Path

Depending on the winter/amount of snowfall, our driveway gets wider or narrower. The factors of snow removal are a huge part of the equation.

Since I shovel, I tend to start the season by going to the grass and stopping. If Bill has to use the snow blower, it's usually because we've had a significant amount of snowfall. Depending on the temperature, this can either mean Bill widens the driveway because he can't find the grass (it is buried under too much snow and ice on the driveway makes it impossible to find the edge) or the driveway gets narrower because of the exact same reason. Regardless of Bill's snow removal, the same conditions exist if I am shoveling.

When we have exceptional amounts of snow, Bill will often use the snow blower and purposefully widen the driveway so that one can get out of their car, and walk around it to get to the house without having to walk through two feet of piled snow.

This also helps when I go back to shovel the next time, as we learned early on, the piles aren't so high that I can't shovel. (Nor am I shoveling above my shoulders. Yes, that happened in 2007.)

Backing out of our driveway is a challenge but during the winter months it becomes a thrill-ride of sorts. Backing out while it's snowing is an interesting scenario, because the snow often blows between the houses and white on white is difficult to navigate.

Even though my fancy new car has a back-up camera, it does me no good in these fine winter months because all I can see is white.

This means I usually make my own path out of our driveway. Which means the path of the driveway shifts once again.

It would be really easy if our lot lines were straight and if our driveway were straight. That is not the case. We have some weird lot line that runs at a five degree angle (or something ridiculous and minute). The driveway follows that line until it gets past the front of the house. Then it sort of straightens out and spills out into the street in a nice perpendicular fashion.

It always amuses me as the snow starts to melt; to see where our shoveling/snow blowing led us. How far into the grass did we go? How far off the path did we wander?