When I arose at 5:00 a.m. this morning it was still dark outside. The neighbour was up though, and there were a few lights on at their house. Standing in the dark, the kitchen window became a portal into a fairy land. The distant lights in the windows beamed through the branches of the white festooned forest. It was a wonderful beginning to the day.
Yes, the first snowfall visited during the night, and the world was white with it this morning.
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Attila heated my car, and cleared away most of the snow, before he left for work, bless his soul. When I finally emerged from the back door and started up the car, I turned on the windshield wipers to brush away the bits of melted snow. To my surprise and horror, the wiper on the driver’s side of the car launched itself into the air, landing draped over the rear view mirror, where it swung merrily. Just like an arrow.
I tried to reinstall the wiper, but after five minutes of fussing and failing, I had to give up and get myself to work. Wouldn’t you know it that this would be the morning when the wiper fell off! The first snow on the road, slush flying from the cars ahead, and the passing traffic on the two-way highway. I knew that if the windshield caught any significant amount of spray that I would have to stop and clean it manually. So I drove with a passionate caution; well behind the car in front of me, and swerving as far to the right as possible when traffic passed me from the opposite direction. I pulled into the parking lot at work with only a thin film of greasy moisture on the windshield. So, I took a few handfuls of snow and wiped the windshield thoroughly with them.
After work I called the hardware store in that village, and inquired if they sold windshield wipers. Indeed, they did. I drove directly to the store and sought out the gentleman I had spoken to. He had a look at the old (new in September) wiper and he determined that it was not broken. To my great relief, he walked me out to my car, installed the wiper correctly, checked the passenger side wiper, which was not installed correctly either, and fixed it. With a smile and wave, off he went.
Home Hardware, an Ontario chain of stores, locally owned, has some excellent franchises and employees, and my thanks go out to that gentleman!
I had installed the new windshield wipers incorrectly, or more accurately, inadequately. They were placed correctly, and held for two months as they were. But they were not snapped into place as firmly as they needed to be! I will be very careful of that in the future.
When I arrived home from work, the house was a little bit chilly. Mist was a bit disgruntled. I think it is time to move her kitty basket bed over beside the masonry heater, where it is a few degrees warmer than elsewhere in the house.
The snow melted away through the day. Hopefully next week we will see some sunshine, which will dry out some of the fallen leaves, so that we can get them raked!
The rest of my day was spent backing up the hard drives on the old G4, and the iMac.
Worldly Distractions
Weather
4°C
Date: 3:00 PM EDT Thursday 24 October 2013
Condition: Not observed
Pressure: 101.1 kPa
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: 4.3°C
Dewpoint: -2.0°C
Humidity: 64%
Wind: WNW 15 gust 28 km/h
Quote
“The only normal people are the ones you don’t know very well.”
Joe Ancis
And we, your loyal readers, all know what trouble ensues if The Divine Miss Mist is not as warm as she cares to be! Let’s hope the basket move will appease her.
I had a “ding” in the windscreen of my Honda CRV so we got a glass company to come out and replace the whole windscreen. They also offered to replace the wipers, which I had them do. I haven’t used the car at all so not sure if they work well or not. I am not looking forward to that wintery weather that is up north and out west of us. We have lovely chilly fall sunny weather here in New England and I’d just as soon keep it that way…
Wendy, I love it, “The Divine Miss Mist”. She herself would approve of the title, feeling that at last she is receiving her due!
Yes Bex, the further north you are, the earlier and more severe the winter weather. We know that by the end of October the road conditions become a serious consideration for automobile travel. Thus my isolation in the winter, living 35 km from the nearest affordable retail establishments. Windshield wipers are crucial, and I had been taking them for granted. Never again! I am going to keep a spare set in the back of the car. And the next I install new ones myself, I will be getting Attila to give them a once over, to affirm they have installed correctly.