re: #30 Anymouse

Shovelling snow is a real killer. I am sorry to hear that you lost your father at such a young age. (My own father was twenty-nine.)

My mother is seventy-six and still going strong. If male lifespan averages in my family are an indication (which I have already surpassed by a large margin), she’ll probably outlive me.

Yes, anyone over age 50 should just not do it unless they are in exceptional shape. But you must be old enough to recall the blizzard of 1967: 27” of snow with six-foot drifts.

Much worse was the blizzard in 1978/79: four inches of sleet covered by four more of snow and then four more inches of sleet on top of that: it shut everything down for a week.