150 yards of driveway x 3" of wet snow + 60 x 40 yard2 pad by hand 
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Here is my backyard yesterday.
But I don’t have to shovel anything. I can stay at home for as long as I want.
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And that is why I live in the south - we just need to do a little bit of raking (never mind that areas east and south of us got snow in the past couple of days…). 
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Some times I am a bit jealous of that 
But I actually enjoy hand shoveling, I know I must be one of the very few!
I have a pretty weird contraption for that, too, a Wovel. I’ll have to post a pic sometime. It is pretty weird, but it works extraordinarily well. And no back problems!
Is that one of the scoop shovels with a wheel? Any reason you haven’t moved to the 21st century, stopped by your friendly neighborhood sears and picked up a snow blower?
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Yes, and yes!
The reason is I don’t want to run a small engine that is terrible for the environment when I can do it by hand in about 30-40% more time 
Call me crazy!
That amount of snow is unfathamoable to me! I was 2 when we lived in OH, so I’ve heard the stories about snow that came up to my chest, but I of course don’t remember that. The 1/2-1 or 2” we get every few years is plenty for me - I don’t do well (healthwise) in colder climates.
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I am like @Pianoplayer7008, I use the natural snow removal system called sunshine. Snow in Tennessee rarely stays on the ground for more than a day or so, I can wait.
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At my last house (same town) up on The Hill it was not uncommon to have 5+ feet of snow in a single night… back behind he house it was not uncommon to be able to walk from the snowbanks strait onto the roof. just the way it drifted all around that house made it damn near impossible… really that’s the main reason I sold it. 3” of snow doesn’t even make me put shoes on;)
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I grew up in western NY so big snow storms were pretty typical. My dad got mad at me and my younger brother one afternoon (we were probably all stir-crazy!) and sent us out to shovel after the latest big drop. The neighbor came by with his brand new snow blower and offered to clear the driveway. I told him no thank you ('cos, you know, we were supposed to do it!). Sometimes I am amazed that my brother still speaks to me!! 
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I find a snowfall to be very peaceful. The snow dampens all the sounds. Looking out the window with the snow on the trees is visually relaxing.
Until the power goes out then it all changes in half a power cycle. ha ha ha. Turning that into a non-issue is another item on my list of things to do.
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You guys! It was 80° yesterday!!! All the Christmas trees for sale were sunburned and dried up. My area of California never gets snow, but this is a major malfunction weather-wise anyhow. I can’t even conceive of 3" or 5’ or whatever of snow. It’s unimaginable to walk onto a roof from a snow bank!!!
Good luck with the shoveling!!!
And it looks beautiful and peaceful, glad to hear that’s what it feels like too.
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Forecasted high here today is 78. Not abnormal, but the extreme shifts back and forth are wreaking havoc on my sinuses (it was in the 20s with snow flurries just a few days ago).
We have family in San Diego. I so want to visit, partially just to experience the beautiful weather we keep hearing about!
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My “backyard” right now, the first snowfall of the season. Now I stay indoors for the next 3.5 months.
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What a beautiful view and picture! The coastline under its coat of snow is stunning, with the fog in the background.
Sometimes the naked limbs of the deciduous trees can be depressing. But, in this case, they are inspiring: lovely Japanese aesthetics in the lace of the branches and the few orphaned leaves.
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I also shovel by hand, mostly because I have difficulty starting gas engines and electric start is too expensive, plus I’m small (under 5 feet) and couldn’t handle a big machine. I looked into the Wovel but decided probably my arms would get too tired using it, so it’s regular backsaver shovel for me. I have to get out to barn to feed sheep, and it takes about an hour unless there’s so much snow you need to lift each bit twice, and then it takes 2 hours. When I finally get there the sheep say, “What took you so long?”
Originally, it took two days to shovel the whole way, shoveling just half and then slogging through the snow because I was too tired to do more. But after I lifted arm weights, I found I could do it in one pass and actually enjoyed it.
This morning I shoveled for about an hour, and BG went up to 150. A couple of hours later it went down to 35. Can’t win with this disease. I’m type 2 on Tresiba as part of a study.
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That sounds like a normal experience with resistance training exercise, as your body responds to what you are doing. Good healthy work no doubt.
I love my Wovel! You do get a bit of an arms workout, but I don’t think any more than what you would get when you have to do any snow throwing or lifting with a regular shovel, unless you are always pushing only.
Of course, in that case, you could do the same with the Wovel.
I have never had any back trouble with it, even when shoveling 1’ of snow over 150 yards of driveway on bad snowfalls. To me, it is truly a great tool!
@Gretchen, where are you located? Are you seeing a lot of snow this year?
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I’m in Vermont. We just had 7 inches, after about 3 a few days ago.
One problem is that the ground on the way to the barn is very uneven, so I can’t just push.
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Don’t you have a teenaged son?
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