Winter Roads

And the word for these past few days is: FRIGID!! Holy cow.......makes me glad we're not farmers. I don't envy them having to get out in this winter to take care of critters. It's been beyond miserable. Today, though, we've climbed to a balmy 31 degrees and have completely lost the wind chill. We got out for a bit this afternoon, but not for pleasure – I had a dental appointment.

Going to the dentist is hardly on my list of favorite things to do. Today wasn't bad, though. Because of the weather and the road conditions, the office was completely empty when we got there. So I had a very short wait – which also means I didn't have to listen to the drill working on someone else!! Also on the list of good things for the day was the dentist looking at my teeth and telling me they looked pretty good. Yay! No drilling for me either. Just a quick, routine clean and polish. And that means I spent less money than I anticipated. See? A good day all around!!

The weather we're having reminds me of the winter of older daughter's senior year of high school. In addition to frigid cold, we had ice – lots and lots of ice. Part of making that winter memorable was her buying a different car in the fall. She wanted to be independent and did her car shopping without Mom's help. She finally bought a used car from a former schoolmate. The car was great – except for the fact that it had rear-wheel drive. Had I known that, I would have stepped in and vetoed it.

Sadly, that wasn't something we realized until all this ice hit – and that car absolutely refused to stay on the road. There was a time or two she slid in the ditch and got pushed out by other high schoolers who were driving by. There was no damage done, so Mom didn't find out until after the fact. I can't remember who finally clued me in on what was happening.

That winter we were renting a farmhouse about 10 miles out of town, a mile off the highway down a gravel road. When you turned off the highway, the first thing you faced was a hill. I can't remember why I was riding home with her and younger daughter, but I was in the car with them one late afternoon during this ice. We turned off the highway and she – as she had been telling me – was very careful and cautious with the way she was driving. And yet, as she started up that hill the car kept sliding to the left......until we were in the ditch on the opposite side of the road. She attempted to get out and it wasn't moving.

Some teenage boys in a 3/4-ton flatbed pickup came by and were going to pull us out – they hooked up a chain, and once the slack was out of the chain they just slid from side to side with no forward progress. Our landlord turned off the highway on his way out to feed the cattle and saw the situation. Let's just say he had some super tires on his pickup – even though his pickup was smaller than the boy's, he hooked his pickup up to them and started pulling everyone.

We were out of the car and I think one of the boys was in the car helping. We were getting away from the car, being sure we would be out of everyone's way. I turned around to see what was happening as the landlord gunned his pickup and spun through the ice to the gravel – and when he hit that gravel, it sprayed everywhere. Including where we were. I was the only one who was hit, but boy did that hurt! One rock caught me in the temple, another caught me right on the ankle bone. You know how head wounds bleed. I was trying to thank everyone, get in the car, and hope we got home – and that I didn't pass out – and at the same time keep everyone from knowing I was hurt.

We got home, and I was so thankful that I wasn't about to get out again to go to the ER....though I probably should have. I stayed home from the work the next day with a killer headache and a very sore ankle. And we survived that winter. And I was really glad when daughter decided to get rid of that car for a front-wheel drive that was more manageable.