Rocks and wet sand

I don't know what to call the precipitation that fell from the sky last night. It definitely wasn't snow. Snow doesn't make a clicking noise as it falls. I guess I'd have to call it a mixture of ice pellets, sleet and freezing rain. Whatever it is, I have to say in all my years of shoveling the white death I've never shoveled anything like it. There is a thick coat of ice over a layer of ice pellets. Before doing any shoveling I had to break through the ice. Once I was through the ice I started shoveling what could be best described as wet sand and rocks. I know that sounds strange, but that really is what the consistency of the stuff is like. The ice chunks from the top layer were the rocks and the layer of the ice pellets was the wet sand. This mess was really heavy and terribly difficult to shovel. Have I mentioned lately my affection for winter?