Last night it started snowing and I thought, ooh, how pretty... I love snow. It's beautiful. I looked outside when I went to bed at 11 and it had stopped but there was probably about an inch already accumulated. Here is the view from my porch:
This morning as soon as I woke up I looked outside to see how much more it had snowed and from my bedroom window (which doesn't overlook much) it looked like it hadn't really snowed any more. I got ready for the day, got all my stuff together, bundled up in my coat and boots and scarf and gloves and headed out the door.
WELL! There was a LOT more snow than I had thought!
I tramped through it to get to my car, went to stick the key in the lock and it wouldn't go in. The lock was completely frozen. Joy. I fiddled with it for a minute and got nowhere. I tramped back inside and set all my stuff down. I got some hot water (I hate using hot water on frozen cars but that lock was STUCK) and tramped back down.
After pouring water on my passenger side lock a little at a time, I was able to get the key to turn. Now to get the DOOR to open! (More pouring of water around the edges...) I climbed through and shoved my driver's side door open. (By now it's 7:10 and I'm way late but I had called my boss twice and she didn't answer so obviously she was late, too!)
I tramped BACK inside, got my stuff, locked my apartment and loaded my car. I started the car, turned on the defrost and started scraping the windows, making sure that I always had at least one door open at all times so I wouldn't get frozen out again!
At about 7:25 I finally rolled out of my driveway. I drove about 15mph all the way to pick Stephanie up (who had called me by then to make sure I wasn't in a ditch).
Steve had told me I shouldn't bother even going in because Hospital Hill was so bad that one of the buses had slid partway down the road. But I go up the side that is much less steep so I wasn't too worried. The only obstacle we had was a semi parked in the middle of the road, debating whether he should continue on. (Obvious answer, if you ask me.)
After work we trudged back out to my car. As I pulled out of my parking space Stephanie asked me if the pavement was slick for driving. I said, "I dunno, let's check." I accelerated to about 6mph and then hit the brakes. We slid about 5 feet. I looked at her and said, "Yep, pretty slick!" She had a look of total horror on her face and said, "I am SO glad you're driving!"
I fishtailed twice after dropping her off, once taking off from a red light and another time on a slight incline. I got home and there was a car slightly smaller than mine trying to get out of our driveway. They tried and tried and kept sliding around. Finally they waiting for a big break in traffic, backed waaay up and then gunned it, fishtailing all the way up to the road. I thought, "Wow, sucks for them" CLEARLY not thinking that I was intending to leave again in about 15 minutes!
Sure enough, I came back out and the same thing happened to me. I gave it about 3 tries and then gave up when I ended up off to the side of the driveway. I realized that it's probably going to be even worse in the morning so I backed into a parking space and got out my chains. (Thank you, honey!!!)
Since I used them once last year I'm a "pro" at putting them on and it only took me about 15 minutes. I tried the driveway again. Piece of cake!
Moral of the story: I love chains.
I'm at my parents' house now but am heading home in about 15 minutes. I offered to pick up another coworker in the morning so that he doesn't have to try to navigate the awful roads. Stephanie is a cat lover and calls me "catbus" because I pick her up every day. After learning that I had chained up she said, "Ooh, tomorrow it will be catbus supreme!"
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