VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions Winter Snow-Birds

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I have noticed that it has started to snow and get really cold up north. Here is some advice for coping with those undesirable conditions:

a. Keep a windshield scraper handy and in the same place so you can readily get to it on a cold morning.

b. Take a good tow chain, rope or strap with you. Often those who want to help get you out of the ditch have none of these items.

c. Caution whoever pulls you out of the stuck position you find yourself in to not snatch the towing device. It will bend something and lock up the towing device to where cuss words will not even help get it unstuck. A slow, stead pull is best.

d. Always have a tip in the console for any good Smaratin who helps you.

e. Add a cinder block to the trunk. More weight helps traction. It also helps in centrifugal force to carry you all the way to the deepest part of the ditch.

f. Get some snow tires. Studded ones where permitted. They sound nice. Sorta like golf cleats on cement. You know.

g. if your windshield keeps fogging up from it being cold, Put as much of you bare hand on it until it clears a little space. Get up close and look through the space and drive as usual. The space will tend to increase to where you have a bigger and bigger opening in about an hour or until you get to your destination, whichever comes first.

h. Have your missus knit you some ear-muffs. You can endure anything if your ears aren't freezing.

I. Consider moving south. look at the temps for places like Detroit and Milwaukee or ST Paul and compare with Orlando and Miami. its a no-brainer. Speaking southern is easy to learn.

j. If you decide to snow-bird by coming south, do not remove the snow from the roof. it will be ready to slide off by the time you hit North Carolina on, say, I-95 and we down here don't see much snow so we like to see clumps of it fly off those cars a-heading south. Do too!

k. Stop in NC to get yourself some good B-B-Cue eastern vinegar based kind. You can get it just off I-95 in Wilson, NC. Either Bills or Parkers. Good stuff!

L. Figure on toping off the fuel tank in SC. Cheapest gas on the eastern seaboard.

m. You and your missus look at some property whilst you are down in FL or anywhere south of the VA/NC border. After moving on down here you will ask yourself why you didn't do this a long time ago. Will too! Down here we ofter go play outside during the winter months. Do too! Learn to like Bluegrass. Its a getting used to thing. Just takes time. Also, learn to like white cornbread. Yellow corn is for the stock. Only white corn is fit for human consumption.

n. Back up North: When you go back in the house up there after getting the car running and warming up, have the missus make you some hot chocolate and blueberry muffins. She will be glad to do it. After all you're the man. The one who insists on living up there. Yep!

Help this helps you cope and sparks some good musings about your choice of where you live on the planet.

You're welcome and it was my pleasure,
Charlie

you said it Charlie,here in west central Florida it's supposed to be 80 degrees on monday. Might have to take a drive in my Corvair convertible. Ed Bittman VCCA#47508 Dade City,Fl

Have fun,

At least you don't have to watch out for polar bears whilst out tooling around during the winter months. Palm trees a-swayin in the breeze, oranges everywhere,
Bikinis crossing the road and Mi-ties in the cabana... You know.

Charlie

Charlie et al: Try googling "snow in Georgia" and let us know what you see.

Charlie, thanks for my chuckle for today.

Cinder block in the trunk? Might be best to put it in whatever end of the car does the driving and many if not most cars today are front wheel drive.

1 cinder block is hardly worth the effort, half dozen is getting closer.
Tony

If you want some extra income while getting better traction, use dead bodies. They won't slide around as much as the blocks.

Dean

That's only legal in New York and New Jersey.................



All the Best, Chip

Chip ...... our local news 13 seems to be reporting more dead bodies in our Asheville / Hendersonville area, these days. Sad change of events.

I checked the paper today for the long-range forcast for the twenty-fifth.

The weather forcast calls for partly cloudy with a high of only 75.

Tomorrow, if I see that cold a forcast again, I'll make a trip to the grocery and stock up on milk, pop-tarts and bread. I hope I'm not too late. These freek cold spells tend to put folks in a panic down here and there is no telling what, if anything, will be left on the shelves by the weekend.

I have talked to the missus and we are checking on land to build on a bit farther south. Say southern Florida. We have had enough of these darn low temperture winters up here in North Carolina. Have too!

This is short because I have to go and dig out the extra blankets.

Charlie

BTW: This may not be a welcome post for those of you stuck up there in the snow-belt. My apologies for being somewhat insensitive to your circumstances.

I have heard the land in southern Florida is rather spongy. The 25th here will be a mix of rain/snow. Sure glad it will not be cold as "the missus" will want to turn on the heat. When it gets to freezing I put on my L.L. Bean flannel shirt if going outside but only if it's not snowing or rainy as I will need to wear it to church services. While there will pray for those affected by wind, fire, and rain and that's for real.

I don't know Charlie, last week we had to drive from Iowa to San Antonio, Texas to find snow. No snow here in Iowa yet but they say we may have a slight chance Thursday.

Well, Uncle Ed, I hope you are all set for it. And, I hope you have plenty of coal available for the pot-bellied stove. Get some milk, bread and pop-tarts. You'll survive. (It is said down and over here when hurricans come, that the first thing the super markets run out of is Pop-tarts. Strawberry ones go first)

Best wishes for the holidays,

Charlie

Been down here in central Florida from SE Massachusetts since 12/24. While my wife loves it, it’s still not my cup of tea. I love hunting and like the colder weather. Nothing like hunting whitetail with a nice snow cover on the ground. Plowing snow I’ve done since before I could legally drive so no big deal. Bought a 86’ diesel military blazer this past summer with a fisher plow. The combination of short wheelbase with the torque of the 6.2, plowing is a joy and at $500 for the whole package, cheaper than most snow blowers. There’s also something special about coming in out of a fresh snowfall to sit in front of my harmann pellet stove with a nice cup of spiked coffee and my feet up. Just don’t get that here in Florida. Now the real kicker to this whole warm weather issue. My wife has a circulatory issue and gets cold easily. I’ve gotten sick every summer for more than the last 12 yrs lasting 2-4 months and the doctors never being able to diagnose my problem. This year after my most recent bought, I spent thousands on all kinds of doctors and all kinds of testing to try and figure out what the heck is going on. In Boston , a doctor finally believes he might have the answer. It seems my blood might be changing its molecular structure in the warm temperatures causing my symptoms of extreme fatigue, muscle and joint pain, and just feeling lousy. So, there’s the dilemma, my wife medically needs the heat, and the heat is medically bad for me. Looks like we’ll be keeping both properties and she’ll be heading south much earlier than me every winter. Think she’ll be mad if I only visit her for the holidays?

CT,

Now that right there was a nice try. Was too!

I noticed in the paper today something real interesting. It will probably interest your missus more than you with your oil for blood melecular structure and all. Here's the weather from my newspaper for today (these happen to be right next to each other):

City Today High/low Tomorrow High/low

Miami 81/63 PC 79/59 PC

Milwaukee 18/0 SF 10/4 PC

Minneapolis 6/11 SN -4/14 PC

Orlando 66/51 C 70/47 S

Omaha 20/-4 SN 2/-11 PC

PC = Partly Cloudy SF = Snow Fluries SN = Snow C = Cloudy S = Sunny

Now I don't want to insult anyone's intellegence but this right here ain't no rocket science. Think about it.

Charlie

BTW: To cherish the moment after dealing with snow removal, it seems to me that a cup of spicked coffee and a warming fire at your feet instead of pina coladas on the beach under swaying palms and bikinies everywhere is a sure sign that someone needs their priorities adjusted. Do too!

BTW2: I think your missus is perfectly normal. I think you may need - as a minimum - an oil change.

My story is actually true. The wife has Raynaud’s disease and my condition doesn’t have a specific name. So, in all honesty, she gets ill with temps less than mid50’s if exposed for too long. For me, as the temperature goes up in the summer, my bloods molecular structure slowly changes making me ill and my symptoms don’t start to subside until the temperature starts to fall. All my symptoms disappear in the cold temperatures. Sounds pretty crazy but that’s what the doctors have come up with.

Just so you know, my wife and I have a little place in MX where we go every year. I drink Johnny walker black under those palm trees. We go for just a week before summer back home starts and the doctors believe that yearly trip might be where my condition starts to affect me each year . So in reality, it seems I have a “heat” condition.

CT,

I get it and realize that folks may have a valid reason for not being able to enjoy the warmer climates of our country. I hope you don't hold my comments against me.

The notion I've been poking at you northerns about was mere joking around. Nothing more and I surely didn't mean any hard feelings.

I hope that you and your family enjoy the seasons up there and stay cool and warm as the weather dictates. Everyone else too!

Best wishes,
Charlie

Charlie,
Just trying to keep your "skirt clean" {just an idiom not meant to denote anything about gender} and others egos or feelings bruised.

In today's environment some of your posts could be considered social harassment. Not that you are a politician or entertainer but we don't want you to have to resign because of what someone might claim offended them.

I'm sure this post puts me on "shaky ground". I have on my "big boy pants" so not likely to get them in a wad.

Don’t worry about anything Charlie, I took no offense to anything you said. If we can’t have fun poking fun at ourselves and others than what good is living. Unfortunately, as Chipper was alluding to, the world is full of “snowflakes” these days with even one or two popping up here on the VCCA occasionally. OK, now I’m in trouble!

Chistech,

Welcome to the pool. It is up to the reader to determine which pool.

Hey, reader did that get you thinking? Great!

I am reading and thinking it is not a "pool" reserved for "club" members and anyone can get in.

Just got home from the Villages in Lady Lake, FL today. My inlaws live there and my son in Williston an hour away. Spent the holidays with them. Left yesterday at 3:30 and got home to Dartmouth MA this morning at 9:30 for an 18hr straight drive. It was 41 degrees when we left Gainsville and when I stopped to top off my fuel tank at the FL/GA line, the temp was down to 15. The whole way home the highest the temp went after that was 13 with the low to 0 in NY up by the Tappan Zee Bridge area.

I'm sitting right now infront of that pellet stove with a nice warm cup of coffee watching the idiot box. Going to comment on the drivers on the road and a little back ground on me. I have driven over 2 million miles in combo rigs hauling livestock and have a class A license with endorsements in doubles, triples, tankers, bus, school bus, and motorcycle. I have a good grasp of the rules of the road and common courtesy. I realize 2 million miles is not much compared to a professional class A driver, but it's still many more than most and I hauled one of the hardest loads to haul, a constantly moving one. Here is what I saw:
I used to think that RI, CT, and MA drivers were the worst for sitting in the left and center lanes, preventing anyone from going faster than them, including the trucks which require the middle lane for their passing land on a three lane road. The law states that all slower moving traffic should be in the farthest right lane. Now, I was wrong which state drivers are the worst. I have to say that FLorida drivers are the worst perpetrators of the "left lane police". They get in the left lane, go whatever speed THEY want, and you can't move them with a case of dynamite. Every day I was on 75, 301, 27, 441, and 95, most times they were parking lots just because of bad driving habits, not accidents. Those drivers that stay out of the left, occupy the middle with the same zealous attitude and will prevent any big rigs from passing. When I inquired why this was so, those who admitted to being a middle lane driver, replied with the same answer. They don't want to deal with people pulling on and off the highway so they don't use the right lane at all. Those who admitted being the LLPD all said, I go fast enough and no one should need to faster than what I'm going! Now on the other end of the spectrum, I give the absolute crazy, dangerous drivers award to the NJ drivers. While on the NJ Turnpike this morning, while doing 80 in the right lane, I was constantly passed by NJ plates easily going 100mph diving and weaving amongst the traffic. Next to NJ is CT for that crazy driver award, with NY coming in 3rd. Along the whole eastern 95 corridor, I was with cars from all states and my statements are based off of the whole trip. I found the FL drivers riding in the left lane and holding back the traffic in every state all the way up to and including MA!

And almost forgot, how "warm" is that pool? It's a little cold to just dive in not knowing!

CT,

I agree with your observation about drivers. Most of my experience out of state is confined to trips to Carlisle and Hershey each year. I have no idea how many miles I've driven since I got my license in 1950. NC has its share of idiots, too.

No one should stay in the passing lane unless they are traveling faster than the posted speed limit. Even those should move over if theres someone following who is driving even faster. This was the subject of another thread and there is no use in going too far on this subject here.

I'm glad you got back to MA safe and sound. Enjoy the pellet machine or whatever that heater is. Does it use goat pellets?

Best,
Charlie

Aaaaa... stop whining. You'll be fine again after digging out from the 18 inches of white stuff greeting you tomorrow in MA. Could have stayed in Florida with all those bad drivers.

Ever notice that anyone going slower than you is an idiot, but anyone going faster is a maniac?
George Carlin