Because it seems like we are actually into something resembling a real winter…
…I think I will do my annual snow / ice removal rant. I mean it’s either that or a rambling disjointed education rant or a rambling disjointed reproductive rights [women’s, that is] rant. Y’all do not want me to go either of those places. Ice, I think I can handle somewhat concisely and without pissing anyone off. I hope…
Can I just say that the snow / ice removal on The Planet Ann Arbor sucks? Big-time. I am mainly talking about individual citizens with a mere nod to how bad the snowplowing is. I walk. I walk early in the morning, well before the sun comes up. Do you know how hard it is to navigate the residential sidewalks of The Planet Ann Arbor in the dark after a snowfall when everyone shovels / snowblows / wovels / salts [or not] their sidewalk in a different fashion?
I wear YakTrax on my boots these days when there’s even a little bit of snow. I am pretty confident wearing them. MMCB asked me if YakTrax were good in snow. She meant a significant accumulation. I said, “What YakTrax are good for in snow is when there is black ice underneath the snow.” I have had [over the years] a couple of falls where I would be walking along in grippy, non-slippery snow and BOTH FEET would hit a sheet of black ice (under the snow). Both times, I was down before I knew what hit me. Ka-whomp! Both times I picked myself up immediately and kept going. And was fine, except for a lingering feeling of being picked up and shaken by the Jolly (ho ho ho) Green White Giant.
I was walking along this morning — in my YakTrax — and it was obnoxious because it’s been a while since the last significant snow but temperatures have remained cold and, if anything, that means that the walking conditions have deteriorated. YakTrax are best on actual snow / ice but they are annoying on pavement so I have to constantly assess where to walk. Street? Sidewalk?
I *almost* didn’t wear my YakTrax today but, in the end, I was glad I had them. Because, although YakTrax are wonderful 99% of the time, occasionally you can hit a patch of ice where they turn into a skate. And that happened today. It was about a square foot of ice in a place where I will guess the homeowner thought, “Oh, that’s city property, I don’t need to clear that”. Roight… I did not fall. My other foot (also YakTraxxed) caught me and I did a herky-jerky little move that I can’t even exactly remember and then regained my pace. It was enough to kind of pull a muscle at the top of my left thigh a bit. It’s okay, it’s a dull, comfortable kind of ache. “You used me! I just wish you hadn’t used me quite so violently.”
Please please please please. Humanoids of The Planet Ann Arbor. Please whatever method of snow removal you use, if there is a potential for sheets (or even patches) of ice to form where you have shoveled / snowblown / woveled, put some salt out on your sidewalk. Also, please please please please, put all of your vee-hickles into your garage or driveway or whatever, so when the snowplows eventually come around, they can actually CLEAR THE STREET. And walk once in a while. Then you’ll know how bad it is out there. Yes, on your sidewalk.
P. S. What is a wovel? You wanna know, roight? Here is a wovel. So cool. Birthday anyone? Actually what I want for my birthday is a storage unit…
January 2nd, 2013 at 10:08 pm
Brrrr! You are tough! I don’t like ice under any circumstances–driving or walking. I stay away as much as possible.
January 3rd, 2013 at 9:09 am
I wonder if Harry would like a Wovel?