S-N-O-W is that four letter word I've been mumbling under my breath

I love the snow...under CERTAIN conditions.  Growing up in the desert, I did not have to shovel snow.  We could drive up a well maintained road to a mountain resort and enjoy the snow while not having to work with it.  Then, when we had our fill, we could drive back home to our warm, sunny spot in the desert valley.  That was nice and enjoyable.  Now we live in Iowa...it's a whole different story here.  Between the arctic temperatures, the strong winds blowing across the plains, freezing rain and a whole bunch of snow piling up in my driveway, I'm starting to re-think my love of snow.  Ok, not REALLY - I still love the snow...I'm just not liking Iowa so much right now.  What I AM rethinking is my wish-list for Santa.  This is my new wish list:  SNOW BLOWER.  That's all I want/need.  Why didn't I ask for this back in 2003 when we moved here?  or the next year?  or the next?  Why do I forget this one essential item?  Because we normally don't get slammed with snow until AFTER Christmas and the memory of such horrible, backbreaking days shoveling ice-snow is just an inkling of a nightmare long past.  So instead, I get to send Randy outside to chisel away the foot tall ice hump at the end of the driveway while I rest my aching back from shoveling the rest of the drive.