Wednesday 2 February 2011

Ice, ice baby


OK; I take it all back. I thought the snow was bad. But that was before I knew about the ice.

We had an ice storm yesterday (part of the huge, mega-snowstorm that seems to be covering the entire US east of the Rockies). Blithely unaware of the risks of ice, I ran outside yesterday in a bit of a hurry to pick up Littleboy 2 from preschool - only to find my car windscreen sheathed in about an inch of pure ice. There was no way the wipers would work, and we were out of de-icer; so, after managing to hack away about a four inch square, I had one of the scariest drives of my life with virtually no visibility until finally it started to melt.

This morning we awoke to another of those 5.30am phone calls - saying school was delayed by two hours. I looked out of the window and couldn't see any new snow- but, later, in the cold light of day, the ice was revealed. Our whole drive was a skating rink. Ice-melting salt appeared to be useless, so The Doctor went outside to hack away at it with a metal shovel until, finally, he was able to get the car down the drive in order to go to work. It made shovelling snow look like child's play. I now understand why Sharon Stone had an ice-pick in Basic Instinct. And as for that Sigourney Weaver film the Ice Storm? I can see how the weather might actually drive you to attend a key party.....

We now have the most gigantic icicles dangling from our roof (see above), so nobody, on pain of death, is allowed to stand anywhere near the house when outside.

Come back, snow, all is forgiven. Although I'm sure you will be back. I just don't believe that Groundhog when he said spring would be early this year.....

11 comments:

Iota said...

Gosh, yes, a key party would be nice. The kids have had 4, or is it 5?, snow days this January. I could just do with a bit of excitement beyond being stuck in with them.

Almost American said...

Yes, it loks like you have an ice dam there :-(

DH went to work yesterday, not put off by the snowstorm. Today, with the forecast ice, he stayed home. The last time we had ice on top of snow he was very annoyed when a kind neighbor helped us out by snowblowing the driveway before he got home from work. It's much easier to remove the ice if it's on top of a layer of snow than if it's on the ground. He has a special tool for hacking away at the ice, but if there's snow under it you can dig the shovel into the soft snow and lift the ice up.

Anonymous said...

Wow. And we've got blue skies and sunshine in London today!

Tanya (Bump2Basics) said...

Definitely a good idea to stand far away from the house and those ice daggers! Do the boys like "skating" on the ice?...that would be another dangerous activity to add to the sledding down the hill toward the main road!

nappy valley girl said...

Iota - we've had 2 full snow days, 2 days of delayed opening and 1 early closing. Every week there's some kind of disruption. Not that the kids mind, though!

Almost American - I'll bear that in mind. The trouble is, we don't have a 4 wheel drive, and our driveway is really steep, so even an inch of snow makes it impassable...


Mud - clearly that groundhog was British then...

Tanya - oh yes, they love to slide on the ice. I hvae to keep reminding them that they have actual ice skating lessons where they can indulge in this....

Unknown said...

Gorgeous picture. It's freezing here too, so grateful for small mercies ie heated seats in the car. Like sitting on a radiator as I do school run.

A Modern Mother said...

Oh dear, please stay home and don't drive in the ice.

Grit said...

ice sculptures! drop some bright food colouring into warm water, add sequins or glitter, then pour the water somewhere outside where you can see it run and freeze! (ok, i know it doesn't help the problem, but it looks pretty.)

Wylye Girl said...

Those are some icicles you've got there! Snow I can handle but not ice. A few weeks ago, when it was still very cold over here, we had an early morning drive to my son's rugby match about 1 hour away. The road was littered with overturned cars, cars in ditces and cars in hedges. Even our Landrover had a bit of a slide. It'll soon be summer.....

nappy valley girl said...

KM - heated car seats? Now I'm jealous....

A Modern Mother - I've bought some de-icer now. So not quite so scary.....

Grit - great idea. The boys are fascinated by water turning to ice, so they would love it.

Wylye Girl - yes, it does make for very unpleasant driving. And embarrassing situations, as I discovered yesterday when I got my wheel stuck on my driveway and had to enlist the neighbours to push me out.....

Nota Bene said...

At least your gin and tonics will be well supplied...