Snow Wonder

How often do you really see a snowflake?

We've seen pictures of snowflakes. Most of us have made paper snowflakes.

As for the real thing, sure, we see blankets of snow. Fluffy "snowflakes" falling that are really clumps of snowflakes.

When they land on your hand, they melt too fast to really study them.

Or we take them for granted and write them off as, "Great, more white sh*t."

But last night was a rare opportunity. I was walking into Target with Cupie when I happened to look down at my red sweater.

There were bright white flakes that had fallen on me and weren't melting. You could see the hole in the center, the spines with the little offshoots, every detail.

I said, "Cupie, look at the snowflakes on my sweater."

As she stood in front of me, just outside the doors of Target, her eyes grew wider and wider while she studied the snowflakes.

"They're so cool!" she whispered.

That's right kiddo, they're so cool.

Silver Lining:

1. Once kids get to a certain age, the chances of you witnessing the "Firsts" seem to diminish greatly. This was the first time Cupie really saw a real snowflake and I was there to share the moment.


2. I realized I would stand out in the cold again and again if that's what it took to see a "First" of any kind. As for Hubby, I'm sure he'll stand outside in the cold to make sure that some "Firsts" don't happen - first car accident while parallel parking, first kiss, etc.

Snow Days, Snow Days, Boots & Shov'ling Blows Days

We had a wee bit of snow last week. And it got a little chilly.

Actually, it was more than a wee bit - it was about four inches by our house.

Yes, that’s more than a wee bit for these parts! I don’t want to hear about the four feet of snow you folks up north received. That’s normal for you. For some of you, that well below normal, but I don’t want to get into that right now. I want to talk about my four inches.

Anywho, four inches – at one time – is more than a wee bit for us.

Also, under normal conditions, the snow melts away by the next afternoon. But as I said, it got a little chilly.

As in bone-cold chilly.

As in, when the temperature rises to 17 degrees, you think to yourself, “Huh, it’s kind of nice out.”

As in your boogers momentarily froze your nostrils closed if you tried to suck up the snot that was streaming down your face while you shoveled the sidewalk.

Sorry, that was a little graphic, but dang it, it was cold!

They had to close school because of negative wind-chill temperatures.

The girls were excited because they got to wear the snow boots I bought them this year.

I’ve never bought my kids snow boots before – we really don’t need them. Like I said, the snow usually melts the next day. Even though, aside from being pink, they are ugly, Wal-Mart had snow boots on sale for only $8 so I went ahead and gave in to the begging and pleading.

With their snow boots on, they made tracks everywhere on their way to the car. Never mind that there is only about 15 feet to cover from the front door to the car, I think they made 15 miles of foot prints. I figure I got at least $8 worth of wear out of those boots in just this one wearing.

By the time I rounded up their wild snow trodden feet and wrangled them to car, I had determined that snow s*cks. I come to this conclusion every year, but I usually forget as soon as Easter arrives and the possibility of snow falling has long passed. But this year, that conclusion may stick with me a little while longer.

Why? You ask.

Let me tell you why.

Because I got stuck in a ditch, that’s why.

It was one of those moments. I took my foot off the gas to slow down as I approached a stop sign. I wasn’t going very fast to begin with. When I wasn’t slowing down fast enough, I stepped on the brake. Anti-lock brakes kicked in right away, and the forward motion slowed down.

Unfortunately, the forward motion somehow transferred to a sideways motion. And there was no stopping it.

I swear it was like a movie happening in slow motion. There was nothing I could do except pray that I didn’t hit anything. I somehow missed the electric poles, stop sign, and other misc. signage, cables on the side of the road.

Whew!

I was less than a half mile from my house. In fact, I could still see my house from the ditch. But I couldn’t just walk home.

• I didn’t have snow boots of my own.


• The girls were with me in the car. Even with snow boots, I was not going to have them walking on an ice covered road with essentially no shoulder.


• And it was booger-freezing cold out.

I called Hubby and he was going to come rescue us, but first he had to dig his car out and defrost the windows.


So we sat.

And we sat.

So many nice people stopped to make sure we were ok, had a cell phone, had help coming, etc. A guy in a pick-up with the salt thing-ies on the back and a plow in front stopped to see if we were ok. I was hoping he had a chain or rope to pull us out. He didn’t, but he did offer to give us a push. Another guy in a pick-up pulled up around the same time and helped as well.

They pushed on the front of the car.

I hit the gas.

The wheels just spun. Or they did nothing. I don’t really know because I wasn’t out there. The electronic stability control light kept blinking and one of the guys kept telling me to hit the gas. So I’m guessing the wheels didn’t spin at all – the car just sent zero power to them because it sensed there was no traction.

They pushed on the back of the car.

I hit the gas.

The wheels were spinning or doing nothing again.

That stupid light was blinking at me some more.

Hey, there is a button that says “ESC on/off”.

I pushed it and I took off like a rocket! Who knew I had a rocket booster right there in my little Kia?

Perhaps if I’d hit it earlier, I could have gotten myself out of the ditch.

Oh well, lesson learned.

Silver Lining:

1. There were several people who stopped and/or slowed down to make sure we were ok. I don’t think there was a single vehicle that just passed us by without concern.


2. Once we got out of the ditch, we were out on main roads and the snow was generally non-problematic.


3. It’s finally “warming” up here. Most of the snow should melt by the end of the day as long as the sun stays out. All that will be left are those big piles in parking lots and at street corners. Perhaps I’ll send the girls out in their snow boots to kick them down so they melt faster. How much do you think I could charge for this service? Oh wait, I might run into child labor law issues. Nevermind, we’ll all just have to look at the nasty, dirty gray-colored piles for an extra couple of weeks or so.