Snow shovel envy rears its ugly head during big snowfall

Joe and I stocked up for the big storm with our favorite large pizza so there’d be multiple servings. We made frequent trips to the back door to watch that white stuff come down. You have to hand it to the weather forecasters these days. Their reports are pretty much spot on and even though we didn’t want it, we ended up with 12 inches of snow.

No problem. Well, not much of a problem. Oh, it was a problem. I had prepared for the occasion by bringing my favorite 1970s era aluminum snow shovel into the house the night before so I could shovel my way from the inside out if needed. It was needed.

Joe had his battery-operated electric snow shovel, like a mini snow blower, that was supposedly good for up to 6 inches of snow. It was about to get a workout.

We hadn’t ventured out yet when I got a text from my baby brother. Ok, he’s in his 50s, but he’ll always be my baby brother. BB wanted to know if we needed some help shoveling.

Of course, we're not going to turn that down.

Out we went into the cold and there is my BB already hard at work with his fancy new modern snow shovel.

It’s designed like a work of art. The handle was ergonomically curved and allowed the blade to stay on the ground. They work like little non-stick snowplows, eliminating the need to lift and throw snow. You just push it out of the way.

Sure, pusher snow shovels have been out for a while, but they have definitely improved on the design. I’ve always been happy with my 1970s aluminum shovel, but this is the first time I’d ever seen a newfangled snow shovel in action. It worked great.

I looked at my squirrelly little aluminum shovel and then I looked at BB’s Superman of snow shovels. I’m getting jealous, a lot. Yes, it was snow shovel envy. That new shovel was snazzy.

I wasn’t jealous of the electric shovel. It did a good job, but I’d rather shovel snow using my own muscle power.

There was no time to be jealous though, we had snow to move. At our house we started on the patio, shoveled a path to the garage, shoveled a few feet in front of the garage just to have a little more traction in case we needed to get out. We did not shovel our driveway; it was too much. (Big thanks to the snow shovelers with heavy equipment who stopped by later.) Then we shoveled a path to the mailbox and cleaned out in front.

BB lives nearby so he and I headed over to shovel out his mailbox. He lives in the house we grew up in; I have shoveled snow there a lot. When Joe and I first moved back to the neighborhood, I shoveled everyone’s sidewalks when I could. Shoveling snow is good exercise and it’s a satisfying job – you can see how much you’ve accomplished and how much you have left to do.

So, BB shovels around his car and then we started shoveling a few feet in front of the car. I started babbling about that one time when I shoveled that driveway all by myself. It’s shorter and easier to shovel than my driveway.

3 I did shovel the homestead driveway myself it was probably more like 3 to 5 inches snow. I used my 1970s snow shovel as a pusher then, but now that wasn’t working at all. I was slowly taking 6 inches of snow at a time and lifting and throwing it out of the way.

BB was going faster than me. He had the newfangled shovel and he’s more than a decade and a half younger. Youth always wins.

In the end, my BB probably did two thirds of the driveway, and I did one third or maybe it was more like BB did three fourths of the driveway and I did one fourth of the driveway, but it didn't matter, we got that driveway done.

I don’t like these cold temperatures but as soon as the weather breaks, I’m going to be shopping for fancy new snow shovel. Could I be learning that things weren’t always better in the 1970s? I’m an old dog, learning new tricks.