A Southerner's version of hell

See my car in the picture? See the car with the door frozen shut this morning?! I was so mad I could've spit nails! Of course I'm running late for work as it is, and realize I need to let my car run for at least 20 minutes before I can leave. So I get out of the shower, with my hair still wet, throw on some clothes and gingerly make my way on the iced over sidewalk to my car to start it. Good thing I shoveled the walk last night or I would've been hiking through at least 6 inches of snow instead of sliding on ice. It's 19 degrees and there's so much ice on the lock, I can't get the key in it. The passenger door is no good because that door handle has been broken for years and you can only open the passenger side from the inside. Gingerly tread my way across the icy sidewalk again, tromp snow all through my house, find the BBQ pit lighter and go back out to the car to melt the ice around the lock.

Mission accomplished, I get the key in the lock. After much jiggling of the key, I feel the lock let go. Break more ice off the handle, press the handle and pull. . . nothing! The door won't budge. Are you kidding me?! Go through whole procedure again. . . still nothing. Lots of cursing and swearing, regain composure, put lighter next to lock a little longer. . . nothing. I take a deep breath and whisper to myself "just walk away".

Call my friend Robyn who lives a couple of miles away (and close enough to walk to work) to see if she'll come get me. She's from New York, she'll know how to drive in this crap. OK, she says, let me get my car started and warmed up. In the mean time, my other friend Lance calls to say he's already pulled three people out from being stuck with his pickup truck and he's only half way to work. Should he stop and pick me up? Unless you want to hear about how I put my boot through my car door, yeah! Call Robyn to tell her to turn off her car and go ahead and walk to work.

Lance couldn't help but gloat when he pulled up at my house (he's from Nebraska and thinks this weather is perfect!). All I could say was "I just don't belong here." Along the streets on the way to work it looked like a hurricane had passed. There were broken trees and branches everywhere, including on people's roofs and fences. The snow was so heavy and wet, it split some trees right in half. The snow had already started to melt late yesterday afternoon, so there was only about 6 inches in front of my house this morning (see picture with sidewalk shoveled).

Today was much nicer outside, mid to upper 50s with a crisp blue sky. Lot's of water running everywhere and everything soaked and soggy. As you can see from the last pic, the clouds that were left made an amazing sunset tonight.

I have to leave my house at 4:30 a.m. tomorrow for my flight to Beijing, so I went out and opened the car door tonight just to make sure it would be OK for tomorrow morning. Not sure if cabs run at that time of the morning and that's a lot to ask of a friend, so I'm hoping for the best in the morning! I've decided that this climate is for rich people. People who can afford a garage, a car that you can start from inside, two closets full of appropriate clothes to layer, and expensive winter sports that require lift tickets, ice time, or snowmobiles. I obviously don't belong here!

I know, I know. . . enough complaining about the weather! Stay tuned, the next post should be from Beijing. Until then, send warm and patient thoughts my way!