Probably Should Have Checked the Weather...

Most of the time I'm pretty aware of what's going on around me.  Most of the time.  Yesterday morning Whit said, "We're supposed to have some snow flurries today."  I know what snow flurries are.  He didn't have to define this for me.  They're fun to watch and they melt when they hit the ground, and that's just what they did for a few hours of false starts and spitting.  By about lunchtime they were finally starting to look a little like real snow rather than just flurries.  Did I check the weather to see if this was going to be an issue?  No, of course not.  It's the first week of November and I don't remember snow being an issue the first week of November here for at least the last five years.  No weather report required.  I'm not a weenie.  Just do what we have to do and be sensible in my driving. 

By about 1:30 it was snowing for real, but it wasn't sticking to the ground... at least, not at my house.  By the time we got to TBear's violin lesson half an hour east of here, it was starting to stick, and I was beginning to think, huh! we might really get an inch or so.  I admired it through the window during his lesson, feeling secure in the knowledge that this wasn't going to be a problem because my car drives great in the snow.  We're good.

However, after I got home I saw the 2-wheel drive pickup truck sitting in the barn with a half dozen bales of hay.  I was reminded that I was supposed to deliver these to TBear's fiddle teacher's house, which was our next appointment.  I started to have a few qualms at this point.  I don't like driving that truck in the snow.  It makes me look like a total idiot...and it's scary.  Still, the snow was melting almost as fast as it hit the ground...at my house.  Because I didn't check the weather, I didn't realize this was a storm from the east - off the ocean.  Our fiddle teacher lives east of us, so the further east I was to drive the more snow I ran into.  And it was sticking and accumulating.

But back at home, I didn't know that.  I figured, what the heck, I can do anything I set my mind to.  Just ask my mom.  She's told me that my whole life.  So I set my mind to getting TBear, and that load of hay, to his fiddle lesson.  We did well until we got to his teacher's road, which went uphill, and hadn't been plowed or sanded or anything.  My momentum carried me up the hill part way, but not quite to the top.  We slowly slid sideways toward the ditch as we struggled to make forward progress.  I stopped, not wanting to have to be pulled out of the ditch, and called Whit.  He wasn't happy about it, but he was prepared to jump in my car and come rescue me.  However, after hanging up, I decided I wasn't going to be beaten by this weenie truck, drat it!  So I put it in gear again and got it going.  We skated kind of sideways up the hill.  I called Whit and told him never mind, I'd managed it.   We unloaded the hay, TBear went to his lesson, and then we skated home again.  At least the unplowed scary part was downhill.  :)

Later, over dinner, Whit informed me that my struggles were probably greater than usual because the tires are bald.  Sigh.  I really think we need to get new tires before real winter weather sets in, especially since this is the only vehicle we have that will pull the horse trailer.

We went to bed wondering if it was going to keep snowing all night, which it did until at least midnight.  This morning I was up taking pictures of the "dusting" at 6:30.  TBear went out with the ruler and measured 4 inches on the grill and arms of the Adirondack chairs (which, ahem, it might be time to put away for the winter.)  The ground was warm enough that it only accumulated about 2 inches.  I took a few pictures to share.  So silly.

 The Farmall C.

 

 Magnum and Pat patiently waiting for breakfast. :)

 

It was a real winter wonderland for a few hours.  Actually, most of it is still on the ground.  It didn't get warm enough today to melt it.   It also made me really appreciate the fires in the woodstoves, and the hearty soup I had made the day before.  Tonight it's already below freezing.  I don't think it's going to melt soon.  On the other hand, I haven't checked the weather report lately.