Practicing a Little “Space Management”

To coin a phrase used by local talk radio genius Joe Soucheray in his radio show “Garage Logic” – Today I practiced a little bit (ok, a lot) of “space management”. 

For those of you who are not familiar with “Garage Logic” and it’s lexicons - “Space management” is the practice of not losing any space on the driveway to a snow bank. This generally includes snow blowing to the edges of the driveway and following up by sculpting with a shovel, as well as flaring the snow bank where the driveway meets the street to give you an easier turn out of the driveway. Good space management requires both spatial planning and execution.

Since the beginning of the year – my time has been even more a premium than it usually is.  So much so that throughout this time frame and despite several “smaller” snowfalls (between a “dusting” and two inches) instead of shoveling it or snow blowing it (blower is still on the fritz)  - I simply drove over in and packed it down on the driveway.

I do not mind winter in Minnesota, in fact, you could say I love it!  (I love each of the seasons).  Yet one of my winter time pet peeves is a driveway packed with, covered in, and encroached upon with snow.  I love having a clean and clear driveway. 

Today (my last day off before starting back to work) – I spent my day SLOWLY chiseling, chipping, carving and scraping my driveway back to it’s blacktop surface – all the way out (side to side) back to it’s edges. 

With out the snow blower – it was a lot of lifting and throwing.  I would chisel large “sheets” of Titanic sinking icebergs from the surface of the driveway (large sheets of ice and compacted snow that often were three or more inches thick) and either bend over to pick them up one by hand, or attempt to capture on on my shovel..  

I cleared the surface, opened the “apron” (where the driveway meets the street) and even cleaned up the edges.  Without the show blower to “throw” it way out into the yard, the snow really started piling up along the driveway.  Many places the snow banks are well over four feet tall.