FCM, Snoqualmie is pronounced pretty much exactly as it looks. “Snow – quahhl – mee.” And the pass is really pretty, but driving it can be ugly in the winter.
This winter has been my first real winter since I was six. Fortunately, though I’m up near 6000 feet in Idaho mountains, it’s a small town and what snow we get is really dry snow, so when it was really nasty I still never had to go very far and even when the roads are clear you don’t go very fast. I’ve found that packed snow is far, far, far, far better than ice; the last couple of weeks it keeps getting above freezing during the day and dropping back down at night so the snow melts and refreezes as ice. So far, I’ve been lucky, but that can make for some nasty icy patches. Let’s hear it for spiked tires! They have to come off by April 15, and I’m waiting to do it because I just know that if I get them swapped out it’ll snow like crazy again.
Hmm. I like snow. Perhaps…naah.
BrattiAtti, where in or near Idaho are you? I don’t think there’s many Idaho Dopers, let alone Mumpers! waves from the oddly Californiaesque (except for the climate) Ketchumis not rich and snobby despite location
LiLi is going to South Bend?
Well bless your heart! I’m about twenty minutes from Touchdown Jesus currently.
And yes, we regularly get dumped on with the white stuff. Driving in it becomes second nature.
Welcome Monday!
I’m taking the day off and staying home. I got some cleaning done over at the new house this weekend, but not a lot because we had a constant stream of family and friends coming and going this weekend. Jim tried to clean out the gutters yesterday, but the junk was still frozen to the bottom. So until they’re clean I’ll refer to them as the moats, because if there’s any moisture in them at all, they look like mini moats surrounding the house. Looking at the forecast, it’s going to be a decent week, with possibly a bit of rain on Thursday. I cannot wait to throw open the windows and air out the new house. It sat empty for over two years! I took some candles over to combat the musty smell, and it was way less noticeable yesterday.
Jim switched the washer and the dryer around so the doors swing away from each other now. I steam washed a few things, not bad! I was hoping for better results on my cotton kitchen towels that the grubsters stained though.
And I know what some men do when no one is looking. I washed the toilet down. And rewashed it just to be sure. When you have urine on every part of the toilet and surrounding areas… it leaves me speechless!
Beep beep.
Beep beep.
His horn went beep. beep. beep.
DH is **cranky ** today. He was supposed to go to Sacramento today to take an entrance exam for his new career. Test was at 0700, so he booked a hotel room last night, giving him a 9-minute drive to the test site instead of a 90-minute drive. He gets there this morning, only to be turned away because his drivers license expired ten days ago on his birthday. :smack: :smack: :smack:
So, now he’s out the $100 for a hotel room, plus the round-trip gas. He’s on the way to the DMV now. Assuming the renewal goes OK, he has to go back to Sacramento tomorrow and try again.
These tales of driving in bad weather make me look fondly (?) back on driving in Chicago in the winter. It could be a couple days before side streets got plowed, so you often had to pretend your car was a train - drive up from the main street onto the packed snow, and get into the ruts. Then you could let go of the steering wheel and go forward in the ruts as if you were on rails. If you actually needed to turn, it could be challenging to get up enough power to climb out but not overshoot and go skidding into someone’s kitchen chairs. (Mess with those at your own peril!)
Hey Buddy how do I get this thing out of second gear!?
Normal “M&S” (mud and snow) rated tires are fine. It’s *studded * snow tires that are banned almost everywhere except for mountain passes.
Fortunately, studded tires are almost completely gone from the market, but that doesn’t stop some fool from putting a bunch of short screws into the outer edges of their tire treads.
I wonder if she meant studded snow tires. I’ll bet the regular snow tires are okay.
On preview, gotpasswords beat me to it.
Well, while we’re on the subject: I believe that you are correct, flutterby. From the little I know, tires made of softer rubber handle the road very well, but wear out more quickly. On the other hand, there are tires with lifetime warranties that hardly wear down, but are like driving around on ball bearings. I made the mistake of buying the Toyo “indestructible” tire, and my car seemed to slip and slide in the mildest of weather conditions. So of course you wait for them to wear out so you can replace them and they never do…
Just like shoes. I’ve got a pair of “Shoes For Crews” kitchen shoes that have a very soft rubber sole with a “microsquare” tread pattern. These things make you stick like a gecko to just about any wet or greasy floor, but they wear out quicker than cheap hard-soled super-slippy shoes.
So we’re starting the MMP on Sunday night now? Isn’t that jumping the gun a bit?
Ivyboy came home for a few days from college for spring break. He cleaned out the attic for his father, and I got him a few odds and ends. It was nice to have him home.
Ivygirl is on spring break this week. And thanks to our tax refund, we paid off two credit cards and put a chunk on the third! My plan is to throw everything I’ve got at the third, so when the welfare check…excuse me…*Economic Stimulus Check * :rolleyes: comes in we can pay it off!
Spaz, ya done good! Growing up in upstate NY meant I not only learned how to drive in snow but also how to drive up and down and around snowy hills. My first car was a '65 Mustang with a 289 V-8 engine up front and a very light rear end. When it snowed, I would have to plan my route home from work so that I avoided the steeper hills. I won’t even go into what a bee-yotch it is to clean 12 inches of snow off a vehicle in order to go somewhere.
Just to update, the poor old lady cat went to the bridge with peace and dignity. I figured out today that she’d been around for a third of my life so it’s very strange to not have her here. She’ll be missed.
Very busy at work but glad to say “no snow” signs still working fine.
I’ve been working and reading since 7:00 CST, and I can’t get caught up! I’m two hours behind - so just wanna give a shout-out to my homies who might miss me!
Thanks guys, studded snow tires make more sense than regular snow tires (I don’t think I’ve ever seen studded snow tires!)
Plynck all I know of tires I learned watching Marketplace (it’s a show that does tests and looks into products and different things… for example a few weeks ago they did a story on ‘Product of Canada’ and what it takes to be allowed to put it on the label… and another on the Heart and Stroke checkmark health thing for food vs some of the different ones in the US… interesting stuff).
He’s got a new license now, so he’ll be back to Sacramento tomorrow morning. The mystery is why he didn’t get the renewal notice a couple months before the license expired? Oh well, doesn’t matter now.
Yay for half-assed spring breaks. I didn’t have to get up at 5:30am this morning! That’s something. On the other hand, I still have this afternoon class.
Maybe I’ll stop by my favorite clothing store on my way home and see if they have anything new out. I wish the weather would hurry up and get warmer - I am so sick of my winter clothes.
I finally got to sleep around 0300. Very weird. Then I overslept. :smack: Class today. I puttered about the house since the Board was down, and managed to actually get some cleaning done. I’ll probably rest on my laurels now.
Long time no post - crazy work schedule! I lived in Wyoming for 4 years and I got my fill of winter driving while I was there. Nothing like watching the semi that past you at 75 mph spinning around and falling off the bridge you are approaching. And driving towards Salt Lake City through Parley’s Canyon in a blizzard with zero visibility with the Uber-rich from Park City flying past you in their SUV’s!
Anyway interesting weekend here…I have had a headache since last Tuesday that Advil just was not touching anymore. Mr ems-to-be finally talked me into going to the Urgent Care Saturday morning under threat of him taking me forcibly when he got back from work. I check in the nice lady takes me back and takes my blood pressure. Says to me sit there while I get the doctor. She brings him back re-takes my blood pressure - it was reading 150 something/130 something. :eek:
They took me into a dark room gave me some medicine for the headache and some blood pressure medicine and made me lie down for 3 hours while they monitored me. :eek:
I have a prescription for blood pressure meds, had to go get some blood work done today and they want to see me again on Wednesday to see how the meds are doing. Oh and I am supposed to be in a zero stress environment - with my job no way.
Labelless, my kid’s godparents are living in South Bend. They’re driving up in a few weeks for the baptism. I haven’t been there yet, but I expect we’ll be going down there a fair amount. It adds nicely to my list of “Place In the U.S. that Most People Don’t Visit as Tourists”. Like Ames, Iowa.
Make the snow go away.
