Spring Clean-up

Spring street clean-up in Homer

At this time of year it becomes commonplace to see sweepers, front end loaders, dump trucks and road cleaners like the one pictured above on the roads and in the parking lots around town.  Our winters are icy, icy, icy, being on the edge of freezing temperatures here, so lots of gravel and sand are used to keep the roads safe.  It was my understanding that salt is not used on the roads, but I've seen more signs that salt is used in some places, on some roads.  Without salt, the ice stays on the roads longer (like all winter!) so gravel is applied time and again, creating amazing amounts of build-up on sidewalks and roads.

Just last week I was walking on a sidewalk that I didn't know was a paved sidewalk because there was so much gravel.  I came across a section that was cleaned off and it was a stunning difference.  Various groups jockey for position to sweep parking lots as fundraisers (I blogged about doing that last spring).  This year the track team decided to focus on training and not on fundraising through sweeping so they gave up at least 3 parking lot sweeping jobs.  I happened to be part of other organizations that those lots were offered to.  Musical parking lots.

And another view on a different day...