berms
Zowee! What a grey day. The bliss of homeownership means that whenever it snows, I get to shovel. At least dad gave me his electric shovel, which is kinda like a mini-snowblower. It won't work on berms, however.
Which reminds me of a berm story. When I was growing up, the snowplow would come down the dirt road where we lived (usually 1-2 days after a heavy snow), and would leave a huge berm across the driveway. A berm is a line of plowed snow that essentially blocks access to the house where the driveway meets the road. So... my parents had a circular driveway, meaning that they had to pull double duty with shoveling the berms. Berms aren't usually soft and fluffy, FYI, berms have a tendency to be hard packed snow that you have to chip away in chunks with a shovel or whatever is handy. Breaking the berm is big work.
If a road maintenance snowplow driver wants to, he can lift the plow as he drives past your driveway, and you can be berm-free. Doing that, creates extra work or something, because they don't do it, except....
One winter day I was coming home, and I can't remember if I was driving yet, or if I was on the snowmobile, but I remember I saw a piece of cardboard at the end of the driveway. I was TOTALLY embarrassed, as only a teenager could be, when I read the following words in my dad's handwriting:
NO FUCKING BERM, YA HEAR?!
Poor dad had just had it. He was at the end of his rope.
Needless to say, we were without a berm the next snowfall.