Icy Mail Trail

Our back door is hard packed snow/ice and very slick. I cleared a portion of the mat off using a hammer.  I put some ice-melt on it but all it did was make little holes in the ice exactly where it was sprinkled.

Since our front door that I normally use to go to the mailbox has been blocked off because of regular snow and all the snow sliding off the roof, I’ve been taking the long route around (using back door) to get our mail.  I decided today that I enjoy my hips (did I just say that) and decided I didn’t want to fall so I set to work clearing a path to our mailbox using the front door.  The hardest part was trying to clear away the snow just off the porch area where all the snow had slid off the roof, compacting it and making it crusty and hard. After finally getting through that part, the rest was fairly easy going.

I was not able to get the ice/snow off of the first step and the ground next to the first step but at least it is easy to get over.  Better than trying to go around from the back on the hard, slick snow/ice.

Yep, just went out and got the mail and it was much easier walking on the snowy, grass path than using the back door and walking around on the hard-packed snow/ice.

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Well, the touch of OCD in me just couldn’t let me leave it the way it was so I just went back out the front door and poured some very hot water over the snow/ice hump.  It melted off quite a bit of it and got me close enough to the step that I could use the hammer to chisel off and break away a lot more.  It was still tough going and I didn’t want to crack or break the cement step with the hammer.  I thought about pouring more hot water on the rest but it was making more ice.  It is also getting late in the afternoon so I decided to leave what was left for another day.

I am happy, however, that we are getting the snow.  Moisture, we really need the moisture/snow/rain.  Things have been getting a bit dry in our little valley these past few years.