Friday, January 19, 2007

Sled Texas!!


Don't try this at home. Well, here's our local version of winter sports. It got below freezing (~28-30 degrees, depending on your geography) for about 3 days, plus there was precipitation, so that equals ice everywhere. It even snowed a light dusting, and it hasn't officially snowed since 2004. The town was shut down in a state of emergency, as it always is when there's ice. Businesses, schools, grocery stores, banks, you name it except for hospitals and it was probably closed! Actually, it was warranted. What they put down on the streets is not really salt, it's either sand or some kind of chemical that needs the friction of cars driving on it in order to melt... and ta-da... no cars (and whatever they were using on the roads, they ran out of it). Most of the fly-overs on the highways were just plain closed, they were too slick for navigation of any kind. Plus people are not equipped. We don't have ice-scrapers in the car, no de-icers for locks, no snow shovels (those are not ever needed), and as you can see, no sleds.

Fine with me. I'd rather not have my whole environment salted down like that, and I got a couple of extra days off from the day job (which I unfortunately spent working at home on freelance projects, so no rest for me). Pics snagged from the Daily Texan and Austin-American Statesman. If you want to get a laugh from watching the warm-climaters sledding down a green hill, the Statesman link has videos posted on their right sidebar for awhile.

4 comments:

Me said...

Blueberry!!! OMFG, we had HELL out here 'cause of the ice. WAY worse than Austin. 'Course, we're up on top of a HILL, but hey. Anyway, I have not had INTERNET access since Monday, so that is why I have not been by to check your posts.
Sooooo good to read you again.

Blueberry said...

It is worse out your way, weatherwise, everytime there's cold, that's true. You poor thing! I am tooo addicted to the internet, not to mention needing it to work freelance. Plus we are on cable modem, so a lot of times if the cable is out the internet is gone too. Time to look for a good book and hope the lights hold out!

Undeniable Liberal said...

I feel sorry for you guys. We Michiganders are used to it, so we are a a bit better prepared. It's been a weird winter up here, we haven't had a TOTAL of five inches of snow this year......scary, like its going to snow like hell just to make up for the lack of snow.

Blueberry said...

Don't feel sorry for us now. It was 70 degrees today, sunny, and gorgeous. We are just built for heat down here, not cold. When you are having your beautiful, crisp September, it will still be 100 degrees here.