The Impending Ice Storm

I remember a scenario like this once before.  It is warm enough that any precipitation from an incoming storm falls as rain.  But since it's winter, a cold friend inevitably swoops in afterward, bringing with it cold winds that turns anything liquid into ice.  And try as I might to shovel, there is still enough standing water and snow I don't get to, and so getting around turns into a nightmare because everything is frozen and icy.

That is the scenario I am facing now.  This snow/rain/icestorm, which was a blizzard just northwest of the metro area (at least we ain't facing that shit), created a window in which people had time to clear their driveways before it was too late.  Well, complicating matters is that sleet was falling while I was shoveling, so it may be a case of one step forward, one step back.  I was putting down a lot of ice melt, and yet I thought that if the precip was just going to melt that away while more shit was falling from the sky, well, what's the use of even trying to prepare the driveway?

It may be useless.  My time tonight could have been spent better washing the dishes and going to bed early.  Who knows, really?  But I'd like to think that things will be much worse tomorrow if I didn't clear snow off my driveway.  And by the way, after dealing with the "heart attack" snow at the bottom of the driveway, I cleared the whole thing and I am proud of that!

There were three factors in my favor when it came to shoveling just a few hours ago in order to beat the cold winds and air:

1. The weather was warm enough, and calm enough, where no frigid and biting wind would compel me to say, "Fuck this, I'll just deal with it tomorrow."
2. I don't have to get to work today until 1:30.  That allowed me to take my time and do a thorough job of both shoveling and applying ice melt.  No rushing to get to bed in order to wake up at, say, 5:30.
3. And this is the big reason: I can do whatever the hell I want because my parents are not home.  I know that if they were, My Fucking Father would open the front door while I'm trying to take a shovelful of wet snow and throw it up on the grass and say, "Get in here!"  That is stupid.  So right now I get to shovel to my heart's content, even if it's around midnight.

Again, maybe the weather's so bad that all this preparation is useless.  But regardless of efficacy, I have done my best to prepare.  So bring it.