Those of you who read me regularly know that I generally post something about weekend events….This week didn’t blog much and there was a reason. I happen to live in a home that has a “challenging” driveway. It’s a long winding gravel driveway. This driveway became the bane of my existence during the last ice storm – and a near death trap before I was done.
The ice was so thick, the person who usually plows my driveway couldn’t quite manage the curve and as a result there was a lot of ice between me and the road. I was able to get the car on the road on Thursday to do some errands, although I knew getting it back UP the driveway was going to be problematic – I proceeded with my errands. When I got home – as predicted, there were problems. The car got mired in the ice and yours truly spent over 2 hours trying to free the wheels. in the process – I suddenly heard a very ominous hissing sound…Yup – somehow I punctured a tire!
So far this was somewhat funny though very frustrating. It was definitely impacting a client of mine – though that person waited until today to go out – which was very kind of them.
The next day we got the donut on the car and I tried to go about my business…. There was a salt shortage county wide and so I was still dealing with a solid block of ice for half the driveway. When I got home I had a couple of bags to remove from the car. I could not get the car all the way up the drive – but that didn’t worry me. What I didn’t expect was that the ground was so slippery that the brakes wouldn’t hold. Unfortunately, the car started to move when I was out of it pulling groceries from the passenger seat. I was pulled down to the ground and almost run over by my own car! Fortunately the skidding of the car stopped just in time. I was damn near killed…
At the end of the day – I had quite a few bruises and severe muscle strain from struggling to escape from the car. In truth from trying to shovel and chip ice off the driveway and from trying to dig my car out a solid block of ice and being thrown to the ground by my moving car – I still feel like I’ve been hit by a truck….which is why I haven’t written much over the past few days. I may need a new car door and I needed a new tire and about 200 lbs of salt for the driveway. But my point is this: Snow is one thing – but this ice is another matter. Right now it is slushy but things are supposed to freeze up again towards the middle of the week. BE CAREFUL.
On a more positive note: As everyone knows – I am an avid walker. I take my dogs for walks all the time and huskies like to pull. The best thing for icy pathways is Yak Trax. The pair that I have now keep me stable even when the dogs want to chase rabbits and squirrels. Truly they are the best for keeping stable on slippery terrain. I don’t know how practical they would be for running – but for walking they are terrific.
© 2011 - Ruthmarie G. Hicks - http://thewestchesterview.com - All rights reserved.
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