Only three blocks of Main Street separate the office from our house on Chicken Ridge.  Winter weather can make the commute home an adventure. Snow and Ice cause most of the problems.

Following a heavy storm, snow plows will bury the side walks in two feet of soft snow, forcing us into the street. That works as long as black ice doesn’t form on the pavement. Aki can find a way up Main in these conditions but I’d just slide down to Gasteneau Channel. Those times we take the Sixth Street Stairs.

A wise man designed the stairs to have metal grid steps that allows the snow to fall into the space below the steps. In winters like this one, they always offer a safe passage home. Last winter a series of big snow storms made even the stairs an adventure by almost burying the steps. One night I could see that my safe route would close on the next promised snow. It felt odd, praying for rain in February.