SNOW!!!!!

Finally, we have snow.

It's about time. We went all through November and the first week of December without it. I really would have liked it for deer hunting, but oh well.

I love the snow. I specially love driving in it. My truck is 4wd, but I still like 2wd because you can slide around corners and I have 4wd available if I can't get enough traction. The hardest part is starting from a stop. Historically though rear-wheel drive vehicles are more accident prone and less safe in snow than front-wheel drive. You definitely have to know what you are doing and know your vehicle. I've driven through snow that was over a foot deep before. It is a lot of fun, but the snow gets packed up under the cab and in the wheel wells.

Big storms like this are perfect for having fun in the snow because the plows don't salt or sand anywhere except for the major intersections. This way, you can play around all day and never get dirty. You just get snow everywhere on and under your vehicle.

I'm glad we finally had a storm. I like having a white Christmas.

The only time I don't like driving in snow is when it is near freezing because the plows dump literally tons of salt on the roads. I HATE SALT!!! Salt rusts out our vehicles. I'd rather they never salted; just use sand. Our roads would last longer and so would our cars. My other pet peeve is when the plows don't even plow. They just sand or salt. I mean, come on! Sanding/salting doesn't do any good if it can't get down to the bottom of the snow.

I recently bought a snowblower too. I got it from an old lady in Eau Claire that has had it for 13 years. It looks and runs really good. It is 8hp with a 26in cut, 6 speeds forward and 2 reverse (but it is faster and easier just to pull it backwards), a headlight (which actually helps more than you think in the dark), and electric start. I'm not a big fan of the electric start, but this one had it on it and I thought it would make it so my mom could use it. I just use the pull-start.

Tuesday night I went out and snowblowed twice. On Wednesday I was up a 6:10. It took me almost an hour to get the driveway (one car) clear and my truck out (parked along side the one-car garage). I told my mom I would take her to work. It was a good thing I did. The plow had been by, but it only made one pass down the middle of the street. My truck got out with no problem, but my mom's car would never have made it. The roads were fairly good on the way (to Gundersen Lutheran in La Crosse). They were snow covered and packed down, but it was plowed at least once and there was no slop around. Traffic moved along at 25mph. I took 7th St versus 3rd or 2nd because I wanted to avoid traffic rather than having better roads. I wasn't worried at all about making it to the hospital. I dropped my mom off and headed back home.

When I got home, I spent another hour clearing the rest of the driveway. Tonight (Thursday), I am going to finish cleaning things up. I like to plan ahead and keep space clear for the snow to come otherwise it will just be in one great big pile 6 feet tall. The only problem I have at home is my mom doesn't shovel in the morning so the snow gets packed down on the driveway and then I can't get it cleared. Luckily (I guess), it is going to be really cold. The cold helps to get the snow off easier. Also, I run out of room for the snow really quickly because I have to shovel everything in one direction due to wind.

Hope everyone has fun in the snow and stays safe. Oh, and watch out for idiot drivers!