The end of an ice storm is annoying and dumb. I want to leave the house and go get groceries, but I'm not sure I can get back into my driveway yet if I do.

I've been there... grew up in New England & dealt with snow / icy conditions & shoveling as a childhood chore that never went away into adulthood lol. This is why I moved to the Phoenix area. If I want to enjoy snow, I can drive 2 hours to Flagstaff then go back home to 60 degree weather in January.

I will add that the opposite and negative to that is our 110+ degree weather nonstop for 5 months straight from late spring to early fall. I'd rather be hot than freezing cold though.

I've been in Maine my whole 45 years and agree that I'd rather it be hot instead of freezing. However, I stay in this frozen eyeball misery because there aren't any killer bugs or critters 🤣

We do have some scary snakes & scorpions! They both hibernate in winter months. Thankfully, scorpions are nocturnal & glow bright under blacklight so they're easy to spot. I'd have a much harder time if they didn't glow. Snakes are a whole other thing though, we've had baby a rattler in the yard. 😬

Found this little guy in the dog run... would have been disastrous if I didn't spot it before our pup went outside. The guy who came to rescue it told us how to "snake proof" the yard and we did that the same weekend this happened.

Out of curiosity, just how do you "snake-proof" a yard?

Use a roll of 1/4” metal mesh & cover all cracks & openings up to 3 feet high. Our entire backyard is surrounded by solid block walls, so we had to cover the gate area, drainage openings, the space between the house foundation & wall (plus any cracks in the bricks). 🐍 can squeeze in thru tiny spaces