In Philly we are blessed with four true seasons, which make for a nice cadence to the annual cycle. And yet our memories are fleetingly short. Every winter I put away my summer clothes and wonder why I would ever need them, and every summer I put away my winter clothes and wonder why I would ever need them.
Of course, there are days when you wear shorts and days when you bundle up. But it can be hard to remember why when the current weather dominates your thinking.
Which is why I wanted to record a few lessons learned this past winter, which here on the East Coast was a pretty brutal one highlighted by a huge snowstorm, followed immediately by a huge ice storm followed by well over a week of sub-freezing temps, followed immediately by an even bigger snowstorm. So, perhaps not all winters will have these characteristics, but it still feels helpful to jot down a few notes, on the brink of officially exiting the winter season and welcoming spring to 2026, that are top of mind now but could be easily forgotten by the time we’re sweating through a sweltering summer day.
1. Shovel as soon as you can, including the car, including around the car. I thought I was so smart to time my shoveling as soon as the snow turned to ice, in order to move the white stuff around while it was still soft and light and before it had been encased in icy packs. So porch, steps, and sidewalk were cleaned and salted on a Sunday night, so that by Monday morning when everything else was a hard-packed mess the front of my house was in pretty good shape. I even remembered to clean off my car, since it was easier to clear off the roof, windows, and windshield earlier rather than later. Alas, what I failed to do was clear a path for my car. So even though it was clean, I couldn’t move it, and ended up having to keep it in place for over two weeks until enough snow had melted that I could break the car out of its icy tomb. Which meant that trips I used to drive to I had to take public transit for (like taking Asher to boxing) or walk to (which meant grocery runs were limited to what I could carry home on foot).
2. Make sure the car can be left alone for weeks. Speaking of my vehicle, I was pleased to know cars are just fine being left alone for weeks on end, and don’t need to be turned on every once in a while in order to stay loose. What I didn’t do a good job of was checking to make sure it could be left alone for a long time. Sure enough, it turns out that the day of the storm, Asher didn’t quite close his door all the way, and so the “door open” light was on for days on end. Meaning the battery was completely dead when I tried to start it for the first time. Necessitating a AAA call for a free jump, which would’ve entailed idling it for a very long time to recharge the battery, but since the battery was toast we had to pay for a new one, which meant it was fine to leave as is but cost a fair amount of money. Lessons learned, always double check the car before you leave it for days!
3. Stretch that old achy body. The thing about winters, for someone like me who is a wimp when it comes to the cold weather, is that your muscles get punished all the day long. Shoveling is hard work, plus you’re shivering and tensing up whenever you’re outside, and leisurely walks to loosen everything up are temporarily on pause. So I did stretch some every morning and evening, but probably could’ve done even more, especially as I get older and the muscles and joints have far less bounce-back.
4. Golf options. I am famously up for playing a round of golf under any conditions, including rain and cold. But when there’s snow on the ground, courses close so I have to seek my fix elsewhere. If I’d prepared better with my car, I would’ve driven to Cobbs Creek Golf Range, where you can hit balls out into a field AND benefit from the technology that tracks your shot in order to see distance and other stats (including playing virtual rounds on courses around the world). Since my car was stuck, I went to an indoor sim downtown (Five Iron) that I could take the bus to, which meant not using my own clubs and also lacked the tactile feel of seeing your ball fly through the sky (since you’re hitting into a tarp just 5 feet in front of you). Good for staying in the game mentally, in terms of navigating hard courses and seeing how your data stacks up on various clubs, but not nearly as fulfilling as being outside. I suppose the best of all worlds when you’re snowed in is to fly to where there’s no snow! Someday…
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