Be Careful What You Wish For

Remember how I was whining about the weather and wishing for a glimpse of pavement? Well, I got it, alright - through a thin sheet of clear ice, with water cascading over it! Early Sunday morning, the pouring rain of our fourth winter thaw melted some of the snow off the roads, but then it quickly refroze, so the roads were a sheet of water-covered ice in the ruts, and deep slush everywhere else. Around 9 am I walked out the door to go to church, and there was the local elementary principal coming up the driveway asking to borrow a shovel. He was a back a minute later, asking me to call a tow truck. His minivan was buried in the snowbank by our mailbox. Tim and the guy across the street came to lend a hand, but by the time they had the come-along rigged up to the telephone pole on the other side of the road the tow truck was there. Too bad the tow truck couldn't get any traction on our icy hill, either! They ended up tying the tow truck to the telephone pole so the truck could pull the van out. My job was to stand at the top of the hill and try to stop oncoming traffic. Everything froze solid Sunday night, plowed or not, and then we got another foot of snow yesterday and today. The kids' 4-day midwinter break turned into a five day holiday, and we have hit our limit for snow days. Now they are saying we could see snow into April!