Well. It is with immense pride and satisfaction that I can announce that the snow and ice are officially cleared off our driveway. (We don't need to delve too deeply into why it was there, except to say, for benefit of those of you who haven't lived with it, if you don't clear snow off the concrete on the day it falls, you will probably regret it.)

It has been well below freezing ever since the snow fell, and the snow on the driveway was becoming increasingly packed down and icy as the days went on. Finally, yesterday the temperature soared to an amazing 48 degrees F, and the ice began to melt. I went out and hacked away at it for an hour or so, and managed to clear the sidewalk part of the driveway completely. (The rest of the sidewalk was fine, since it had been shoveled before.) I also got parts of the driveway done both above and below the walk, but the tire-ruts (or ridges, as they became) were intractable, and there were still big swatches that were potentially treacherous. It's supposed to go down into the low teens later this week, which would have made those spots extremely slippery, indeed. I've already fallen once this winter (not on our driveway, though), and I'm not eager to fall again.

Besides, I always think, "What about the mailman?" One of my biggest fears is that someone will get hurt because of ice on our property. I would feel horrible if that happened, not to mention being financially liable. (I'm not sure why it's the mailman who worries me, but he seems perpetually in peril at our house; even if he doesn't fall on the snow and ice, there's still the danger that he might be bitten by the dog. Really, when the day comes that people no longer get snail-mail on a regular basis, I will be very relieved, I'm sure.)

Also, the older I get, the more I discover these weird little throwbacks to childhood; the Lassotas always had a tidy house, both inside and out. Over the years, I've gotten more dependable about getting the snow off the sidewalks, at least, and making a path in the driveway for the mailman. (Although really, I don't think any mailperson worth hir salt would get hurt on somebody's icy walk; you'd figure out pretty quickly which houses were the dangerous ones and go through the snow instead.) And I'm conscious of What the Neighbors Think. I don't like being a slacker-house. (Bad enough that we have so darned many cars that one, at least, always has to be on the street.) I hate it when the grass gets long in the summer, and I always plant flowers out front. Our back yard is often wild and woolly, but the front yard looks at least minimally acceptable by neighborhood standards.

So, back to the snow and ice. The high today was 29, so before I went to work I ran up to the store and got a bag of salt. I sprinkled it on the remaining snow-mounds-turned-to-ice (because, of course, everything that didn't melt yesterday froze again), and went off to campus. I got home about four hours later, and went out and started chipping away again. I have to say, it was incredibly satisfying. I was able to get the shovel in between the ice and the sidewalk and lift off whole big chunks with relative ease. So satisfying to watch ice that's 3-4 inches thick break off in pieces.

Now the driveway is virtually ice-free. I am inordinately proud of myself for having vanquished it. (I am woman, hear me roar. And pass the Advil, will you?)