When I pulled into my driveway this morning after a Vanity Appointment visit with my friend Theresa at Hairy Notions, here is what I saw on my car dashboard.
I call this shot Wishful Thinking.
Notable to me was the real-life temperature here in Syracuse, N.Y., a whopping 14 degrees. (The forecast for tomorrow lists a high of 2 and a low of minus-8.)
Also evident was the song playing on my Sirius/XM satellite radio The Highway station, country music man Joe Nichols singing “Sunny and 75.”
Ha. Good one.
Below is what it looked like going up my street in our city neighborhood of Eastwood.
The slope can catch you going up or coming down in this weather.
And below is what it looked like going down the street. Yes, this is the direction I took going and coming home today. It only took one slippery trip the first year my dear wife Karen and I lived here for me to cross navigating our hill off my snow-route list.
I can’t even begin to count the times I’ve been outside shoveling my driveway only to see somebody sliding down that hill perilously close to parked cars, or getting stuck halfway trying to go up.
Here’s my safer road traveled on snow days in Syracuse.
Do you change your driving routes for bad weather?
Mark Bialczak 
Bad weather is everywhere.
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We are all in this together, Linda. Thanks for commenting.
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Your beautiful photos are snowy and icy reminders of our years in Liverpool. Dave and I lived on a steep hill on a cul-de-sac. I wrote to you about the snow plow boys. The county guys would sweep around our cul-de-sac and invariably the snow would pile up at the edge of our driveways. Going up and down the hill – some days it should have been a thrill ride on the scale of the hill off West Genesee Street. (Well, maybe, I’m exaggerating now.)
You might envy our snow-free winters in Florida now. But, come summer, we’ll be longing to be back in Syracuse where the nights are cool and the air is breezy. Happy New Year, Mark and Karen. 😉
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Our little hill seems bigger in the winter by tenfold! So I know what you mean about your Liverpool cul-de-sac. Enjoy Florida in the winter, Judy and Dave. And you always have AC in the summer. Happy New Year!
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“You always have AC in the summer.” Mark, this is the lie our daughter told us to get us to move to Florida. Remember … that’s only good when you’re INDOORS. Outside it’s blazing hot. 😉
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I had to drive to and from work today in snowy conditions. One thing that helped: I stopped to get my tires filled before the drive into work. I’m looking at another snowy commute tomorrow. The operative question right now seems to be this: Why am I living here?
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That question will echo through our minds here in the Northeast for months now. I always try to answer it with: Best summer weather anywere. That is a good tip about inflating the tires because the air pressure goes down in the cold, and that makes a big difference in handling. Thanks as always, Ann.
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I have a short distance to work. I don’t really change my route. I just keep hoping they clean the one I use. We are looking, basically, at the same stuff here. It’s already started…..
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Keep the car in the big rut between the snow piles, right, Colleen? Be safe and warm.
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😉 Good advice!
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It’s 25 here, a relative heat wave compared to Syracuse. But the wind whistling around my building makes it sound more like 25 below, and I just want to cuddle up under every quilt in the apartment and drink hot chocolate or hot tea, then hibernate until spring. We have black ice on the streets and white ice on everything else. Keep lots of Kittie litter in your car for traction. It works. And Windex will melt ice and snow off the windows. Discoveries made when I had them in the car and had an inch of ice on windows and the Windex hadn’t frozen. Mixture of rubbing alcohol and water will work also. Learned that when worked for Homeland Security. Also know about weapons of mass destruction, partly from the job, and partly because I am one. 🙂
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Kitty litter, check. Windex, check. Weapon of mass destruction, nope.
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Are you sure about the wmd’s? You could hire me cheap when the temp gets above 50. I can destroy grocery stores, apartments, elevator doors, just about anything you can imagine. Just point me in the right direction and believe me, with my eyes doing their own thing, I can drag anything off.
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Don’t you wish it were 75 and Sunny! 😀
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I do indeed PJ, oh, yes, I do indeed.
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oh, so funny and ironically painful that vision must have been. i can so identify with this. yes, i avoid hills and curvy pathways on these days.
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Sometimes when I’m being the cautious snow driver, I feel like the rest of the world is passing me by. Is it like that in Michigan for you, Beth?
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absolutely, mark. but i don’t really care, just want to get where i’m going )
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As a Central New Yorker… yes. Routes are definitely changed. In order to get home to Onondaga Hill–to give you an idea where–I have to pass my old elementary school, Split Rock. Where Harris Road meets Split Rock road is a steep turn. Surprisingly, nothing has ever really been done for accident prevention: putting up a guard rail.
It’s an awful turn that has benefits many tow trucks and car shops in the Syracuse area. Knock on wood. I’ve personally done teeth grinding 180-degree turns (successfully). It’s either taking 173 to Howlett Hill Rd., Split Rock to Cedarvale, or cutting through other neighborhoods.
The snow-covered Syracuse is delightful, but hypnotizing. It may be just me, but I had tendency to drive more and admire the scenery. Curiosity has not gotten the best of me, however, as tempting as it is to see the snow-covered trees decorating the course of 13 Curves… I would never attempt it… especially on days like today.
Stay warm!
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It sounds like you must choose the lesser of the curvy, hilly routes, Chris. Don’t admire the scenery too much when you’re behind the wheel! Yes, stay safe and warm, good sir.
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I just don’t go anywhere. LOL Going on 9 inches of snow.here.
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Wise choice, Mer. I have to go out and about twice more today. As Paul Simon sings, “Slip-sliding away …”
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