It has been a strange winter. Normally will plow/blow 12-15 times a year. Only used the blower once so far. Had planned to keep about 2" of hard pack but it got thicker as I was not going to waste time and fuel to take off 3" of new snow, so it built up to over 4". We drive 4 WD pickups so there is no need to get **** about removing snow.
Currently have a good layer of ice on the drive. But it is melting and that works very well. Not going to go out there and mess things up. I have ashes from the insert if I want to speed up the melt or add a bit of traction on the curves. Once it melts a bit I may run the landscape rake over the mush to get a few ridges if it looks like it will freeze again. But still learning.