White Christmas

Well, it's a gorgeous snowy day out in Minneapolis this morning.  We got about 4" of snow over night and it looks like it will continue through the day.  Having grown up in Fresno, we had to drive for 2-3 hours to see snow when I was a kid, so I find this concept of looking out your window at the white stuff still magical.    Today's snow is the big puffy flakes that look like you're in the middle of a snow globe.  And there's nothing like a fresh snow in the evening- the reflection of the fallen snow combined with the refracting snow in the air makes this purplish pink glow in the sky.  And no matter how dark it is, it's always light out after a fallen snow.

Of course, I'm glad that we don't have to go anywhere today because the travel would be horrendous.  It snows in Minnesota (or Mini-snow-tah as the native call it) every year, so why is it that people forget how to drive EVERY YEAR.  They forget about braking distances and they forget about skidding and they forget that following too close means that you're GOING to end up in someone's back seat if they skid.  But what makes me chuckle, every year, is that the majority of vehicles in the ditch are not cars, but SUVs.

And why is this?  It's because the owners think that just because they have ABS and 4-wheel drive, that they are immune to the affects of physics on their rather large, rather heavy vehicles.  And they must not understand the concept of inertia, either- a body in motion will stay in motion until acted upon by an equal and opposite force.  (That's Newton's 2nd law, for those of you who care).  This means, the heavier you are, the more you're going to continue until something BIG hits you.  So while me, in my little Hyundai subcompact, is just going to slide a little bit into the snow- you're going in the ditch!  I actually did skid off into the shoulder on an on-ramp one year because a moron cut me off.  I went about one car length into the shoulder, spun around 180 degrees, and thought I was stuck....and with only my high heels and nylons, I certainly didn't relish the thought of getting out to push.

But it turned out I didn't have to.  Believe it nor not, my car is so light that a combination of revving the tires and me throwing my weight against the steering wheel, I actually forced the car out of the shoulder and on to real pavement, thus saving the soaking shoes and nylons.


But that was the LAST time I went out in high heels without a pair of moon boots (aka snow shoes) in the cab of the car with me.  I carry my snow shovel in the car at all times.  Since then, I've helped many people dig themselves out of skids....and they're ALWAYS in SUVs (or sport cars, but that's to be expected, right?)