The cold, my friend, is blowin' in the wind

          If you don’t live in our part of the country you still might have heard about our weather.

          The cold weather we’ve had recently (which is due to return in a day or two) is something your loyal blogger did not experience in California. The same is true for the snow we’ve had. Didn’t see much of that out west.

What cold looks like.

          We expect to have wind chill readings well below zero for the early part of this week. A few weeks ago, your loyal blogger walked the dog with a wind chill reading at a brisk 35 below zero. Not sure it will get that cold again, but anything below zero is plenty cold.

          How do you dress to walk the dog in those conditions? Here is our way: Two pairs of socks, plus snow boots. Thermals, plus two pair of sweat pants (one pair is an extra size large to fit over the other pair). Long sleeve t-shirt, a crew neck sweat shirt plus a hoodie, plus a heavy winter coat. I use a head sock and a pair of ski goggles, plus heavy gloves.

          We planned our dog’s grooming around the arrival of winter. Her fur has steadily grown, giving her a bit of protection from the cold and ice when we walk. Sometimes, if the road has been salted, she picks up pieces of sharp-edged salt in her paws and we have to stop to clean her pawns out.

          Still, even with her winter coat, we have reached the point where the dog no longer wants to go for walks. It is just too cold.

          Today, our back porch has snow drifts. The street in front has piles of snow in front yards where the streets have been plowed. The street is still covered with snow because the snow has been falling steadily for most of the last 24 hours.

          Attached here is a short video of the snow to give the reader a feel for what it looks like. There is no way to give you an idea for what it feels like.

          Driving is really fairly simple: We don’t drive anywhere when the weather is really bad. The Mustang does not come out of the garage, except to idle in the driveway every other day or so. Our other car does the winter work and we try to wash it after it has driven through salt-studded conditions.

          Technology can fail you. We were trying to drive up a hill in a parking lot two days ago and the front wheels were spinning (the car is powered by a front-wheel drive transmission) like crazy. We were making excellent progress, but the car’s traction control stopped the tire spin and that finally stopped the car. Your blogging driver had to let gravity get us rolling backwards, then turn the car and proceed back the way we came. Happily, there was no traffic.

          Generally, our city and the one next door have been very good about maintaining the roads under difficult conditions. The driving conditions were terrible that day, but that was unavoidable. You have to be careful. Many drivers here are not careful, but most drive intelligently on the snowy, icy days.

          The most slipping we’ve done has not been in the car, but rather on those memorable dog walks. The road is so slippery, your loyal blogger has sometimes had to walk through knee-high snow because the snow offered better footing than the street.

          The bottom line has proven to be that common sense gets you through difficult situations. Dress warmly, drive carefully and watch your step if you have to go out. Everybody knows that stuff, right?

 

          Thanks for reading.