March Huh?

 Here is a problem that has been with us for as long as we have lived here.  This edge of the driveway includes a shallow ditch to drain rain or melt water intending to avoid washing away the road surface.  Given the lay of the land, no plow can keep the snow out of the ditch.  Our earlier ice storm covered bare ground with freezing rain and that mixture made a solid bond with the freezing ground.  Never before have we seen ice that could not be chopped and removed.  Despite warmer temperatures this ice absolutely cannot be broken free from the frozen ground.  Melt water has worked its way under the edge but the frozen mass soon sends that water back onto the driveway.  I was able to shovel three loads of thawed gravel and worked with the snowplow driving backwards dragging this mess from the ditch and placing it back in the lane.  The issue that remains is the soggy trap with thawed gravel over deep mud.  We may get three inches of snow tonight and I fear that a professional plow will move huge amounts of gravel from the driveway leaving it totally filling the ditch area.

An afternoon of above freezing air temperature and contact with sunlight have created this mess.  To the left of the remains of the newly carved gully, the driveway remains running water free and rather solid.  To the right of the gully, melt water and eroded gravel have created deep mud.   All of the thawed gravel from the supply pile has been placed here and packed down using my Toyota Tacoma as a steam roller.  Nothing more can be done today to smooth out the ruts ahead of forecast snowfall.  We will see just what tomorrow brings.