I am a pain about shoveling snow in my driveway.
I have this thing where I want it shoveled a certain way and no one else seems to get why.
Here's why.
A) Once you drive on top of snow - or even step on it - it gets compacted and sticks to the pavement. This means that you now cannot scrape it up with your shovel. Not your snowblower either. Which will lead to ruts.
And where I live, ruts are bad. Because within 12-24 hours of every snow fall, we get a follow up temperature drop where everything freezes. And it often doesn't thaw for a couple of weeks.
Especially the ruts.
B) I live on a hill. Once the snow is compacted into frozen ruts, the van won't make the trip up the hill. The neighbors are all familiar with the sight of me getting halfway up the driveway, spinning my wheels in futility, waiting for cross traffic to clear, backing down the driveway and across the street into my opposing neighbor's driveway, and gunning it in an attempt to get all the way up the hill - all the while praying not to be t-boned by a surprise car coming down the street. (We just got new tires that are supposed to be better in snow. God, I hope so - they could hardly be worse than the tires we've had up til now.)
C) The top of my driveway has a space to turn around. This is crucial, because I am a short person (5'2") with neck issues who cannot turn my head all the way around when backing up. Plus, even without the neck issues, I'm too short to see backwards down my driveway. The neighbors are also accustomed to the sight of me fishtailing backwards down my driveway as I attempt to determine where it is and where it isn't. Even when there is no snow I cannot properly back down. So being able to turn around (and not make ruts) is also really important to me.
D) Another reason ruts are bad is that I play harp for a living. This means I move my harp myself quite a bit for gigs and must be able to wheel it out to my van without hitting a rut. Hitting a rut makes the harp jump off the dolly.
This is bad.
My gold harp jumped off the dolly this winter and, after a fall of only about 2 inches, broke off one of the back feet. Turns out this foot is pretty crucial. The harp won't stand up without it. It is currently propped in a corner with two walls holding it up while I determine when I can get it repaired. This is why professional harpists all have more than one harp.
E) I am a female person. This means I wear ladies boots and ladies shoes. I have discovered something. Many ladies boots have no tread. That's right - no tread. Tread isn't stylish you see. Apparently falling on your can in pretty, tread-free boots is stylish.
This would possibly explain why all the guy people around me don't understand my obsession with an ice free driveway and sidewalk. They wear sensible shoes with great traction. Their boots are like all weather tires. My boots are like those tires they sell to people in Florida. I think this may be the year to invest in some high tread, ugly boots. I can always change them after I get to the gig.
So what does all this add up to?
It adds up to me needing the entire driveway shoveled down to the pavement, edge to edge.
Which is why, generally, I am the one who gets to do it.
Which is what typically happens to people who are a pain.
I now understand all those people who move to Florida and Arizona for the winter.
Comments