Thursday, March 01, 2007

I am SO SICK OF SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday we got hit again with more snow. And I am so sick of it. When is summer coming?

For most of the day it wasn't too bad...the snow wasn't sticking to the roads. But after the sun went behind the mountains the water on the streets began to freeze... LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!!


Darly has gymnastics at 4:30. I get to the gym by 4pm because parking there is a nightmare. And this building is the major cause of my snow stress. Let me see if I can describe the logistical nightmare of this place to you. Or maybe I should make a drawing. Hummm... let me see if I can make that work.
Okay I made a drawing. To actually read it you may have to click on it and see if it gives you a larger version. The very sloppy arrows represent the very steep grade that you have to drive on. I don't know the angle...I just know that if it is snowing and you don't have 4x4 you are not going to make it up.
The little tiny lines in front of the building represent parallel parking in front of the building. There is also supposed to be room for two cars to pass eachother in front of the building...but it's very tight and scares me to death...I've been known to have my tires rub the sidewalk. Also notice that very tight turn once you turn into the parking lot in front of the driving school/dance shop...a white knuckler! even when it's dry.
So yesterday after class I'm taking my time so that hopefully no one is on the hill and I can get out without hitting anyone. Because while I fear wrecking my car...I fear wrecking my car into someone else's car even worse! I know that I should have put my car in 4x4, but since we just had it replaced I wasn't 100% sure I knew how to do it properly and I didn't want to have it only partially engaged and ruin yet another set of 4x4 hubs.
Well it seemed that while not many people had come on time for the 5:30 class they were still coming...just late. So the road & drive never cleared out completely. Most people were just driving up the street and parking on the street instead of trying to get into the parking lot. One person (someone I knew but she didn't recognize me) decided to park right across from where the parking lot entrance is...I call this the chute, because if it's snowy you're going to get thrown out of the parking lot like a chute. So in my efforts to not use my 4x4 and not hit her van, I slowly inched down the hill riding my breaks the entire time. This worked for about 1/2 the way down...then my car began to slide down the hill with the back end heading in the direction that I wanted to go (toward the main road!)
So after my car stopped, I tried to go forward. Not gonna happen. I tried reverse...no luck either. So I then proceded to try to put my car in 4x4. I followed the directions, but I had assumed that when I turned the "Locking 4x4 hubs" that they would actually LOCK and the knob would turn all the way to lock. It didn't. This led me to believe that I had done something wrong and that they were not locked. So at that point one of the coaches at the gym was out there trying to help me and he tried turning the hubs. He couldn't get them to move to the lock position. Freaking out because I was blocking traffic and totally stuck, I called my house to see if DH was home. I left a message of me screaming at him to come get us. Which was totally stupid because his car doesn't even have 4x4. But I was paniced at the time.
Since I had no other option, I tried putting the car in gear to see if it worked. I tried reverse...my thinking was that I should try to back down the rest of the hill into the main road and then go forward, hopefully in the direction that I wanted. I hit the curb and there was a road sign behind that. Bummer. I put the car in drive and it went forward!!!! I was in shock. I was able to drive up this hill and turn my car around up the street...going in the direction that I wanted to go. YAY!
I'm sure the two coaches who were out there to help thought that I'm a total idiot. Frankly I don't care. I'll go appologize for freaking out on them on Monday...if it's not snowing. BTW: the one coach fell down the hill and slid all the way into my car's tire. I fell on my butt right before that.
So I'm up the street from the gym, near the building that won't let us park there and more people are trying to get up the hill and getting stuck. After waiting forever it was clear enough for me to drive past them and get onto the main road. We made it the rest of the way home with no problems.
I handed my cell phone to Darly to call home and tell DH that he didn't have to come to get us. Still no answer.
By the time we got home, DH was in the driveway shoveling it so I could pull the car into the garage. He is such a sweet guy. He shovels my entire side of the driveway but only shovels two paths for his tires. I guess he knows that I'll never hit those paths!
He never got the messages because I errased them...he's bummed because he wanted to tease me for freaking out.
I told him I want to move to someplace warmer. He agreed. He had a tough time getting home too.

10 comments:

  1. LOL We can laugh about it now, right?

    I enjoyed your map. Glad you made it home safely.

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  2. Anonymous10:42 AM

    I'm impressed that you even tried to get out in the snow. But I guess you are a little more used to it than we are in Texas. I stay off snowy roads here more because other people don't know what to do than the road itself.

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  3. I feel for you! This is why I live where there isn't any snow.

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  4. I hear ya!

    And you guys have gotten more than we have, but this last week or so has been insane! Enough's enough! And now, it can't decide between rain and snow so we're getting both at once. Uff da.

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  5. OK...I think I got it...NOW I remember why it is my parents made us move away from snow country way back when. And I also remember why it is I NEVER want to ever drive in anything resembling snow!!! Thanks!!!

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  6. I can't imagine having to deal with that on a daily basis. I think I would never leave the house!

    An Island Life
    http://islandlife808.com

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  7. I love it! What a cool post, I've never drawn a diagram for my blog.

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  8. UGH!!! I found the map helpful and informative...:)

    I tend to be a visual person and it helped to visualize your difficulties.

    Has it stopped snowing yet? I don't know how you do it.

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  9. I am totally totally TOTALLY with you about the snow. Why doesn't it STOP?!?

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  10. Renee - I would quit the dance studio. Short of that I would park near that other building where I'm not supposed to and see how hard they enforce it.

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