Spontaneity is dead December 15, 2010
Posted by Judy in Musings.trackback
Gone are the days of “okay everyone, we are going to Frederick today!”
Gone are the days of “Oh, we need to go to _____ to buy _____, let’s go!”
Gone are the days of “holy cow, the kiddies are crazy, we need to go on an outing!”
Gone are the days of “Let’s go to the park.”
Gone are the days of “Let’s go to Joann’s to buy some fabric.”
Gone are the days . . . at least for the season. We got snow on Friday. Now, when I say snow, I don’t actually mean anything appreciable, less than and eighth of an inch. But, that was enough for the county to go crazy with the salt. When I say crazy, I mean CRAZY! I really should take a picture of the piles of salt laying around. For some reason, the county seems to think that dumping a pile, 1-3 inches tall of salt on the road is actually useful! Not so much. Of course, this means that the roads are all white and no matter how slowly you drive, you car WILL get coated with salt. (I should add that the roads were very slippery on Friday, so the salt was probably necessary, I just think the application of salt could have been more prudent!)
We are blessed to have a fun little car . . . a 2005 Ford Thunderbird. This isn’t the best picture, but it’s the only one I have for the moment. (*sniff sniff* Old house, how we miss thee!)
Salt is the enemy of the undersides of cars. You can always tell when a car has lived in a snowy climate . . . the underside is rusty. Many people take their cars through the automatic carwashes and do an undercarriage wash. Given that we have a convertible and we actually LIKE our car, that’s not an option. Standing outside in the freezing weather spraying water on the car is also not an option. So, when the first bit of salt hits the road, the T-bird gets garaged for the season. That leaves us with one car, which would be fine is either DH didn’t have to go to work everyday, or if we were happy to be at the house all day, every day. Alas, neither is the case. So if we want to go anywhere, I have to load up the kiddies and drop DH off at the bus stop, and then remember to load everyone up again and pick him up in the evening. This is a serious PITB! So yes, spontaneity is dead . . . . . for the season.
A Diva Moment 
*sniff* for the end of convertible season–we don’t get salted out here (although often I wish they’d at least try!) but it still takes a pretty sunny/dry day to coax the convertible out of the garage in wintertime, except for the days when the mountain car goes skiing and the ragtop is all that’s left for me to take to work. Those ragtops don’t really keep the heat in on a commute that stretches to 2+ hours on snowy days! But I bundle up with scarf, hat and gloves and have survived the cold–now if only people here would learn to drive in the snow!