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| The Ice Monolith OAFS Photo |
Tuttle pointed out that block of ice out by the street the other day. Later on, when The Nuke and Your Humble Scribe went out to fetch BBQ for the tribe, there were a lot of those ice monoliths everywhere.
Last Sunday we started with snow, by the time I got up (9-ish) it was sleet, around noon it was light rain and as it was still very cold, that drizzly rain froze when it landed. By sunset we had a thin glaze of ice on everything. Fortunately there wasn't much of that.
But the parts of streets, roads, driveways, and so forth that hadn't been plowed (or treated) wound up with a good inch or two of ice on top of the snow. So when the town (and state) got out from under all the snow on the main roads and came back to plow the neighborhoods once more, the plows were lifting up those frozen monoliths depicted above.
The Nuke went into work on Wednesday and saw that someone had collected a number of those ice blocks and had built an igloo! I'm guessing it was kids and not that the Inuit were tracking polar bears and seals this far south.
But ya never know!
The knee is better, gets a bit better every day and I'm happy with that. I have avoided walking on ice since then. Should have avoided it altogether but my attention wandered and BAM, next thing you know I'm on the ground wondering just what I was thinking.
I mean, I grew up in this stuff, walking on (as is driving on) ice is not possible without special equipment. Armored fighting vehicles weighing in at nearly 70 tons will slide on that slippery stuff.
Par exemple ...
I mean I'm fairly hefty but nowhere near as hefty as an Abrams, those bad boys slide on ice too. But they don't tip over like I did ...
There's a lesson there, somewhere.
Tracks Sarge, tracks! Those were Marines......enuff said.......:)
ReplyDeleteA track is any tracked vehicle, I never refer to a tank as a track. Sometimes AFV, sometimes MBT, never a track.
DeleteNow, do I need to show the video of US Army vehicles sliding on slippery roads during the Ardennes Offensive in 1944? It ain't just the Marines, Norwegian Army Leopards are in that video as well.
I have vague memories of a winter driving course at Ft Richardson. Take a bunch of communicators stationed in Tampa and send them to Alaska to learn how to cross country ski and drive on ice. I did see a bottle of Jack that was frozen there. It was left too close to the barrack wall.
ReplyDeleteSounds very Alaska.
DeleteTank drifting! An old tankers custom! Love those videos.
ReplyDeleteI've driven on ice 3 times. None of them were fun. All were unpleasant. First because I had never put chains on before and hadn't really understood what a cold, miserable job it is. Other two because they were surprises. Who in California expects ice on the roads at 1400 feet?
Good to hear that your knee is feeling better.
Ice belongs in drinks, not on roads. (Oh, rinks as well, otherwise hockey would be messy.)
DeleteOh...I don't know about that ... it can be fun to watch.
Deletehttps://chapelboro.com/sports/unc-sports/no-1-unc-field-hockey-blanks-no-4-iowa-advances-to-ncaa-title-game
Field hockey is right up there with indoor soccer and arena football ...
DeleteWomen's Pole Vault and Women's Beach Volleyball are high on my list. ;-)
DeleteCan't imagine why.
DeleteWell take care on your drive home, Sarge.
ReplyDeleteWind chill here is 18, high for the day is 53. Took the trash out this morning, clear and a million. Looking forward to the temps predicted for this week 60’s and 70’s.
juvat
Will do. The knee has its moments as in, "Now why did you twist me on that corner?"
DeleteThe Marines no longer have tanks.
ReplyDeleteHowever they did when that video was made.
DeleteSafe travels back to the home tundra. It might be nice, or snow, or who knows. Extra time with the family was a bonus.
ReplyDeleteJB
It was indeed and I'll take it!
DeleteMemories of watching the M60's trying to make it up the hills on the tank trails at Grafenwöhr in the early 1960's. Our FDC M113 made it up just fine, I'm thinking weight made the difference. Those three years gave enough winter to last me a lifetime although we had some of the white stuff here in Texas this week. Next week temps in the 70's.
ReplyDeleteSafe travels home.
Winters in southern Germany could be rough!
DeleteSarge, I do hope your knee continues to mend and you have a safe drive home. The weather here in Tokyo has been unseasonably good with sun every day and high's in the mid-40's to mid-50's.
ReplyDeleteIt's getting better, hoping for a safe drive myself, of course.
DeleteLate to the computer today. Circa 1965 we were on a Winter Exercise in Bavaria (Taro Leaf___some number). It had slightly thawed and I was driving too fast in the slush when we went over railroad tracks with a sharp left hand turn on the other side. Frozen ice! After two circles we were going backwards toward a house. In my mirror I could see the family at breakfast staring at the military truck coming backwards straight at them. Good fortune; we hit one of the solid posts showing the km to Berlin which caused the truck to spin and we ended up pointing in the direction we needed to travel. Two downshifts and we were on our way. Stop and check for damage? Mox nix.
ReplyDeleteIcy roads = challenge.
DeleteHate to spin if I'm not in control.
Looks like the Nuke-Tuttle clan live in a hilly area. Do your grandkids get to do some sledding? If so I'm jealous.
ReplyDeleteThey do, when it's not mostly ice. This storm you didn't need a sled!
Delete