My Big Bold Prediction

With winter being something of a bear, but not hibernating, I'm going to go out on a very cold limb and predict something. I'm predicting flooding in the spring.

The snow is 10 feet deep at the shallowest place. We're able to clean our chimney just by walking up to it. I'm locking my upstairs windows now just to keep people out. It's ridiculous.

It's about time, not that it's getting warm yet, to go to the basement and make sure everything is up off the floor, because I'm sure there will be more than a trickle of water when the time comes.

So that's my prediction, and here's my advice. Get the sandbags out now. Maybe make a few sandbags everyday and have them stacked up somewhere handy. Avoid the rush later.

As Big As Icicles Can Get

I saw a really big icicle yesterday somewhere. It was hanging off a building, like they do, but it had dripped down and frozen about as far as it could go. It was very very close to touching the snow on the ground. The snow, you should know, is several feet deep. So it isn't the actual ground it's getting near.

It made me think about stalagmites. They're the ones, the rock formations, that go up if I have that right. It seems like the teachers used to tell us the one that ends in "tites" has to "hang on tight," so that would be the one going down. Thank goodness for helpful little reminders like that.

The icicles had accumulated outside my bathroom window. Now I see most of them are gone. We did have a few warm days a week or so ago, so they must be gone from then. But there are still plenty of big ones all over the town. The ones I saw yesterday were just a sample.

Salt On My Gloves

The other day I was trying to get rid of some ice. For this terrible task I was using the salt that comes in the big bag. There's a downside there.

One thing about this salt is, if you even get around it you're going to be tasting salt. I think I can taste it now, and it's been days since then.

I got it all over my gloves, and apparently it kicks up some micro dust in the air and attaches itself to your lips. Every once in a while you're tongue will hit your lips, and when it tastes that salt, you know you've gotten into something nasty. Especially since on the bag it says something about "phosphorus something or other" that you're not supposed to swallow.

But how much is too much? I immediately went and rinsed and wiped my lips. But still it lingers. I was just telling someone about it today...and as I started telling it (like now) I started tasting the stuff again. So that might be my imagination. Or it might be lingering, like a time release thing.

The big thing I've been wondering about is what kind of precautions they take with the guys who work with this stuff, like at the packing plant. It must be brutal. Now I know why the slaves in movies always look so down when they say "Back to the salt mines."

A Blizzard Day

Something about a snowy day, when the wind is whipping through at 50 mph, and there's white out conditions, makes me want to stay home.

They advise against going out, so that's a pretty good reason to stay in. They say to stay off the roads, because of the terrible danger. And they even close the highways leading out of town. So what they're trying to say is "Stay home."

There was an article in the paper where the sheriff was lamenting that people often ignore the official warnings. And next thing you know they're in a ditch somewhere, needing assistance.

My big fear about being in a ditch would be that the sheriff would be sitting in his office, heeding his own warnings, and wouldn't notice me in a ditch. So I'd freeze to death out there, where I shouldn't have been in the first place.

As it turned out tonight, I did have to go out. So I went and did what I needed to do -- official business for which I was commended for being faithful to do it in spite of the weather, when it would have been so easy to call and say I couldn't make it (sloughing off was the word they used). I was thinking, "Well, I do have a conscience, and I am conscientious." Just don't tell the sheriff!

Then I went to the store and picked up some foodstuffs. Because you never can tell. I don't want to starve to death at home. The sheriff doesn't make housecalls unless someone reports you for waving a gun.

Here I am now, in the house, listening to the blizzard assail my windows with its wind and awesome fury. It'd be a good night to have shutters on the house, assuming they wouldn't be frozen open.

Driving On Snow And Ice

Tires are meant to drive on clear roads with plenty of good traction. They don't know what to do when it's ice and snow. But if there's good tread, of course it's better.

I was driving in some of this yesterday and I could feel the car doing some shimmying back and forth on it, slipping and catching itself, as there's patches of clear pavement mixed in with the slick.

A lot of thoughts go through my mind in these situations. Such as, Keep a clear focus. But then, Stop thinking about keeping a clear focus and just have one by nature. Too much thinking can distract your mind from what it's supposed to be doing.

There's a whole series of things your feet have to be doing. Letting up off the gas at particular times, pressing it at other times. Your eyes have to be looking far ahead and anticipating. It's a constant struggle.

The big thing that helped me get through the plodding pace (at times) was a recent viewing of the movie "Doctor Zhivago." I looked at the snowy fields and thought about Zhivago trudging across one, with icicles on his mustache. And the people traveling from Russia by walking hundreds of miles in the snow. At least I didn't have to do that! Suddenly 35 mph looked pretty good!

A Snowy Day

We're already "In the Bleak Midwinter" and it's not even officially winter yet.

Snowy days and Tuesdays always get me down.

What do I care how much it may storm? I've got my gloves to keep me warm.

Talking Trash To Ice

I took the dog out for a walk, like always, and noticed a vast difference between today and a couple weeks ago. Today is the first day of Spring, and back then it was winter.

In the fullness of winter, the snow was piled high and deep. It's a heavy mess, like 50 pounds per shovel. And you can barely get rid of it except at a high cost. A big truck will come and haul it somewhere but it's around $50 a load. Then there was all the ice on the sidewalks and on the driveway and road. And even on the south side it lingered forever.

The snow, pushed and shoveled to the side, leaves the ice stuck forever. It's definitely the boss and stays where it's at. You can't arrest it, reason with it, or whip it to any good effect. You chip at it and it just hardens its resolve.

Some of the ice I needed to get rid of was obstinant. I used sand and salt. Then when it warmed up slightly I thought I could spray water on it (the water being warmer than ice, stands to reason). But it must have had an underlayment of residual cold because up came the icy tentacles and claimed the water as its next victim.

Now, though, now I gotcha! It's been warm and now it's spring. So I'm doing my yearly trash talking to the snow -- not so tough now, eh? -- and ice ... You who were so persistent, you who could not be moved, where are you now? It might be bad luck though, because even though it's spring, it still could turn off cold and we still could get more ice and snow. Hope not.

Blizzard Conditions

There's blizzard conditions out tonight, especially in the country. I haven't been there but I experienced it last year, and today looks like that.

We had total whiteout conditions, going like about 5 mph on the highway and sometimes zero. There were wrecks, crazy winds, drifts, the works. It was one of the worst experiences of my life.

It just so happened we pulled into some little town and there was a little motel, like five or six rooms total. And we happened to get one. There wasn't even an attendant there. You call on a phone and she tells you to go into the room and in the morning leave your money on the desk. Small. But it was our salvation that night.

That was a very cold night, like way below zero. We had the dog with us and I kept taking it out so she wouldn't pee on the carpet. I assured the lady on the phone things would be OK. My tire looked like it was getting low. I was freaking out. Unnecessarily, as most freaking out is unnecessary, since the tire was going to do what it was going to do. But a mechanic said it was from the extremely cold temperatures, probably.

We made it out the next day, made it home. But I'm glad tonight that I'm already home. And not out on the road!