Tales of My Past

There is a cartoon in today's paper that made me chuckle.

Woman #1: "We had a sad ceremony at home this weekend."

Woman #2: "Oh, did one of your pets die?"

Woman #1: "No, it was the annual ritual of placing the ice scraper in the trunk of the car."

I for one am so happy that I don't have to be one of those people anymore. And you know from some of my past posts that this is the truth. When I drove back and forth to work, I always dreaded the winter months. I have had far too many accidents in that nasty stuff (ice, snow, slush, etc.)

I used to own a 4-wheel drive Jeep convertible with a canvas top. When I drove it in bad weather, I occasionally used to get cocky and sometimes being careful just went out the window. It was a fun vehicle and, believe me, I had a lot of fun with it.

I remember one time in particular back in the '80's when it was very icy, and I was getting perturbed by the other cars and trucks that were going so slow and were in my way. I decided I was going to climb the slight hill by driving on the shoulder where there were pebbles that my tires could grip. It worked. When I got to the top where it was level, I continued on my way at the same rate of speed. I thought it was great.

It didn't take long for my Jeep's back end to come around and I was soon going backward in the other lane! My vehicle was now facing the same way as the others but was going a different way. I had skidded over the low median. Eventually my front square stock bumper wiped out the entire side of another car and I ended up facing a huge drop off the highway with the guard rail the only thing stopping me from going over the side.

That Jeep and I used to have some good times back then. And, yes, I would do it all over again.