Dealing With Ice

We had our first ice storm this week. Now to be fair, I don’t like ice when I live in the city and there is an entire team of city employees who are in charge of dealing with it. You can imagine my enthusiasm as I look out at the “mile-long” drive. I watched the ice grow to half an inch during the day, but Gene was able to get up the hill, so I ignored it and hoped that it would go away.

As Gene was getting ready for work the next morning, we knew we were going to have to put some salt down. I decided that the best approach was for me to sit on the tailgate of his truck and sprinkle salt out of a five gallon bucket while he drove us down the drive. Gene seemed to think there were safety issues involved with my plan.

We are nothing if not inventive and creative in this house. Gene rigged up a “seat belt” for me to make sure I didn’t fall out. You are going to have to use your imagination to picture this, but a tie-down strap around my waist and two bungee cords actually make a nice seat belt. I thought it was all overkill until we turned around and came up hill. As I was leaning over the tailgate at a 45 degree angle, I realized that I was just one bump away from experiencing a toboggan ride down the mile-long drive (sans the toboggan!).

The best part of my adventure was when we turned around at the foot of the hill and I got to wave at the county snow plow driver who was gaping at me. We’ve talked about him before, so I don’t really care if he thinks I’m crazy.