First significant snow of the year. Twilight.
Just now:
My new tires, purchased for a pretty penny and reputed to be all-weather tires that are good in snow, managed to climb the hill that had defeated my their worn-out predecessors.
The New Neo
A blog about political change, among other things
How about a picture of the tires, too — for us guys!
CapnRusty:
These.
I did not want to buy snow tires and have to change back and forth, and store them. I wanted all season tires that were good in all seasons and not too expensive.
We are snow-tire fans in the Whatsit household, living as we do in cold and snowy country at the top of a steep hill in remote woods with no other way up or down. Changing the tires back and forth in spring and fall is a necessary ritual. But if your tires work as you need them to in the snow, that’s what matters. I’m glad you’re safely home.
Snow tires are a must in Colorado, but storage is indeed a problem.
The picture is lovely.
After living on the Mediterranean for 20 plus years, I certainly miss autumn in New England, and time has erased most of my gray (and yellow!) slushy Manhattan experiences of snow, leaving behind what may be described as the Photogenic Snow Illusion.
But I most definitely do NOT miss driving on snow, and the attendant car maintenance.
Shortly after we moved here, we got a crate of stuff we had packed up and shipped before we left the States. Inexplicably, I had packed a thick plastic blade to de-ice windshields. I wound up using it to cut furrows in the veggie plot.
Tires get worn very slowly, and one doesn’t really notice the decline until surprise! that hill is no longer possible. Plus, most folks don’t rotate and balance (not often enough) so vibration increases over time.
I can remember putting new tires on an old car. It was a startling change. The ride was smooth and stable. It didn’t even feel like the same car.
When I lived in New Hampshire for a year, I had studded snow tires and drove a Volvo, which is a great cold weather car, Seat heaters before they were common, windshield wipers just for heavy snow. I had a block heater that plugged in in the front grill.
I parked it in a barn and the field mice loved that car. I kept dry dog food in the barn, as well, and the field mice managed to get the dog food and filled the engine compartment with it. When I went back to California, it took a year to get all the dog food out of the engine and hood liner.
Some say that snow is sleep. I say
That snow is but the rest
Of clouds upon earth’s surface laid
To soothe the forest’s breast;
To calm the souls that linger there
Beneath an age of leaf
That hides within it’s brindle flesh
Whole galaxies of seed.
Some say that snow is chill. I say
That snow is but a shawl
Draped over stones of silence,
That such silence shelter all;
And in such silence hear within
The brook beneath the glass,
That when the sun shall set it free
Snow’s dreams to sea shall pass.
Some say that snow is death. I say
That snow is but that prayer
Said when the soul in winter’s glade
Calls the body from its lair,
To stand within the last of light,
Becoming less than air,
And leave behind all of before
In the shadows dawn prepares.
Neo: Oooh, nice pix!
I read the review at the link. While they’re labeled UniRoyal, I see they were made by Michelin, and that’s a big plus. You already verified that they’re good in the snow by climbing that hill.
Two-thirds of my life I’ve lived in the upper midwest. My recollection is that cars used to get stuck in the snow far more often than they do now. I think that is a consequence of the shift to front-wheel drive cars; it puts more weight on the driving wheels, resulting in better traction. And tires are significantly better now. But the acquisition of a full-time 4-wheel drive sedan has been the ultimate fix, as I can run summer tires on it year round.
The Deep South got snow before Boston this year, on Dec. 8!
Snow all the way down to Brownsville, TX. Corpus Christi, TX got 7 inches!
Lasts only briefly on the rare occasion that it occurs.