What is the deal with allergies anyway.  Our bodies can learn to fight off various illnesses, but we still get all worked up over certain pollens?  Is this just a warped way to remind us that deep down we are sensitive?  I don’t need to be that in touch with my feelings…really!

I haven’t had allergies all my life.  About when I turned 30 they kicked in, which is fairly typical I have discovered for when adult onset allergies come along.  Now that I have them, I really feel sympathetic for those that have had them all their lives.

Allergies for me take sneezing to an all new level.  I sneeze so hard and for what seems forever that every muscle in my body aches like I have run a marathon…if I had ever run a marathon and knew what that felt like.  It flat out hurts.  That pain keeps me on drugs, and I am the type that hates taking any drugs I don’t have to.  I put off taking Tylenol and deal with some pain rather that popping a pill.

Every so often when I think I might be past whatever pollens are bothering me, I stop taking the allergy pills.  I usually dread in a couple of days when I do that and the sneezing fits kick in again.  That recollection of pain keeps me taking the pills pretty consistently from Spring until Fall now without fail.  I have never gone to a doctor to get tested and find out exactly what pollens are my nemesis, so I just cover all my basis by sticking to it.

I guess I should feel fortunate that allergies didn’t kick in for me until there was a cheap option to deal with it that doesn’t have any side effects.  I have seen it for those that are worse.  I have seen my brother with full body hives due to his out of control symptoms.  I just remind myself it could be much worse.

So if you are with me, whether as a lifer or late bloomer in the allergy club, welcome to the season.  Ahchoo!

During non-summer months, though, I hate cleaning my car or truck just to have it rain the next day.  There seems to be some correlation between me cleaning my car and unexpected shifts in weather patterns.  I wash it rains, I don’t wash and it just stays dirty and the sun shins on.  What gives?  So as a result, I often have a dirty vehicles much more than I would like during these times of the year.

I guess it wouldn’t be such a big deal, but having a dirty vehicle really does bother me.  I know, you may be thinking that having it rain on a clean car can’t be that bad.  Well, it is.  With the amount of pollution going up in the air these days, when it does rain, it’s like someone threw a bucket of dirty water onto my car with all the residue that gets left behind.  I could go through the $6 car washes around here or pay $4 with a gas fill up, but I hate doing that too.  Money wasted and all.

So what do I do?  I whine about it and just wait for sunny weather!  There, I feel much better now.

Remember me mentioning awhile back that it is was cold? Yup, cold temps are still here. Yeah, it’s winter so I should expect some cold, but what we are experiencing in these neck of the woods right now is artificially colder because of this inversion. If you have never lived where the effect takes place, you likely don’t know what it is. Here is the short version. A temperature inversion is an atmospheric condition where the temperature increases with height (or elevation). The warm air above traps the colder air below. Along with the colder air, the pollutants are not able to escape. The valleys of northern Utah are especially susceptible to this because it is surrounded by particularly tall mountains compared to the valley floor.

Here’s a great shot recently captured by a Salt Lake City amateur photographer that shows you exactly what I mean about the smog. Even though it is a clear day, the layer of smog (and cold temperature) is stuck right where we all live. Wonderful, eh?

Photo credit: Rich Legg, from Flickr

Nothing like the feeling of sucking on the tailpipe of my truck with every breath.  See the nice shade of brown throughout that cloud of particulates?  Mmmm, can’t you just taste it.  Yes, this is the time of year when I could see living somewhere else.  Not winter mind you, that I can enjoy, just the few weeks of inversion we normally get – which this year has been for a couple of months.  Yuck.

So, in honor of the weather we have right now, I submit that the inversion definitely has gotta go!

Depending on where you live, you might be laughing at the schmucks like me that live in cold weather country. I have a friend that lives in Florida, actually a few friends in Florida, but one in particular that loves to bring up her wonderful weather everything we speak on the phone. It’s fun banter, but of course I never hear from her when hurricanes visit their fine, warm state.

The west is getting hit with a cold patch that is breaking records, and I don’t mean the old vinyl type either. From what I read, the Northeast is feeling it as well. It’s even cold in California, which is where my in-laws are from, and they always consider below 50 to be frigid. Sadly they lost their lemon and orange trees this year. I actually enjoy winter, and love to play in the snow. My kids love it typically too, but when it is this cold, fun outside is all of 20 minutes these days.  “Dad, I’m done playing outside now…I can’t feel my hands or ears.”
Driving to work these last couple of days has reminded me of just how bitter cold it is. I get out and dutifully scrape the windows on my truck like the good sharer of the road I am. I travel all of one block and the windshield has completely frozen over again. I hate wasting the gas to idle a vehicle long enough that it can defrost the windows from the inside, but these last couple of days it is either that or join the hunched-over-looking-through-the-bottom-of-the-windshield characters risking their lives for a few minutes delay.

I kid about the global warming thing, so no nasty comments about that, ok? I actually studied biology in college and have pretty good earth-friendly habits and opinions. Though there is plenty of debate on whether global warming is a reality or not, there is no doubt that our throwaway society is wreaking havoc on the planet – but that is another topic for another day.

This cold would be more pleasant to withstand if it came with more snow. More snow? Some think I am crazy, but we could use the snow to store up against droughts, which we have experienced in recent years. I live in Utah, with the greatest snow on earth, so our state slogan claims. Well, I have it on very good authority that the claim is nothing but the truth. I have a friend that owns a ski school in Finland, often skiis with the Olympic team and has hit the slopes in all of Europe and much of the US. On her recent trip to Utah she hit numerous resorts here and told me emphatically that yes, it is the greatest snow on earth. So there.

This too shall pass, and I have gained some patience in my advancing years. But, did I mention, IT’S REALLY COLD!

Cleaning off your car sucks, no two ways about it.  It’s cold outside, you are likely tired and not all that excited to get going in the morning anyway; now you have to deal with scraping off the stubborn shield of frozen water that seems specifically attracted to car glass more than anywhere else.  Of course you keep meaning to get a really nice scraper, but that never happens, so you are stuck with that freebie you got somewhere years ago.  This cheap scraper works a lot like wiper blades these days; you have to scrape each area a dozen times to get rid of the streaks and places it skips right over.  Since it is such a pain, you decide to just carve out an area you can see and jump in the car to take off.

Heater/defroster on full blast, you figure it will clean the window for you quick enough, so off you go.  Now you are one of those people I dread seeing anywhere near me on the seat.  Hunched over you peer through that little hole the defroster has made at the bottom of your windshield.  No worries, you’re safe…when you make a turn you roll down the window a crack and check for traffic.  As your heater battles the ice you cruise along at normal speed not a care in the world.  When I see you turn on the street in front of me, I give you a wide berth.  No telling what is going to happen.

Of course here I am using “you” generally, because you specifically would never do this…right?  Ok, admit, everyone has done this at least once when they are in a hurry.  Just hopefully now that I have pointed this out you will think twice and take that extra 2 minutes to clean all your windows for some real visibility.  Is that 2 minutes you save worth the much higher chances you have of side swiping someone as you turn out onto a busy street, or worse yet take out a kid at the crosswalk.  You get my drift.

My next one…while your at it cleaning off the windows, can you please, pretty please clean off that loose snow on the car?  Keep an old broom handy that you can take a few quick swipes to remove all those loose snow off the hood roof and trunk.  This applies double if you have an SUV or truck with a shell.  Why is this so important?  Likely you have never noticed a problem…for YOU!  That’s because the snow flying off in a flurry resembling a small snowstorm is happening behind you…directly into me.  Ever seen that car merge on the freeway and get up to speed, merrily on their oblivious way?  Meanwhile traffic for a quarter mile long and 5 lanes wide behind them can’t see a thing.  Nothing like adding to the safety factor on an otherwise perilous morning drive.  Do us all a favor and get that snow off.

Mornings after a big snow are an inconvenience to everyone, but you don’t need to add to it.  Get the tools to make it a little easier, bundle up and leave yourself a few minutes in the morning to get properly ready for the drive.  Better yet, maybe now is a good time to clean out that garage so you can actually use it for the intended purpose.  I know after the last few mornings of cleaning off my truck I am scheming on a way to park my “summer” car somewhere so I can free up that warm, dry spot.  Scraping and brushing is getting real old, real fast.

How hard is it really to recognize that when their is some snowfall and the temperatures drop that road conditions just might be a little less favorable than normal? Ice is not your car’s best friend, trust me. No amount of engineering into the roads and snow removal equipment efforts is going to completely remove the patches that can send your car a flyin’. I leave of the “when you least expect it” purposely here – because you should, EXPECT IT! If you allow for a little extra time in your commute to wherever you are headed, you can drive like a sane sharer of the road and avoid sliding your car around me, which is what I really care about.

Oh, I know, you have that wonderful SUV that makes you feel big and important, and impervious to any road conditions being a problem. Trust me, you are the worst ones on the road. You think 4WD is going to help you stop any faster? Little tip: nope. In fact, you have such a high center of gravity and bigger tires to go with that mammoth weighing tank you drive that you actually need MORE distance to stop than a smaller car. Uh oh, did I break your happy SUV owner bubble? Hey, I like enjoy 4WD on my truck too, but I also drive with some sense to keep that paint job intact.

As I said, I enjoy snow and the winter season. I have fond memories of sledding, snowball fights and forts, and playing in the snow throughout my childhood, and into my adulthood for that matter. I grew up in Washington State where snow was a plenty. Washington also has a lot of country road with big ditches for the regular rainfall we were so famous for. I also have fond memories of going out with my dad at each fresh snowfall and pulling cars out of those big ditches with our 4WD vehicles. And if you are from the Northwest, you know that most of those drivers were recent imports from California who didn’t realize you needed to slow down when there was snow on the road. Huh. I would have chalked that one up to common sense, but then I grew up in a state where we had “weather” 85% of the year.
So if you live in states that receive snow and ice, do us all a favor. Go find a big parking lot and do some practice driving. Get up to speed and put on your brakes, hard. Yep, you slide. Get used to the feeling and learn how to turn into that slide, pump your brakes and leave enough room to stop without sliding. Learn how to drive a little slower if the conditions require it. Save yourself the heartache of dinging up your fenders, or worse getting into a major accident. You’ll appreciate it, and if you live around me, so will I.