The First Snowfall

I don't mind winter. I'm not much of a winter sports type of gal, but I've got lots of long underwear and fleecey layers, so I'm pretty good in the snow. But I have to say that I'm facing this winter with a mixed bag of anticipation and enthusiasm.
I'm a bit behind in my list of winter preparation tasks... work was busy and then my mother-in-law came to visit for the week. So there are a lot of boxes to check off in the "get ready for winter list". The gravelling of the driveways and inner yard needs to be done, and we wanted to widen the entrance to the driveway off the road - trucks have a hard time turning in. I did manage to get a bit of weatherstripping and caulking done, but now the front door doesn't close to well. I haven't figured out when to turn on the electrical heating wire around the drainpipe from the sump pumps / laundry (and since I don't use hot water for laundry, I expect that freezing will be a problem).
But today it snowed, and it was pretty exciting. Winter is much prettier in the country than in the city. And thankfully the house feels toasty at 67 degrees! I got a good look at what it will take to plow the drive, and contemplated how much calcium chloride I will need to combat ice. I think I'm going to order in a big pile of sand, just in case. When I drove into town tonight, I went extra slow (cursing myself that the snow tires were scheduled for the weekend, a bit late!) and discovered that the back way into town is quite a bit more slippery than the main road.
So far, though, I don't feel too much like a city slicker (although the neighbours might laugh when the gravel goes down over a few inches of snow... but at least the ground will be frozen and the bobcat won't sink the way the truck has been sinking with all the rain).
I think that with one more week of hard work, we'll be ready for the snow, and then it will be a real pleasure to look over the snowcovered fields out back, sitting in front of the fire, glad to have bought the plow attachment after all.