Melting

Early this morning while still in bed I heard some sounds outside that I thought could be deer eating my shrubbery. I looked and saw nothing. It wasn't until I got up later that I discovered what the sounds were. The temperature was 37 F and the sounds were melting snow falling off the trees and shrubbery.

Ya. That's right. Above freezing. And with light rain. The sudden warm temperature had the frost coming out of the concrete walk and entryway. I had to be careful not to slip until it cleared up late afternoon.

The warm temperature is good and bad news. Good in that it is above freezing and melting the snow. Bad in that it was still snowing when I went to bed the night before and 3 to 6 inches of snow now lay on my driveway. It would be one thing if it warmed up long enough to melt all the snow from the driveway but the forecast only had Sunday with temperatures above freezing. I didn't want to get stuck with a rough frozen mess on my driveway for the rest of the winter.

So in the afternoon, for three hours, I shoveled the wet snowy slop off the driveway and around the yard.

Ya know, part of why I shovel the snow off all the time is to avoid having an icy mess once it warms up. Even though I avoided having a rough frozen mess, the bottom layer stuck to the ground and I will end up with an icy sheen on the driveway. It will be slippery.

The county snowplow came by early. The snow from the plow bent my mailbox slightly and I had to straighten it out to be able to close its door again. The local newspaper had a recent story about mailbox damage from snowplows and how the county doesn't take responsibility for the damage.

Oh yeah... the weather forecast has another 4 inches of snow forecast to fall Monday. We are continuing the every-other-day snowy pattern. All this snow shoveling is getting me into shape but I would like a break from it for a while.