It seems that our escape from winter weather is at an end. Around noon today it started snowing, just as I was getting on the road to run an errand. I witnessed no fewer than six cars spin out while driving. It was disturbing and a little amusing at the same time. You would think that people who live around here would have learned how to drive in the bad weather. I mean, it snows every winter and when it isn't snowing or raining then it is usually icy.

Having grown up in New England I am used to driving in snow, even somewhat deep but drivable snow ( 5 - 6"). I learned how to use all those lovely gears below drive on an automatic. I swear people forget they have lower gears. In defense, I guess sometimes it doesn't matter what gear you are in, you are gonna slip and slide around but in those situations it definitely helps if you know how to drive into a skid. I'm contemplating taking my stepdaughter over to the high school and teaching her how to handle her car in weather like this. I'm just not sure how much I feel like taking my life into my own hands today with doing something like that. Anyway, back to my driving story...

On the ride home from my errand I noticed quite a few cars abandoned or stuck on the side of the road. Most had damage which means they obviously were going too fast or did something stupid like slam on their brakes on a snowy patch of road. I, on the other hand, cruised home at a blistering 35 miles an hour on the highway. The sad part was that as I was exiting the highway, two hours after it had started snowing, the treatment crews were just pulling out of the sheds and taking up positions to start treating the highways. They'd been predicting the snow for days. I can still hear the sirens every couple of minutes as the police race to another accident site. It's going to be a very busy day for the boys in blue.

It's time to pay the weather piper. Here are some images from my back steps: