It hurts....
Today was a nice warm (relatively) day in Calgary. A balmy +6c, which meant that it was an ideal day for working outside and getting the all-important task of shovelling the snow out of the driveway done. This is necessary because I had to get the truck and trailer turned around so that I could load it properly. The problem is that my ideal snow-removal equipment (ie: snowblower & ergonomic shovels) are in Shaunavon, since I had expected this house to have been sold months ago...
That left me with the old, heavy, steel shovel, and a small ergonomic one to shovel out the driveway. The ergonomic one is nice to work with, but it's only 18" wide, and can't really get down to the surface I'm shovelling. The steel one is a good 24" wide (or more!) and easily shoves down into the surface, but it's heavy!! Still, the job had to be done, so...
The job took close to 2 hours, including many breaks to catch my breath and let my heart-rate slow down. I'm 39 now, and admittedly out-of-shape. The last thing I need now is to have a heart-attack shovelling the @#)!@$% snow from the driveway. The biggest problem though, is my right shoulder.
Said shoulder has been giving me pain for the last couple of months - strained too much from all the packing and moving (and lifting). Surprisingly, my back isn't giving me much trouble at all, except for some stiffness in the morning. My shoulder, however, is throbbing! Several times this evening I've almost been in tears from the pain. This is very reminiscent of the time back in 2001 when I was walking PoohBear and Dirk, and they decided to run - yanking me off my feet and dragging me for a while. They finally broke free after dislocating my left arm and pulling the ropes (creating nasty rope-burns) out of my hand. That, BTW, was the last time I ever walked them together by myself...
As with that shoulder injury, I've been taking care to be sure to keep my right arm moving; Up and down, back and forth, even though it hurts to do so. I don't want the joint to "freeze" on me, but I'll sure be glad when all of this moving business is over so that I can rest and let it heal properly.
On the plus side of things, I did get the driveway and sidewalks totally cleared, got the last of the outdoor lights (not Christmas lights) down from my trees, and got the fog-lamps installed on my truck and the Explorer. I still need to run the wiring, but the difficult task of actually mounting the lamps is complete. Tomorrow, the real-estate agent is coming over to get the house listed, and I'm also planning to buy some proper winter tires for the Explorer. Probably going to run between $500 - $600 dollars to get all four tires done, but I'll feel a lot safer out on the highways knowing I've got proper winter tires, and not "All Seasons" on the vehicle.