there would be a ridiculous amount of snow by the time he returned home later tonight.  Even though he has a snow blower, I still wanted to be a little supportive and help.  A little bit.  The only problem is that I hate the snow blower.  I’ve never used it and quite honestly I have no desire to learn how to use it.  I demanded encouraged Nick to get bundled up and come outside and help me clean up some of the snow so that his Dad wouldn’t have so much to worry about later this evening.  Because I hate the snow blower I’m such a green girl, I decided we could just each grab a shovel and get it done pretty quickly.  I mean how hard could it be?  There was only about 4 inches of snow on the ground covering a driveway that could fit two rows with approximately three cars in each and the snow still falling at a rapid pace.
There I was, a wig of snow covering my hat and the hair hanging out of the side of it, looking like a crust, as Nick so sweetly put it when he took a break to tell me how I looked.  Then there’s my favorite part.  The heavy mounds of snow that the oh, so jerky considerate city plow truck drivers leave right at the end of the driveway.  Oh, you know what I mean.  It’s the stuff that easily weighs 100 pounds per shovel-full and might just send you into physical therapy for months if you don’t use-your-legs-and-abs to lift it, rather than your back.  We did what we could do and I’m pretty sure there was at least a fresh inch by the time we walked inside and at this point there’s more again than we cleaned up the first time.
Screw you Mother Nature, screw you!
Now all I want is a long hot bath or at the very least a heating pad for my back.  We already know how not-at-all green a hot bath is and well, that a heating pad will only suck up electricity.  Also, I’m baking cookies to comfort my soul make my back feel better.  Bonus points for the green girl and her skill to spin the electricity meter like nobody’s business.  High freaking five from the treehuggers in the crowd.
The moral of the story is to just leave the snow clean-up to someone else.  Paul might say the moral of the story is to learn how to use the snow blower.  He’s just dumb sometimes.