…but hate sliding into snowbanks.
My property has had about 40 inches of snow in the last couple weeks. It has been heartbreakingly beautiful. It has also underlined a problem with my driveway.
I have dug myself out of three snowbanks, all on my own driveway. The driveway is steep, bad enough, but has a sharp right angle turn. Lord have mercy I turn my wheel (coming or going) and my pickup doesn’t manage that turn. Snowbank it is.
No clear solution for the rest of the season; however, I will have to hire a dozer to soften that corner, once it thaws out.
Another beauty of snow is that it is a gigantic temporary water cistern. I have been filling three 5 gallon buckets with snow, melting them, and using the water every way I can imagine.
My tap water is so toxic it makes my house plants sick. Not being absolutely ignorant, I don’t drink it, but buy detoxed water for cooking and drinking… for me, Little Guy, and the Girls.
So in working towards off grid living, I started washing laundry in a 5 gallon bucket, test drive. My clothes got fantastically cleaner! I realized after the fact that snow melt is soft water… silly me. I started scooping up 5 gallon buckets of snow and washing clothes as fast as I can. Sure enough, my clothes are looking much cleaner. Snow is beautiful and soft water too.
I have calcium deposits on everything from the terrible tap water. I use vinegar by the case. Snow melt is cleaning it all up. Snow is beautiful but my huge cistern is temporary, and has melted down to about 6 inches.
Now I am anxiously scanning the weather report, hoping for more beautiful snow.
It makes me feel a little more comfort regarding my rainwater collection project, which will not produce the amount of water that I would prefer. 25 gallons per day is not the US 50 gallons per day average. I still do not have a solar water purifier, but I do have enough materials to make one. I am not as fast as I once was.
On snow days I can supplement rainwater with snowmelt. Maybe I will buy a Brita water filter this week, if it doesn’t make my tap water good enough to drink, it might work for cooking.
In any case, snow is beautiful and puts a nice warm blanket on my roof to keep me warm.
treeseeddreaming 
I find a Brita filter makes my water more palatable, though it isn’t too bad to start with. At least, if you get one you won’t be consuming the toxins in tap water.
Helen, I don’t what is in it, but I do know it isn’t healthy. I have been buying cleaned up water in 5 gallon refillable containers.
That seems an expensive way to get drinking water. Brita filters aren’t cheap but they are better than buying the water. I hope get more snow.
It is 27 cents a gallon. Even worse, it weighs a lot in 5 gallon containers! As I develop home plans, I have to solve all these issues. I read something today that gave me ideas. I’ll ponder it and see what happens. I have solved a lot already!
Having very little experience of snow, I find your post amazing! Thank you.