Salt

According to today's Washington Post, the District of Columbia has used 24,000 tons of salt on the roads since November. I don't suppose that we've had more than six inches of snow in that time. The result is salt everywhere. It bounces from the street to the sidewalk. We track it into the house. Today I vacuumed the doormat rather than shake it over the porch rail, in hopes of sparing the shrubs. The 4100 block of 17th St., NW, which is the last block of a long downhill stretch, has a thin drift of salt most of its length, about six inches wide. Friday morning I saw a worker at 18th and N Sts. NW using a leaf blower to clear salt dust from the sidewalk.

The forecast is for rain tomorrow. I hope it will clear the streets, and rinse the curbside grass and trees.