The predawn hours were hardly silent...

I was up at 5:00 am this morning, as usual. I have trouble sleeping in now because a certain 4-month old puppy always has a call from nature at about that time. (I'm hoping she learns to hold it.) So we were out in the cold winter morning BEFORE the butt crack of dawn doing our business. We were back inside by 5:20 and I immediately went back outside to tackle the 8-inches of snow covering my driveway and sidewalk. Now, last year I was able to have everything scooped off within 30-40 minutes. I thought it was no different this time (even though I was wondering at one point when my driveway had become so big). I even left my lower driveway for last because the city plows hadn't yet made it to our street and I didn't want to have to scoop it twice. However, finally there was nothing left to scoop except that portion of the driveway and I went to it. Of course, wouldn't you know it...as soon as I finished and turned to go back inside the house, the plow came by and recovered my driveway and I had to scrape it again. (I was joking with coworkers that if it continues to snow like this all winter, I'm going to have an overdeveloped deltoid in my right arm and will start to look like Igor the Hunchback.) During this entire time, the city was filled with the sound of plow trucks, snowblowers, and shovels scraping against concrete, mine included. It wasn't too bad temperature-wise...the wind had died down during the night, leaving large drifts of snow throughout the yard reminding you of a sea of white waves. Okay, so I finished the scooping and went back inside, only do to discover that I had spent an hour scraping and was now too far behind to make it to the vanpool location in time. Thus, I was forced to drive. Now, I'm still a bit of a tomboy at heart so sliding around on the snow (when I know there is no danger of hitting a person or vehicle) always makes me laugh and say a little "wahoo!" This morning I slide around the first corner, spun out at the second corner and slid sideways, then had to make sure to behave the rest of the time because the streets were lined with cars. When I reached the interstate, I was careful and slowly accelerated to the speed limit before setting cruise control...not even five minutes later my truck started fishtailing and I had to slow WAY down. This was kinda scary since I saw a semi, two cars and one dumptruck in ditch at that spot. I kept the speed down all the way into work, but on a normally 70 mph highway, traffic was only going 40-55 mph. That felt like creeping! The roads in the city were even worse and at the last hill I have to climb before pulling into the parking ramp, I got stuck. It was embarassing and frustrating. I drive a truck, and a little Chevette could put-put around me without a problem. *sigh* So, I waved traffic around me and waited for a break in the morning rush before backing down to attempt the hill from a different angle. This time also nearly failed but I persevered, twisting my steering wheel left and right to find some kind of traction and not leaving first gear (10 mph). I may not have any rubber left on my tires, but I finally made it to the top. (I've already made some calls to inquire about snow tires.) I pulled into the ramp with a minimal of sliding and finally walked into work 30 minutes late. They understood. I live 40 miles away and the roads were slick!

At lunchtime I decided to brave the roads again, only to get stuck in my parking space at the post office (where I mailed a few packages to some fabulous friends). Even though my truck is a manual shift, I managed to rapidly shift back and forth from first to reverse gears to try to "rock" my way out of the spot, but alas, it didn't work. Three very nice gentleman ended up pushing me out of the parking space. I was a little trepidicious about attempting The Hill again, but the slick stuff had melted and I had no problems.

Now it's nearly 5:00 and I'm ready to do some shopping (need to find an outfit for this weekend's holiday party). I'm hoping there will be no more snow, rain, sleet, or anything else falling from the sky tonight. I don't want to deal with that on the drive home in the dark!