Still Life with Robin: The Day I Beat Snow-crete

 by Peggy Robin

I have always hated being cold. I was never one of those kids who liked to play in the snow. I never did the "snow dance" on the night before snow was in the forecast, hoping for a day off from school, so I could go sledding or to build a snowman. And of course, the very worst thing about snow -- the thing that nobody likes -- is that you have to shovel it.

So, a week ago when the Capital Weather Gang (my favorite part of the all-but-decimated Washington Post) started telling us all to prepare for a lot of the white stuff, I wasn't happy. But I decided to grit my teeth and do the right thing: I made a plan get that slippery white stuff off my front walk. I wasn't going to let the coming snow/ice storm defeat me.

So on the evening before it started coming down - Saturday night the 24th - I put down a sprinkling of Snow Melt on the walkway.

I woke up on Sunday morning to find just an inch or two had fallen overnight. It was soft and mushy from having fallen on top of the salt. It was still coming down lightly when I went out, all bundled up like the Michelin Tire man, to attack it with my ergonomic snow shovel. It took me less than ten minutes to clear a narrow path.

It snowed all day that Sunday. So every two hours I went out and shoveled away another inch or two of snow. It was never more than that in a two-hour period, so it was never that much time or effort to shovel it aside.

When evening came, I went out to do one last go-round with the shovel to leave the walkway clear. Then I sprinkled another round of Snow Melt on the bare fieldstone. And went to bed. 

That night, no snow fell -- only freezing rain (tiny ice pellets) fell from the sky, coating the snow everywhere with a shiny hard layer of ice, turning the snow into the rock-solid "snowcrete" that was the worst thing about this storm. But on my clear, Snow-Melt-prepped walkway, the ice that fell everywhere else was turned into a layer of thin, soft, broken-up bits of slush. So it still wasn't too hard to shovel it off the walk.

When I was done, I put my shovel down, looked at the result of my labors, and was pleased.

I have never been prouder of myself for a physical cleaning task well done. In fact, I've never had occasion to brag before this about anything it's been my job to clean. Tidying up, has never been one of my strengths (understatement of the year!).

This is what it looked like once the snow/ice was done:

However, I will be even happier if I never have to do that again!

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Still Life with Robin is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays.