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Along the Natchez Trace

Monday, December 9, 2013

Slippery Sunday

This cold spell has been hanging on....  temps in the 20's at night and not much higher during the day.  It's been a few years since I've driven in bad weather, and driving on ice just isn't my idea of a good time.  Our daughter and son-in-law were heading into Granbury to the H.E.B. grocery store today and asked us we'd like to go along.

Bill & I hadn't driven anywhere since last Thursday, and while we could have asked Celeste to pick up the few items we were out of, we decided to go with them.

It's 20 miles or so from Celeste's to the grocery, and there was very little traffic on the road....
 Is it any wonder?
I think we saw less than 10 vehicles from the time we left the house until we got to the grocery.
I doubt if this type of weather happens very often...  there had been no snow plows...  no salt trucks...  no indication that even much traffic had traveled as there weren't even the usual marks that tires leave as a path.  I'm wondering if the county even has that kind of equipment on hand.
I'd guess that it took us at least an hour to go those 20 miles.  Victor was very careful.

The temperature had risen to about 32 degrees as we neared Granbury, and it looked like a snow plow had cleared the main route going through town.  

Of course the parking lot of the grocery store was like an ice skating rink!
That's Victor and Celeste heading into the store.
It took me considerably longer to maneuver my way...  I headed for the puddles...  my theory was that if there was water the ice must be melted.  Well...  my boots are mostly waterproof, so at least I didn't get wet feet...  and I did make it into the store without falling down.

The grocery store was nearly empty of customers, and their shelves were well stocked.  Celeste asked one of the employees if they were getting deliveries...  he told her that they had checked the weather predictions and stocked up well in advance.  Even the fruits and vegetables were quite plentiful and looked fresh.

By the time we headed home, the roads were mostly just slush.  There were even a few spots that the sun (yes!  the sun appeared today!) had dried the road.  As the afternoon went on, the temperature got up to 46 degrees, so that went a long way in melting off that ice.  Now, it's nearly 8pm, and it's only 29, so I hope all that water doesn't turn to ice that's even slicker!

Again, lots of birds at the feeders.  Thank you Judy, for confirming my fox sparrow was indeed just that.  I'm a fairly decent birder, but tend to 2nd guess myself.  Heck, I'm lousy at taking tests... you should always go with your first thought.
Shouldn't be any doubt at all that this is a White-winged Dove.....  so I won't attempt to say it's anything else.  So now we've seen the Mourning dove, the Inca dove and the White-winged dove here.  I guess we could have the Eurasian Collared dove, but I haven't seen one here yet.

I recently finished knitting a sweater for our great-granddaughter, Evie.  Got it mailed off last week and got this photo in my e-mail today...
It's just the color of her eyes!
Evie just turned 2 years old recently...  she's my pride and joy!

Hope y'all are staying warm...

That's All For Today!

18 comments:

  1. I love the sweater and hat--and that is one precious little girl!

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  2. It is nice that you safely made it to the HEB and back. Love that store.
    We finally made it out of Texas and cold icy area. Nice here now!

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  3. The parking lots can be more treacherous than the roads most times. I'm better on ice in a vehicle than on foot, that's for sure.
    You made it there and back, which is quite an accomplishment.
    Sure hope it warms up for you.

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  4. Nice sweater, you did a good job on it. BTW, ice isn't slippery. It is the film of water on ice that makes it slippery. Ice-skates, because of the weight pressing on the ice on each side of the runners, melts the ice and allows you to skim over the ice on a small layer of water. Maybe we should call it water skating. . .

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  5. I would have been scared to death of falling on that ice. I probably would have decided that I really didn't need anything. Evie is beyond cute. Love that sweater and hat.

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  6. That is one work of art - that sweater an hat. I'm thinking most people don't realize what a complicated pattern that is. It's gorgeous, Sharon, and something she'll have, or at least remember, all her life.
    I surely didn't know what Dizzy Dick said above about ice not being slippery, just the water on it. Hmmm. I'd be very circumspect about walking without a fellow walker with me!
    BTW, Evie is just beautiful in her new outfit!

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  7. Great set of photos! Your Granddaughter is adorable. Lovely sweater/hat set! We have minus 7 degrees as I'm typing this. We didn't leave our house all weekend. We just stayed home where it's warm and safe.

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  8. Evie is beautiful in her blue sweater. I've been hibernating, hoping to be able to do something different soon.

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  9. A beautiful sweater and hat for a gorgeous little Granddaughter.

    Enough of this cold weather everywhere - turn on the heat.

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  10. Yikes, that looks worse than our roads. Even though our temperatures are colder, the snow is dry and not icy (yet)! It will probably get worse as the temps warm enough to milt it during the day and freeze it again at night. Russ and I are going to try and get to the store today. We have had collared doves and mourning doves here. Would love to see an Inca dove - don't know if we have them here.

    Beautiful job on the sweater. Evie looks just adorable.

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  11. Beautiful little sweater. A lot of blackberry stitches there.Cables are all fine, but those increase a zillion times in a stitch and knit off, or short row things can make me nuts.
    Good job on making it into the store. Brings out the adventurous side of us.

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  12. ohhhhh Evie is adorable and what a great knitter you are! … we have the ice but thank goodness the road crews were out with sand and plows! guess that's one advantage of living in an urban area…. BUT I still won't get out… no way. We got lots of curves and hill and bridges roun heah…. watching icicles melt… they'll turn to ice overnight again and become extremely violent…. mean

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  13. Wow, even though we are in cold weather here in the RGV we don't have ice. Bad memories from living in Kansas City winters. You really shined with that sweater set! Very nice. Well, keep warm you guys. We were going to head home on the bus while they work on the SUV but we canceled all our events at home and have decided to do some walking tours here in the area over the next few days.

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  14. I ope your ice disappears quickly and that you don't take any falls.

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  15. We still have snow and ice here, still have not gotten beyond freezing during the day either. one trick I learned for ice walking long ago, put some over sized socks on over your boots or shoes. Some people used nylons over shoes, but I like to use fat socks. Or you can cut and tie pieces of towels. Works great for traction.

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  16. Definitely the kind of weather to hide inside:)

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  17. The sweater and model are pure perfection!

    As for the slippery, dangerous walking... that's the part of winter I hate most of all. The snow and ice are so beautiful when you're safe indoors.

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