When I left the house on Tuesday, Oct 28th it was pouring down rain. I dropped Janelle off at work, headed to the mall 11 miles away to do returns, and then planned to go to Costco. I shopped casually around mall as I had 3 hours to kill before getting Janelle at work again. Dilly dallied for 1 hour then passed a window...HEART ATTACK!!!!! There was snow on the cars. It was snowing, snowing big flakes. Panic! I found my way to car and my phone rings. It's Mick. "Are you ok?", he says. "I guess, I'm inside the mall and just looked out window". "You should be ok", he says, "it is still a wet snow". OK, I decide to do the Costco run and then head back for Janelle. I have my book so I will just wait for her at Burger King. I get to the car, wipe off the snow with my bare hands. Brrrrrrr! I get into the car, start the engine and fire up the defrost. I wait for window to clear and take picture to send to Jamie and Graig.
They laugh at me. Graig says, "you'll be ok mom, looks like a wet snow". I put the car into gear, look over right shoulder and the back window is completely covered with snow again. I get out to wipe off the snow. Brrr! I get out of the parking lot. That's not so bad, just a slushy mess. I'll go to Costco I think to myself. I quickly discover that the locals don't observe white lane stripes when they drive in the snow. I guess they think since it's snowing I can drive where I want. I get to Costco, shop around. After all I have 2 hours to kill. I am having many of the delicious samples, when a fellow shopper says......"I just drove down the 15 and there are cars and trucks off the side of the road. It is a mess! It took forever to get here from Sparta. Panic! Janelle is working in Sparta and I have to drive the 15 to get back to her. I put the shopping cart in 4 wheel drive, pull a wheely and get through the check out in record time. I've got to have a drink - a sparkly, as they say at Cranberry. I get to the door to checkout and a little birdie says, "go potty!". Nah, it's only a 10 minute drive I think. The parking lot has water about 2 inches deep with slush and snow. I say to self, "glad I'm wearing my cute polka dot rain boots I got at Mervyns Super Clearance in Brea". Ha ha, my feet are warm and cozy and dry. Get to car, open trunk, the two inches of wet snow splashes into trunk. Wipe off windows, start car, start defrost, get out wipe off windows again, pull out, slip and slide around parking lot, pull out onto 15. Drive under overpass of 80 and a HUGE, did I say HUGE chunk of slushy snow falls off overpass onto windshield. Heartattack, Scream, and after checking out windshield to see that it is intact, drive on. Go 4 miles no problem, other than heart attack from windshield incident.Traffic stops. Dead stops. Snow falling.We crawl, stop, crawl, stop. In one of the stops take pic with camera phone send to Jamie and Graig say see what 1 1/2 hours can do.
Graig text, momma, be careful you don't have snow tires, leave lots of room for breaking. Semis, cars, off on side of road or more like one of the three lanes of traffic because we are only using one. To make a long story shorter, took 2 hours and 15 minutes to go 6 miles. Scary1!!!3 lessons learned. 1. Don't open trunk with 2 inches of slushy snow on it. 2. Listen to the little birdie that tells you to go to the potty. 3. That big cup that Costco drinks come in, they can be emptied and used for emergency potty breaks. Oh and maybe 4. Be sure to carry your camera at all times, because there will be awesome pictures that no one will believe, like where is our driveway.....tree fallen down blocking 1 1/2 lanes of 2 lane road and get a snow scraper with really cool brush on the end!!!!
They laugh at me. Graig says, "you'll be ok mom, looks like a wet snow". I put the car into gear, look over right shoulder and the back window is completely covered with snow again. I get out to wipe off the snow. Brrr! I get out of the parking lot. That's not so bad, just a slushy mess. I'll go to Costco I think to myself. I quickly discover that the locals don't observe white lane stripes when they drive in the snow. I guess they think since it's snowing I can drive where I want. I get to Costco, shop around. After all I have 2 hours to kill. I am having many of the delicious samples, when a fellow shopper says......"I just drove down the 15 and there are cars and trucks off the side of the road. It is a mess! It took forever to get here from Sparta. Panic! Janelle is working in Sparta and I have to drive the 15 to get back to her. I put the shopping cart in 4 wheel drive, pull a wheely and get through the check out in record time. I've got to have a drink - a sparkly, as they say at Cranberry. I get to the door to checkout and a little birdie says, "go potty!". Nah, it's only a 10 minute drive I think. The parking lot has water about 2 inches deep with slush and snow. I say to self, "glad I'm wearing my cute polka dot rain boots I got at Mervyns Super Clearance in Brea". Ha ha, my feet are warm and cozy and dry. Get to car, open trunk, the two inches of wet snow splashes into trunk. Wipe off windows, start car, start defrost, get out wipe off windows again, pull out, slip and slide around parking lot, pull out onto 15. Drive under overpass of 80 and a HUGE, did I say HUGE chunk of slushy snow falls off overpass onto windshield. Heartattack, Scream, and after checking out windshield to see that it is intact, drive on. Go 4 miles no problem, other than heart attack from windshield incident.Traffic stops. Dead stops. Snow falling.We crawl, stop, crawl, stop. In one of the stops take pic with camera phone send to Jamie and Graig say see what 1 1/2 hours can do.
Graig text, momma, be careful you don't have snow tires, leave lots of room for breaking. Semis, cars, off on side of road or more like one of the three lanes of traffic because we are only using one. To make a long story shorter, took 2 hours and 15 minutes to go 6 miles. Scary1!!!3 lessons learned. 1. Don't open trunk with 2 inches of slushy snow on it. 2. Listen to the little birdie that tells you to go to the potty. 3. That big cup that Costco drinks come in, they can be emptied and used for emergency potty breaks. Oh and maybe 4. Be sure to carry your camera at all times, because there will be awesome pictures that no one will believe, like where is our driveway.....tree fallen down blocking 1 1/2 lanes of 2 lane road and get a snow scraper with really cool brush on the end!!!!
Here are some more fun pics from the lakehouse. Oroville was having its 150 year celebration this summer. We went to the street dance, hangar dance, Graig played in the golf tournament and Granddad went on the annual motorcycle ride with 35 other bikers from the big towns around Oroville. The pic with Graig and Austin wearing the old orange life vests was part of a show they put on for us. The sprayed each other, jumped the wake and other fun tricks. We never laughed so hard watching them. Oh, another past time on cloudy days was to shoot golf balls into the lake. Next day, retrieve them.
