Gathering of the Clan

It snowed a bit here yesterday. Actually it snowed all day but only made about an inch. Today was sunny, temp around 30. I fired up the charcoal grill and did a dozen chicken legs. Winter is no reason to stop grilling. Especially for those in Georgia or Virginia.

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Duct tape can't fix stupid, but it can muffle the sound.
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Maybe Georgia but it was downright snotty here Friday and Saturday. Started snowing early Friday and kept on until late Saturday. Not that much accumulation but the roads were treacherous...got wet and then froze.

Here on the NE corner of metro Atlanta, we got a couple of inches and the roads were not bad if you used a little common sense. The west side of Atlanta was hit with up to 10 inches and around 40,000 houses reported to be without power, one friend west was over 40 hours, as was a friend an hour or so north. I didn't do any grilling but it was a nice, though nippy, day for it. A great day for flying, clear skies, cool dry air.

We hardly ever burn the cars. Southerners know we don't have much experience driving in the snow and we don't have snow plows. We generally stay close to home, the problem is all of the Yankees who have moved down here who think they know how to drive in the snow.

I have visited all of the major US cities, the only person I have ever found in any city who knows how to drive in the snow, is the person I was talking to at the moment. Everyone else was a bunch of idiots.

Snow driving tips:

1) Go slow.
2) Go even slower around turns and curves.
3) Watch the front wheels of other cars approaching intersections. If they are not turning...they are sliding...
4) Carry a shovel and warm clothing.
5) If the road is shiny...there is a good chance it's not just wet...
6) Clean off your #^&*ing windows.
7) You have more control with your tires turning than you do with your brakes locked. Anti-lock brakes help this.*
8) Rear wheel drive cars tend to spin when you get on the gas too much, front wheel drive cars plow (understeer). React accordingly...
9) Don't use your #^&*ing cruise control, unless you want to get up close and personal with roadside nature.
10) You can steer when your anti-lock brakes are engaging. Utilize that feature.*
11) 4WD and AWD don't help you stop...
12) Modern AWD kicks 4WD butt in any snow that's not over your hubs.
13) Slow down. You're still not paying attention to #1.

*Why anyone would own a car without anti-locks in this day and age is beyond me.

My grandparents moved from Chicago to Rogers Arkansas in 1969...every winter after that until 2003, we got to listen to my grandmother tell us about the locals (and the transplants) completely failed Snow Driving 101.

She could go on and on...and frequently did...

My rule of driving in snow is almost fool proof...I don't unless I run out of whiskey or cigarettes and the I try to con somebody else into taking me to the store.

Good play.

Doesn't work here...we get lots of days strung together where we get a an inch or three...we don't even get the plows out for that.

Way back when I was learning to drive, I wasn't allowed out in snow the first time until my dad took me to an empty parking lot and we spend about three hours learning what happened when we did various things.

I did the same with my daughter...and I put her through and advanced driving course. It is very useful to know what your can and cannot do....they made her to abrupt lane changes up to about 45 MPH, drop a tire off the edge of the road at speed, drive a slalom course on a wet skid pad (as slippery as ice), learn to brake on the same wet skid pad, and a bunch of other stuff...capped it off with a drive through an obstacle course with various situations.

I wish they'd had that when I was a kid.

We did have something similar...a film distributed by, as I recall, the Ohio state police called "Signal 30". Lots of gruesome kids killed accident footage... made us not want to drive.

In case your education neglected it, here is Signal 30:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mGPz2a5P_E