Making Yaktrax

I have to say, even those really cool Yaktrax don't hold you on ice. Snow is one thing. But ice, well, it's always a gamble. If you don't know my home, you may not know the nightmare we endure every winter with our driveway. It sucks. If you don't have AWD, don't take a chance and drive down or you may not get out until spring. And in my case, there have been many times where I have been stranded. Stuck and unable to go anywhere that requires a vehicle because mine doesn't have AWD and G keeps telling me I'll be driving that minivan for another 10 years before I get a new one, so suck it up and deal with it. Most smart people won't venture out in a storm anyway, but sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.

Last Friday, for instance, we got an ice storm and of course, school was cancelled. They don't mess around when ice is in the forecast. So what if by the middle of the morning it had turned over to rain. So what if the kids will be going to school in July to make up their snow days (2 already this year!). They were kept safe by staying off the roads. But a little slush wasn't going to keep me stuck at home with four monkeys 9 days before Christmas. I had plans and I was going out to get them done.

Another friend of mine had plans too, but for the second Friday in a row, the weather changed hers, so she offered to take the boys for me so I could get my stuff done. Her gift to me. Priceless! I got the kids dressed and we headed out. The driveway was unforgiving. But I wasn't giving up. I lost 20 minutes, give or take, fighting my way out, but eventually I won after a little bit of shoveling, a little bit of sand throwing, a little bit if praying, and a whole lot of attempts. The attempt is to back up beside the garage and steadily but slowly 'gun' it to the top of the driveway. Most times I wind up halfway up before it is clear I'm only spinning my tires, so I back down again for another attempt. By now, you'd think I have this tricky maneuver mastered, and I think I do, but it was the ice that got the best of me this time.

Anyway, eventually I got the kids to their destination and got my tasks done. I got the gifts wrapped, which took nearly all day. I had parked parallel at the top of the driveway when I returned home so I wouldn't be stuck and unable to retrieve my kids. The thought did cross my mind to just take my chances, but it was a priceless gift my friend was giving me to watch them all day and I could never take advantage of that and make her keep them longer than she needed to have them or they needed to be there. She has four kids of her own. "Um, sorry Colleen, but I can't get out of my driveway. I'm really stuck. You don't mind keeping the boys overnight, do you? I'm sure they've been nothing less than perfect angels for you all day long."
Oh, Colleen, I do owe you one!!

So anyway, I did try to clear the driveway but after my attempts to get out, it is that much harder with the snow and ice packed down from the tire marks. And then it all freezes and so it goes, this treacherous driveway of ours. Yesterday, I had some time in the afternoon and I retrieved the ice pick thingy from the attic and went at it. I neglected to wear gloves and succeeded in breaking up maybe 1/8 of the ice and giving myself two blisters. Today, after all my running around again, I worked at it more, and had better success. Wore the gloves, had more time, and even my darling Christopher offered to help when he got off the bus.

I finally headed inside when I had had enough and figured the kids needed to be checked on since Tommy had ventured off to the swamp with the dog and I couldn't very well expect the 3 year old to be watching the 1-1/2 year old. Good choice, since I came in to find Jeffrey on the counter toasting a couple of bananas in the toaster oven.

The house is saved from another catastrophe for another day. And the driveway is a little bit safer, at least until another snow storm heads our way, so all my efforts will be lost eventually. But maybe tomorrow I'll go out and chip away at it a little more. The long list of things to do before Christmas can wait. Have to make that driveway safe!