The Tale of a Texan in Winter...

[Katastrophe]

So, this past Sunday, I slap leashes on our two dogs to take 'em on a "morning constitutional" (we live in an apartment, on the second floor). The dogs get to the second step and go flying on the ice that had built up on the steps overnight. I follow suit about a half a millisecond later, skidding down the steps on my back and backside. Kickers, our three legged wonderdog, makes it to the landing on the stairs, but it's covered in ice too, and he kinda looks like he's trying out for the Jamaican Bobsledding Team out there... Snickers, our mini Dachsund, has dug in with her claws and ain't going nowhere (must be the German heritage). I manage to grab on to a handrail, and in an adrenaline rush, stop the fall before my left butt cheek gets frostbite.


Note to self: Look down in winter for ice....it apparently doesn't happen just in the freezer, even in Texas!

[r_a_smith3530]

Ha! This reminds me of my first trip to Phoenix, back in February of '78. I'm comin' from Chicago and figure that I'm heading to the desert. Ah, I'm getting away from the cold and snowy north. Was I in for a shock when I got to Flagstaff and the snow was coming down so hard that I could barely see the front of my then new Camaro. I followed a state plow truck most of the way in on I-17. Most people had decided to wait it out. I had no idea how high up I was, and so decided to press on regardless. There were a couple of really ticklish moments that, upon later reflection, I would not repeat again!

From that time on, I was much more cautious if I was driving in inclement weather, on a road that I was unfamiliar with.

[Tim]

Good old Texas. Back in January 1985 I was transferred from Ft Walton Beach Florida to Fort Worth Texas. We spent the previous week at the in-laws while I finished painting our home which was just placed on the market. The average temperature was about 68 for that week. On Saturday, the day before the family departed, the father in-law cooked steaks outside on the BBQ. It was a beautiful day. On Sunday when we woke up at 5:00 AM it was 32 degrees with ice on the roads. It took me 2 to get to Pensacola, Florida and an hour to cross the Pensacola bridge on US 98. It took us another 6 hours just to get to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Normally this is about a 3 hour drive. The next morning when we woke up in the hotel all the pipes where frozen. There were no hot showers and no coffee. It took us another 10 to get to the Dallas/Ft Worth, Texas. Texans do not know how to drive in the snow. They where everywhere but where they should be. BTW, it staved cold for another week and my kids where able to make their first snow angels. What should have been a 12 hour trip took me 2 days. The summer made up for the cold winter. It went 100 days with the temperature above 100 degrees. Good old Texas!

[Tone2TheBone]

Flagstaff gets crazy snow. I've only been to Dallas and it was in May so I was ok.