Winter or something like it, has a hold on Michigan!

I know it is only January and living in Michigan means winter and snowy months from November through February and sometimes into March. We've actually had snow well into April before too, but I have had enough snow this year. It really hasn't been a bad winter.........REALLY! It's just that when it decided to hit, it hit with a vengeance and hasn't let up. The streets are very slick and slippery and I won't venture out on them. Not since I rolled a new 4-wheel drive Jeep over back in Jan. of 1990 and was stuck hanging upside down inside the vehicle with about 12 people staring in at me all talking and trying to figure out what the best way to get me out was. The roads were glare ice that day and I was on my way to work. I worked at a bank in the mortgage loan department. All the roads in the area were icy that day. In fact a county snowplow had rolled over getting off the exit ramp to the same street that I rolled over on. The snowplow driver was not ticketed. I was. The police officer wrote me a ticket for driving too fast for conditions. I was going 20 mph in a 45 mph zone. It was a very windy day and a gust blew me across the road into the oncoming traffic lane and when I tried to recover it straightened out and came back into my lane only to slide of the road into a deep ditch and roll. I knew it was going to roll.........I could tell by the way it moved. I was very calm about it at the time. I didn't remain calm when they couldn't figure out how to get me out! Nor was I calm when the State Trooper ticketed me. I told him I was only going 20 in a 45, and he responded with anyone out driving today is driving too fast for conditions. My answer was 'you are out driving today.' He told me he was working. I sarcastically told him that I too was on my way to work and not to a matinee. He did give me a ride home though since I refused to get inside the ambulance once they freed me.

Once home, I called my soon to be hub at his work and told him what happened. He came home immediately and wanted to take me to the hospital or at least the doctor. My sons were in high school at the time and I worked with one of their friends mom. Their friend called his mom to see if she made it okay to work and told him that she did, but that I didn't and had been involved in a roll over accident. Both of my sons called the police and got a ride home to be with me and make sure I was alright. They never checked out of school or told anyone they were leaving. It turned out okay for them, as the police chief knew us and explained the boys behavior the next day to the school office.

That ticket I received was the very first ticket I had ever had. I had been driving since I was 16 years old and I was 44 years old at the time and was pretty upset to have been given a ticket when the county snowplow driver didn't get one. I wrote a letter to the judge explaining why I felt this ticket was unfair and not at all necessary.

A few days later in the mail, I received a letter from the judge and the road commission asking me to attend one of their luncheon meetings in the city of Allegan to speak about my situation. I accepted and attended the meeting within a couple of weeks. The road commission presented me with a license plate that said "Saved by the belt", a coffee mug with a picture of a seat belt in use painted on it, a bumper sticker and a certificate that commended me for wearing my seat belt. But the best part was when the judge got up and said that the ticket would be rescinded and no fines or points would appear on my drivers license! I guess you can fight City Hall on some occasions and actually win.

But to shorten this and get back to the point...........that is why I refuse to drive when we get a lot of snow that becomes slippery or icy on top from the cars traveling on it.

The photos above are from Sunday when hub was plowing and hauling firewood in. We received about 6 more inches of new snow last night and he had to plow again. Tonight we are under a Lake Effect Snow Warning......which means we could end up with another 5 - 10 inches of new snow by noon tomorrow. Now, not all counties are under this warning. It is mostly the counties near the coast of Lake Michigan. The county I live in is on the coast of Lake Michigan, but only the west part of the county. I live closer to the east part of this county but we happen to live in what they call the local snow band so these Lake effect warnings always involve us too. If only I had a full time chauffer I probably wouldn't get cabin fever quite as bad!