Day 344

Winter weather was here for a week but then it went away. We had a decent snowfall for a night and then it went away. I know eventually winter will come and stay. Along with the cold temperatures will be snow that will not go away.

Unless of course I remove it.

I actually don’t mind shoveling snow. It is a nice winter workout and it does offer up an odd sense of accomplishment.

I grew up shoveling my own driveway and the number of driveways around me. Most of my direct neighbors were older and appreciated the help.

When I became a homeowner, I still shoveled. However, our neighbor had a very powerful snowblower. But he and his wife became snowbirds so while they were in Florida, he allowed me to use his blower as long as I cleared his driveway as well. Because he had such a powerful machine I also tried to at least clear the ends of the driveway each storm. This is where the plows really piled up the snow.

When we moved to the farm, I was able to buy an old but reliable model. Our driveway is u-shaped so there are plenty of places that need clearing. One thing that was definitely different was that our driveway was gravel and not concrete. This made clearing snow a bit tricky. Given the choice, I still prefer shoveling. When shoveling, I don't want to accidentally scoop up loose gravel and throw it into the lawn. When there was enough snow to use the blower, I had to be careful to not have the machine pick up and toss gravel all over the place, including parked cars in the driveway and the house windows. Because we have a long u-shaped driveway, I usually only clear half of it. We also have a gravel path down to the barn, but I haven't ventured into removing any of that snow. I let Mother Nature take care of it.

We’ve considered removing the gravel and replacing it with concrete, but our budget isn’t ready for such an endeavor.

When the flakes fly and you see me shoveling, feel free to lend me a hand.