February 12, 2025
I believe that y’all know that I’ve worried about all
the snow that has, year after year lately, fallen in incredible amounts in
places where, just a decade before, barely any ever fell at all. Seriously,
after watching more than my share of American news casts, I’ve come away just
shaking my head. My dear friends south of the 49th can’t seem to
catch a break, weather-wise.
Now, I am a Canadian, and to be honest with you, I
have a lot of memories of very snowy winters, the winters of my younger years.
I remember riding in my parent’s car, and not knowing where we were exactly,
because I couldn’t see above the snow piled up on the shoulders of the road. I used to build snow forts so high that I, at
nine or ten, could stand up inside of them. Through the convenience of news
reports, I’ve looked on at the white covering parts of Texas and other southern
states and felt shocked.
In fact, a lot of parts of the U.S. have gotten more
snow the last few years than I have seen up close and personal here in my part
of Canada in a very long time. But after the last couple of our winters here in
southern Ontario being—well, not much like winter, at all, I have an announcement
to make.
The winter we’ve experiencing this year looks to be
heading toward some record snow accumulations—some real blasts from the past.
And a good part of that accumulation is scheduled to happen tonight.
This winter I have actually been hampered by the
weather at times when I’ve needed to go out. Some days it’s been too cold or
too icy for me to venture out. Or there was too much rain at one time which isn’t
easy to navigate carrying in bags of groceries. We’ve made a habit of watching the
forecasts before deciding which days are suitable for outings.
Then there was the windshield wiper blade that decided
to shred at the last moment, the blade on the driver’s side. Between the occasion
of that necessary and thin strip of rubber’s demise and my ability to go out in
my car again on my own, a few days passed. I had to wait until last Monday when
the forecast was for clear skies to get my car over to the Lube place to have new
wipers put on.
And then came today. Today’s forecast called for a whole
lot of snow, beginning around three this afternoon and continuing into Thursday
morning. Fortunately, I was able to get my daughter to stop at a store on her
way home from work today to pick up a few of the staples that I worried we might
run out of. If it snows as bad as they’re saying it’s going to, it might be a
few days before we can get out and buy groceries—an event that was planned for
Friday.
I’m not complaining. It’s actually kind of interesting
to know that the snow will sock us in and the result of that is that it’s okay.
Neither my husband nor I have to go to jobs, so there will be no clearing off
of vehicles nor any shoveling of sidewalks or roadways that we ourselves would
have to do personally. And no snowy/icy roads for us to drive for miles on end,
thank God.
That last one is the biggest blessing of all. My
nightmare drives of winters past, the ones I hated over all others, were the
ones that included dense fog, and roads featuring patches of black ice. My stomach
clenches just thinking about those times. And running out of window washer
fluid. And maybe having the defroster quit mid-commute. Yep, we experienced it
all, at one point or another.
Drives that in good weather would take maybe
twenty-five minutes, could and did, in the wrong conditions, take two to three
hours.
So, we're about to be snowed in. We have the
essentials, and at this moment are warm and toasty.
To any reading this who do not have extensive winter
driving experience, I have but two words of advice: slow down!
And while one might not think that it would be
necessary to expand on those two words, it needs to be done.
Dear friends, drive at no more that twenty to
twenty-five miles an hour. If your car starts to slide, do not brake, but ease
your foot off the gas and steer into the direction of the skid.
Stay safe out there. Spring will be here soon.
Love,
Morgan
https://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury
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