It’s Best To Stretch To Avoid Being On A Stretcher

Ah, yes…Winter. With Winter comes that white stuff. I found out the other day that that fluffy white stuff is a little harder to move around than it used to be. On a rare day off, with about five inches of the fresh, light, fluffy snow blanketing the house, yard, cars and anything else within our fence line I decided to tackle it with my trusty shovel. Actually, I think it’s called a snow pusher. I haven’t seen the term ‘snow shovel’ in sales flyers for quite some time. For some reason we’ve all gotten so politically correct that the word ‘shovel’ is bad. It’s now a ‘snow pusher’ or ‘snow remover’ or ‘snow lifter’ or ‘snow clearer’ or whatever. Anyway, I head out to the yard with many tasks at hand. I plan to ‘push’ snow along a path from the house to the back gate, from two places along that path to the shed, along another fence line our dog likes to use as a washroom and then I plan to dig out little ‘pit stop’ areas for the dog. Three of my neighbours are out clearing their driveways – with electric or gas-powered snow removal apparatus. I’m doing it the old school way. Well, within an hour I’m done and quite pleased with myself. I decide to go inside for a hot drink and to warm up. After the hot drink I decide to lie on the couch to warm up. After warming up I decide to take a short nap on the couch. After the short nap I decide on a slightly longer nap on the couch. After the slightly longer nap I decide to move some more snow around – this time in the front yard. Add to that a couple more ‘winterizing’ projects and about another hour of time and I’m thinking my day is done. My back is sore and I want to skip the warm drink part and get back to the napping. I should have stretched, I thought. It’s just a stabbing pain that makes me think I may have pulled or pinched something that would likely go away after another nap. I was partly right – I had another nap. And for the rest of the day, partway through the night and for part of the following day I had a little reminder to stretch the next time I think it’s just a little bit of snow in the yard.