I've become one of them

So much for keeping up with daily blogging.  I have no excuse for slacking, sorry gang.  I must admit that I'm failing miserably with my New Year's Resolutions as well.  The only one that I'm truly keeping up is the daily photo of my Steelers Gnome.  However, I'm behind on posting photos on Flickr.  Oh well, at least I'm taking one photo a day.

I really fed up with the cold weather this winter.  For some reason my brain remembers my first year down here (we had a really mild winter) and every year I seem to think that we are having an unseasonably cold winter.  Maybe next winter will be better.

I don't understand the logic

Every winter we get weather reports predicting freezing rain/sleet and every winter I see dozens of vehicles in parking lots with their windshield wipers up in the air, pulled away from the windshield.   I don't have any idea why people do this or what benefit it provides to them.

I grew up in western Pennsylvania near Lake Erie (aka "the lake effect snow capital of the world).  A typical winter in this part of the country consists of snow from early November to mid April, with average snow accumulations of 120 inches during the season.  We would also get our share of freezing rain and sleet.  I remember one winter where two feet of snow was on the ground and a layer of three inch thick ice was on top of that.  Now, during my 20 some years growing up in Pennsylvania not once did I see anyone do this with their windshield wipers.

Maybe Pennsylvanians are just stupid or maybe the windshield wiper lifter-uppers (WWLUs) know something about ice and windshield wipers that we didn't know about.  My guess is that WWLUs are just trying to speed up the amount of time it takes to remove ice from their windshields or they think they are "cheating" the system in some way.

What I think that most WWLUs miss, is the fact that the windshield wipers are the closest thing besides the windshield to the defrosting unit.  So, if you turn on your car, then go out to remove the snow and ice, by the time you are done your windshield wipers will be free of ice and free from sticking to the windshield.  Maybe I'm wrong and maybe these WWLUs have an edge on the rest of us, but my true feeling is that this is a silly practice that doesn't really save time.

Tell me what you think.

Columbia's First Snowfall 2008

It finally happened, the first snowfall of 2008 in Columbia, MD.  This also marked the first day for many people to put up Christmas lights.  I spotted this lone lighted tree at Lake Elkhorn.  As I was driving past and I had to stop to get some photos.

Further evidence that snow had fallen, along with a nice arrangement of Christmas lights.