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…
.jfif)
