Slippery When Wet

I think we’ve all seen signs with that on them at some time or another. Today I found out just how impossibly slick ice is when it has water running down it. In an attempt to get to church today, I didn’t carry enough speed up the drive way because I was worried about losing control on the wet ice.

So near the top of the drive way I lost all energy and traction at the same time. Yet it was the attempt to back down where things got really hairy. There simply was no way to keep the car straight and luckily for me there was enough snow on the driver’s side to stop the car from rolling down the embankment. No big deal, had this happen before so it can be dealt with.

Then I got out of the car and walked to the back to push it while my father took the wheel. We never got that far because the moment I stepped off the snow onto the ice I went down. Falling is always embarrassing, but it was nothing compared to going down the second time while crawling on my hands and knees.

I had no idea anything could be that slippery despite spending over four decades contending with snow and ice. The driveway was truly frictionless which explains why I didn’t get up it in the first place. After sliding a few times, I made it to a patch free from ice. It was a slow trip down the driveway to the house to figure out what to do next.

A phone call to our neighbor Randy got us some help and ash to lay on the ice. The three of us used that and wood pellets to get the car back down. We also found out the tractor path is blocked by a deep pool of water that the Subaru probably couldn’t clear. That closed off our only other way out.

So much for getting to church.

So I’m watching Ben-Hur and writing this during the intermission. What a year so far and heavy snow is now in the forecast. Sometimes it simply doesn’t pay to leave the house.