I am a Yooper and I rock!

Well. That is. I rock cars. Back and forth. Forward. Reverse. Lather, rinse, repeat. When they are stuck in 8-10 inches of heavy wet snow.

We’ve had another snow-hum here in the southeast part of the Great Lake State. I don’t know what the weather gods have to say but the business end of my shovel at 0-dark-30 this morning told me that we had around 8 inches and it continued to snow until about two o’clock or so. The snow was a little wet this morning but still fluffy enough that our little Ninja car (Honda Civic SI) could manage it and it was actually *fun* to shovel. Yes, I am a little crazy. I love shoveling in the dark of the early morning. I did the sidewalk and whatever I could do of the driveway and then I shoveled a path through the backyard to the compost bin. I had all three vee-hickles running with the front and back defroggers on and the GG brushed them off and we were good to go to work when it was time and I won’t describe that. The GG had a worse time than me but he had the Ninja and I had the Dogha (Dirty Old Green Honda Accord).

So, when I got home this afternoon, all the main roads had been plowed and they were wet, so no problem. The street in front of the Landfill? Well. Not plowed. Probably 10 inches by this time. Heavier and wetter snow with ice underneath it all. I drove up in front of the Landfill in the Dogha and I dithered and dathered about whether I should park it and pull Mouse’s little blue Civic out of the driveway and put the Dogha in. Car shuffling? Hmmm. I made some sort of wrong move and I was STUCK. Put the tranny in D and Rrrrrrrr. Put the tranny in R and Rrrrrrrrr. Okay. Flashers on. Out of the vee-hickle. Shovel out every bit of snow that I can. Put the shovel in the snowbank for future use. Put the tranny in R and Rrrrrrr-grab-just a little. Put the tranny in D and Rrrrrr-grab-a-bit and then (thank you god) the traction control system comes on and I am outta being stuck and able to drive into the Landfill driveway. I am a Yooper and I can rock cars. Sometimes anyway.

I wonder. We are buying these energy efficient vee-hickles. They are wonderful. The Dogha is actually pretty darn good in snow usually but it is a top dollar Honda with a V6 engine and therefore, not all that energy efficient. The Civics are very light-weight and don’t have the guzzinta to drive through heavy snow. If we are all driving tiny little vee-hickles, we are using less gasoline but if nobody plows our neighborhoods when a significant amount of snow falls, how are we supposed to get out and do whatever we need to do? I think this is an unintended consequence of the so-called green movement. I am definitely in favor of driving smaller vee-hickles but what are you going to do? Is it okay for folks with 4-wheel drive vee-hickles to be able to get out during a snowstorm but not folks with small energy-efficient vee-hickles. I know that when I first walked out there this morning, I wished that we still had The Indefatigable (our old jeep wrangler).

I don’t know. Some of us can telecommute. I could but I kind of like the challenge of getting to work in a snowstorm. What kind of vee-hickle do you have and does it get you to work and does your neighborhood get plowed and yada yada yada…

3 Responses to “I am a Yooper and I rock!”

  1. Kathy Farnell Says:

    I don’t have to worry about snow because I’m in Florida.

  2. Margaret Says:

    You have a great system for “unsticking” your car! I can’t believe you got that much more snow. The shoveling is keeping you in tip top shape! I have an SUV Chevy Trailblazer which has all-wheel drive. 4 wheel high and 4 wheel low; it will get me anywhere–but I don’t usually drive it if the weather is too bad. (way too many hills and ditches around here) Plowing the neighborhood? HA HA Actually, I think a plow did come in here the year before last on Christmas Eve Day. It was the first time I’d ever seen one in my development.

  3. Tonya Says:

    I’m struck by your enjoyment of the shoveling and the rocking and the challenge of getting to work in snow. I HATE IT. I do actually really enjoy the snow (when it snows), but I’m such a worry-wort about having to drive in it. My work commutes have always been pretty lengthy and this area is so incredibly hilly. AND (the main thing, like Margaret mentioned above) we don’t get the plows. Many intersections don’t even get sand or salt. We just don’t have the equipment to deal with snow, even though we usually do get a snowfall or two each winter (except this one). And everybody is an idiot out there because nobody has snow-driving experience. (Those who think they do tend to be the worst…) I’m relieved that we haven’t had a single flake of snow this year, even though I pout when I hear about other places getting it.