Driving Through A Winter Wonderland
Winter weather is something I need to prepare myself for every year. I am a rather small animal, and my natural defenses against cold are rather weak. But I do my best to get ready - I have more sweaters, shawls, wraps, ponchos, and blankets than any one person has a right to own, for keeping warm inside the house, and I do my best to wrap up tight in coat and scarf and hat when I'm going outside. I also try to listen to the weather each morning, so I have an idea of what to plan for when I go out.
The problem with that is that when the radio and the weather channel and the news all tell me to expect 3-6 inches of snow, I expect 3-6 inches of snow, give or take. I have no problem with that. I love snow; it's beautiful and soft and quiet and slightly less messy than sleet or rain, and my landlord's son shovels our walk for us. In fact, when I'm promised that kind of snow I wind up looking forward to it.
I woke up this morning, ready for my lovely snow. I put on my boots, and my fuzzy coat that sheds snow so well, and my extra-fluffy scarf and hat that![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tpau made me, and set out for the 40-mile drive to today's major errand. I'm sure you can imagine, then, how frustrated I was when halfway through my drive home the snow transformed into sheets of freezing rain.
Freezing rain is not beautiful. Nor is it soft, or tidy, and it does not shed off my fuzzy coat and fluffy scarf when I have to step out of the car. Instead it trickles down my neck, soaks through everything, and makes the rather sodden and pathetic half-inch of snow on the ground stick to my boots until walking to my porch feels like slogging through quicksand. Wintry mix is just not an unpleasant-sounding-enough phrase to describe this.
Oh, well. Either way, snow or rain, the ultimate solution is the same. It involves changing from my work clothes into a sweatshirt and pajama bottoms, making a big mug of cocoa, and settling down with my new crochet project and my DVD of 'Gone With The Wind.' Life can't be too bad, as long as that option is there.....
The problem with that is that when the radio and the weather channel and the news all tell me to expect 3-6 inches of snow, I expect 3-6 inches of snow, give or take. I have no problem with that. I love snow; it's beautiful and soft and quiet and slightly less messy than sleet or rain, and my landlord's son shovels our walk for us. In fact, when I'm promised that kind of snow I wind up looking forward to it.
I woke up this morning, ready for my lovely snow. I put on my boots, and my fuzzy coat that sheds snow so well, and my extra-fluffy scarf and hat that
tpau made me, and set out for the 40-mile drive to today's major errand. I'm sure you can imagine, then, how frustrated I was when halfway through my drive home the snow transformed into sheets of freezing rain. Freezing rain is not beautiful. Nor is it soft, or tidy, and it does not shed off my fuzzy coat and fluffy scarf when I have to step out of the car. Instead it trickles down my neck, soaks through everything, and makes the rather sodden and pathetic half-inch of snow on the ground stick to my boots until walking to my porch feels like slogging through quicksand. Wintry mix is just not an unpleasant-sounding-enough phrase to describe this.
Oh, well. Either way, snow or rain, the ultimate solution is the same. It involves changing from my work clothes into a sweatshirt and pajama bottoms, making a big mug of cocoa, and settling down with my new crochet project and my DVD of 'Gone With The Wind.' Life can't be too bad, as long as that option is there.....