Relative Something

Yesterday was a jacket-free day. We’ve experienced multiple days in a row with mid-day temperatures reaching, and often exceeding, the freezing mark. The majority were more cloudy than clear. Over the weekend, the sky was mostly clear, and that sun was out! In fact, my face got a little sunburned, much to my surprise. I started the day splitting wood, and it didn’t feel like I was being exposed enough for it to be an issue. I’m guessing it was the driveway work I moved to next that did me in.

The ice has finally released its grip from our driveway pavement. After last week’s snowfall, we gave in and spread some sand over the ice. Then, our fence contractor ordered delivery of more, from a truck with a salt/sand spreader, to apply a dose in front of the barn where they will be working. The truck driver saw fit to give the entire driveway a covering. I’m not complaining, but in hindsight, it certainly wasn’t necessary. The high temperatures ended up doing most of the work.

Now you can clearly see where the drive to the front of the barn will become a loop.

With the ice gone, we ended up with a driveway covered in an accumulation of sand and salt. I don’t want it all being tracked into the garage, so I got out the push broom to reclaim as much as I could. I swept about half the drive, from the house down. Halfway was enough broom work for one afternoon. Plus, I ran out of buckets to put all the collected sand in.

That brought me to my highlight of the day: I got to play like a kid, making a channel through the snowbank and ice on one side of the driveway, to allow a big puddle that formed in the low spot, to drain. For that being a legitimate issue needing attention, it sure was a fun one to remedy. Breaking ice to make water flow is one of life’s simple pleasures.

And how often do you get to break stuff to fix something?

Fun as all that was, Mother Nature gets the last say, as the prediction for today is 6 to 10″ of new snow by the end of Tuesday. The good thing about late winter or springtime snowfalls, they rarely are followed by severe cold snaps which lock everything into months of being frozen. Temperatures are expected to rise well-above freezing by the end of the week.

Bring it on, I say!