Here we go again. It all starts right here — my winter forced exercise program: show shoveling.
The view from my open garage door tells me I’m gonna stay trim this winter if this snow keeps up. The drift is thigh deep, and I will shovel in shifts if I’m gonna get out of the garage. My North Dakota 365 project may slide a bit if I can’t hit the highways and byways because there’s too much snow in my driveway.
At the halfway point I know it’s just the start of a canyon pass I’m digging. By mid-winter the piles on either side of the driveway will dwarf my truck. And to think, I do it all with a plastic snow shovel! I try to do as much as possible before breakfast. That way I’m burning fat stores instead of food stores. Then, when I do have breakfast, it is truly nourishing and not just filling the pit.
It takes about 45 minutes to dig out. I do it in 15 or 20 minute “bursts” of energy. I stop for a break only after I pass out and wake up laying in the driveway. I assume that at that point I need a break.
When I’m done shoveling, I realize that those snowflakes that make the first covering will still be there a few months from now. It’s that old rule of resource management: first on, last off.