SNOW!

Well, winter is here. I am looking outside my window and all I see are white flecks of snow falling from the sky. My reaction: I am sooooo not ready for this. Here is a case in point story about the start of Ithaca's first snow-fall day.

I was slow to wake up and head to work this morning. Nothing new there. I did notice a light snow covering on the ground through my window. Great, snow. I thought. Winter has finally arrived. But what really got me this morning was deciding what to wear. I was really in a jeans and sweatshirt mood (given the weather), but I couldn't justify a casual day on Tuesday. So, I dressed in a fall favorite outfit of mine. . . a comfortable yet professional jumper, hose, and heals. I was ready to go.

Walking out the door, I slipped on some of the ice/snow accumulating on the stair. My brown shoes are not good shoes in the snow. "What was I thinking wearing this fall outfit on such a winter day?" I thought to myself. But I trudged on, "I'm not gonna get a little bit of snowfall get me down." But as I approached my car, a completely new thought entered my mind. My car was blanketed by 1 inch of fresh snow. Somehow, the ground managed to melt a good amount of the accumulation, but my car kept it fresh and piled high. Prepping my car was gonna take some work this morning.

Still thinking optimistically, I brushed off some snow so I could open my door, get inside and start my car. Old Faithful, 100,000 miles and going strong, started right up; no problem there (see last post). I switched on my windshield wipers thinking I could brush away the snow with a simple swoosh. A little snow, no problem. But boy, was I wrong. There was ice under that snow! This was going to require more work than what I was expecting and what I was prepared for.

The humorous part of all of this was that my industrial strength ice scraper/brush was most likely in the trunk of my car. . . . under piles and piles of junk that over the last few months I have let build up in my car. Getting this scraper. . my only one. . . was not going to be an easy task. Plus, even opening up the trunk with the inch of snow on top of it was going to be a snowy, wet process. "This is just not gonna happen today," I thought. I was unprepared for weather like this today. So, instead, I started my car, turned on the defroster/heat on high and went back inside. "No scraper, no problem," I told myself.

When inside, I sadly went back to my room and changed into a more practical "snow day" outfit. Wool sweater, turtleneck, and pants: the third outfit of the day. 10 minutes later, I walked out of my apartment a bit more prepared. The snow was starting to melt around my windshield. I did a minimal bit of snow clearing before I got into the warm interior of my car. And as I pulled out of my driveway I chuckled to myself. I realized that winter was here, like it or not, and I needed to start acting like it. First item of business, clean out the trunk of my car and find that ice scraper.