If you can find a silver lining in the clouds of our long cold snowy winter, it would be that there is some sense of unity that forms in our collective misery. On my drive home during the big 24 hour snowfall this past week, I saw a number of examples of this. I saw cars stuck in driveways or parking lots and neighbors or even strangers helping out. We live in Northeast Ohio and we all have the comradarie of being in this together. A big snowstorm tends to bring out the helping gene in people. My silver lining came in the form of a special gift.
A brand new "kinky" shovel.
If you haven't heard about the kinky shovel you are not alone. My morning show partner, Scott Wynn began to extol its values earlier this month when I was complaining about my sore back from shoveling snow. He said "you should get a kinky shovel!" He explained that this modern marvel was ergonomically designed with a kink so it eased the pressure on the back when shoveling; or something like that. Trying to take his advice, I went to the store and couldn't find it. There was no brand called the kinky shovel and the next day, I told Scott that. When he stopped laughing long enough, he explained that the kinky shovel was HIS description of the bend in the handle ---not a brand name. What did I know? He kept calling it "the "kinky shovel". I was picturing Billy Mays solving my problems with this brand new device that practically shoveled the drive for you for only $19.95!
I was not alone. Several callers--all female--also went to the store looking for a kinky shovel; but could find none! That prompted Scott to write a blog about the miscommunication between meant and women.
When I came in next morning, there it was: a beautiful blue kinky shovel. I'm not quite sure if Scott was trying to ease my shoveling pain, or my save me the embarrassment of asking the men in the store where the kinky shovel was. (I had joked that I may not have come home with a shovel, but I sure might have come home with a few phone numbers!)
As you might imagine, the snow continued to fall, and boy was prepared! I had the chance to use that shovel quite a bit. Yes, the "kink" is in a spot where you aren't required to bend as much. Problem is, I am all of about 5 foot 1 and it, like most things in the hardware store, is designed for a man, or at least a taller person in general. So, not only did they extend the length of the handle to account for a bend, the bend, or kink in my shovel is in a location that is a little different that my body type calls for. Like a too-short batter at the mound, I had trouble with the length of the handle, and found I had to to choke up on my kinky shovel to get it to work for me, which as you can imagine, as I tried to describe it on the air, opened up a whole 'nother can of worms!
Maybe its time to move to a condo!
Note: you can read Scott's version of the kinky shovel story when you click on his link (to the right) Scott Wynn's Window.
No comments:
Post a Comment