Jan. 23rd, 2005

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About 15 inches of the white powdery stuff has graced our front driveway, though it had drifted up to 30 inches by the garage door. The car, while it has all-wheel drive, does not have 15 inches of clearance. Wheels only have traction if they have weight on them while they are touching something they can gain traction on. This means that if the front of the car has pushed a crest of snow under it, while the initial snow is too powdery to be a problem itself, the accumulated, compacted pile could be.

In addition, in baking out of the garage, avoiding getting snow in the exhaust pipe increases your chances of having the car continue to run.

This, generally, is a good thing.

No, none of these are lessons from this morning. Why, some of you might ask, is this an issue at all at 6:44am on a Sunday morning?! Because Susan has work - work that ostenisbly starts at 7am. She left the end of the driveway at about 6:15, and unlike her normal drive of 45 minutes, I expect it will be closer to 90 minutes.

She tromped a path from the garage door to our back-up/turnaround spot, following the path of the exhaust pipe. I then backed the car out. She tromped the path up to the end of the driveway (about 100 feet, I think), in case I would need to back down - I had not intended to take the car out of the end of the driveway on the first pass.

Apparently, the town plows had not made too big a mess of the end of the driveway, where it meets the road. She tromped that down a bit, too, and then we agreed that I should, from downhill of it about 25 feet, atempt my exit. I shifted into low, and then 'charged' up the hill. FOr the briefest moment, I could feel the front tires loose traction with the 'ground,' but momentum carried the car a bit further and then it settled down to where all four wheels had traction again. I scooted across the road and into the neighbor's (partially plowed) driveway.

Susan swapped into the driver's seat and I headed back to the house. Even where the tire tracks were, the snow was several inches deep! I have greater appreciation for her hard work tromping! Built up a bit of an appetite - and I do not usually do breakfast!

Pics of the snow later, I think, if folks want them.

I believe we are supposed to get up to another 10 inches, though it might be less.

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