Glazed Car

What with all the temperature fluctuations and the sleet, freezing rain, snow, and yuck, its a wonder we aren't have power outages. This area is famous for transformers suddenly giving out, plunging us into cold dark discomfort.

This morning, I left Drew blissfully dreaming of soccer and fishing and other kid exploits (he is on winter break) and headed out to the library. Even though the undergrads are on break, the library stays open, and in fact keeps some evening hours for the adult students who are not on break.

Alas, there was Baby, my beautiful white Malibu, stuck to the ground in a glittering pile of icy coating. She looked like some Christmas tree ornament or sugared cookie. This was going to take some doing to chip all that ice off. Fortunately, the trunk lock released and I was able to pry it open enough to dig out the scrapper.

My first swipe across a window told me there would be no use scraping. Instead, I turned the tool around and used the butt end to whack away at the ice, fearful that any moment I would crack the window glass.

I needed have worried. The ice was thick enough to bear the brunt of any banging. After a bit, the sheet of ice cracked enough for me to peel away chunks. After I cleared enough of the passenger door, I was able to start the car, hoping that heat from inside would assist with the clearing from the outside.

It was a difficult process. Several times I thought perhaps I would just drive off without clearing all the ice. But I didn't want huge sheets of ice peeling off the car in mid lane only to smack into some car behind me. So I kept working at it until I had most of the ice removed from the roof, hood, and trunk as well as the windows.

There were still areas of ice not cleared, but I finally felt it was safe to drive the few blocks to work (I could have walked there by now!). I half expected to see a fairy wonderland of glittering, ice coated trees and bushes. But the ice seemed to be mostly on the cars and roads.

Sure hope the next place I live has a garage or at least a carport! I'm sure Baby is wondering what on earth happened! Even after sitting all day in the light of the sun, Baby still had patches of frozen ice dangling off her, and the roads were still somewhat treacherous.

I believe I'm ready for winter to end. So much for global warming!