Neither Snow nor Rain

This morning, on my way to work, I drove through snow, fog, and sleet. I felt like the mailman, lol. I knew the winter storm was still moving in so I left work early, around 1:30PM, when the snowflakes were big and the streets were slushy. I stopped by WalMart to get some last minute shopping and I think everyone else had the same idea. After over a half hour wait to check out, I loaded my packages and realized I had forgotten to buy one of the priorities on my shopping list. I stopped at Walgreens to get that and then back on the road, this time to rain. I have a 45 minute commute on a good day now since the company moved their office earlier this month, so I got comfortable, turned up the defrost, set the windshield wipers to intermittant, and prepared for the journey home. Most of the way home is freeway but, because of the snow, I got off the interstate and took Historic Highway Route 66, the frontage road, for the last ten miles to home. I could see that the light, mid-day interstate traffic was still moving well, despite the now heavy snowfall, but Route 66 highway was practically deserted, a winter wonderland, although treacherous, with the foggy snow, slushy roads, and freezing temperatures. Still, I wanted to see how my new Canon Point and Shoot camera worked for point and shoot photos. So, here goes:

This might be my favorite photo. I like the snowy trees and the lone mailbox.

The brown stripe you see in the next photo is the side of the freeway which runs parallel with Route 66. Sometimes, after a heavy rainstorm, there are temporary waterfalls running down from the upper levels. Not today. ;) 

You can see the roads are getting worse (next photo) as I gain in altitude and approach my home. I live at 7,000 feet above sea level, 1,500 feet higher than in the city. It's awful when you have a cold and your ears plug up and then pop, which reminds me of a story. Two different times, I have purchased neon tetras for my fish tank, only to arrive at home from the city, with dead, little, red and blue fish. It seems that the altitude change doesn't agree with them. Their eyes actually pop out of their heads! Crazy, I know, but absolutely true!

When I got home, my son's friend's car was stuck in my long driveway. Uh oh! I have to go past without hitting him or getting stuck myself. I couldn't even stop because I knew I would get stuck then too. Everybody watched and worried as I carefully drove past and parked in the driveway. When I tried to back up and straighten out, I couldn't. I was stuck. Oh well, I was home, safe and parked. Yay, for my Subaru!! Whew! I do slip and slide a little but I haven't got stuck yet. Then, I snapped this photo, looking back down my driveway towards the neighbor's driveway, just after they got the car going again. Last Saturday night, another of my son's friends got stuck at the end of the driveway nearer the neighbor's wall. The driveway may look easy, but it curves in an "s" with a slight drop on both sides and there is a culvert at the end, near the road. When driving in snow you can't heavy gas it, slow down too much, or stop, and you've got to stay on the gravel. The biggest problem I seem to have driving in snow is the low clearance of my Subaru Impreza. But, my daughter says, "it's all about the driver". Lol, thanks for the compliment. After all, I didn't hit the friend's car OR get myself stuck. Tee Hee.

I wasn't very pleased that my son and his friends were going out in this blizzard but they were performing at a show tonight with their band, Second Thought. He did call me when they got to town so that I knew they were safe. The weather wasn't so bad in the city and he's going to stay at his friend's apartment tonight after the show. Have fun at your show, guys.

I let Sandy and Skyy out for a pee and a romp. They had a blast running through the deep snow.

Skyy was so fast for this photo, I only caught her tail.

By this time, Sandy was far, far away. This photo was taken using my 14X zoom, four times more than my last camera.

Inside, it looks like the snow monsters are outside.

I think I will be working from home tomorrow, in order to stay safe. I really can't risk anything happening to my one driving car, since the Hyundai got totalled.

Neither Snow Nor Rain - song: O Superman artist: David Bowie and Laurie Anderson