Base camp Charlie, day two, somewhere north of the Arctic Circle (a.k.a. the Mason-Dixon Line)
We lost a few Sherpas to the cold last night but the party’s spirits remain strong as we continue the quest to reach the summit of Mount Springfield.
We continue to learn new ways to cope with the harsh way of life these artic nether regions grudgingly provide to the warm blooded.
For example, I learned this morning that no mater how much slushy crap the car in front of you throws on the windshield DO NOT use the windshield washers when the temps are below zero Fahrenheit. Yeah, I know the bottle of windshield washer fluid SAID it was anti-icing but clearly they have a different definition of the prefix “ANTI” than I do or perhaps they just did not expect humans to live like this either.
Either way squirting your windshield in these temps is a bad idea! In a way, it’s quite lovely how the thin film of “anti”-icing fluid crystallizes as it quick freezes into a thin film of ice just barely thick enough to quite effectively block any forward vision. Those poor Sherpas! What a way to go, run down in their prime by a nerd admiring the crystalline structure of the ice film on his windshield instead of stopping and scrapping the ice off!
14 comments:
Thankfully I have today off so I can blog for a little while longer from underneath my covers in bed, which is what I'm doing right now. Only thing I haven't worked out is how to keep my hands warm; but am thinking about putting on some gloves. It's always at this time of year that I am convinced I must be crazy to still live in this part of the country.
Jules
House of Jules
That sounds incredibly dangerous. Around Christmas we had a little "Anti-icing" incident on the highway ourselves. Narrow escape!
Weren't you in aviation? Get some of the de-icing stuff they spray over the wings of aircrafts or would that corrode your window/car into pulp *ROFL*
this morning (-14c here today) my car was warmed up enough that the washer fluid didn't freeze ... BUT the wiper on the driver's side was frozen and didn't wipe any of the goo + fluid off of my windshield. this resulted in some fun as i was driving into the sunshine with a big blob of light-refracting blinding crud right in the middle of my field of vision. it was awesome. :S winter sucks.
hilarious! now i am seriously concerned though that you may have rundown people! or gotten into a fender bender! seriously GOL!
Poor sherpas.
Whenever I use the anti-ice stuff, my head goes a boppin' to find any place on the windshield that I can actually see through. Or maybe people figure I'm "poppin'" to Timbaland. I don't know if that's a good thing either.
Hey, if you're that into ice crystals, you might wanna check this out... http://www.wellnessgoods.com/messages.asp
Just sayin'. You're a hoot.
Just click your heels twice and whisper, "There's no place like home" over and over again.
May I recommend a pair of red suede Sherpa boots. They might take you back home to Texas. Is that home?
Maybe you should take the subway until June.
Jules- Yep, crazy explains it! Hey, thin gloves with just the tips of the fingertips cut off so the touch pad still works. Oh and I developed the most fantastic method of just barely sticking the end of the remote control out of a fold in the blanket so that it will work while my hands stay covered up!
Kat- That is mostly just automotive antifreeze (Ethylene glycol) with a foaming agent to make it stick to the plane better. No, that won’t hurt the car at all. Hmmmm, some anti-freeze in the windshield washer tank is a great idea! See? You said you were a geek! :)
Michelle- Your kidding?! It was way warmer there than here? Now that is just not fair! I can also perfectly see the beauty of your light refracting blob in my minds eye!
CrazyMama- Nope, remember my post about how I like to practice just in case I become blind? It worked! Thanks Tanya! (The practicing was her idea)
Karen 1024k- Those were some gorgeous pictures. I am not to sure about the psychic angle but still, fascinating pictures all the same! Thanks!
OhMommy- LOL@ red Sherpa boots! Awesome!
Sauntering- A subway up Mount Springfield? Are you trying to outsource the poor Sherpa’s jobs? Monster! At least run them over and make it a clean death! ;) :)
I never knew what a Sherpa was before today. Thanks for the education.
I hate the windshield wiper fluid that freezes. If you go to the gas station, that stuff works for a lil while.
It's supposed to get up to 50 degrees by Monday - - I think that may be a bit more to your liking! :-)
(I know it will be for me!)
Below zero? Freeze? What do these words mean? Is that like when it's 70 degrees here (like now) and we have to turn off the air conditioner?? ;)
Tanya- If I can be funny AND educational then I have achieved all!
Ms. Lizzy- Wow, 50 will feel like paradise!
Taj- It like that stuff in your freezer, except that it can be you- Really I swear! I actually start to feel bad for those poor little animals I have in my freezer now!
you know, if you had kay's portable electric blanket, you could throw it over your windshield before you got in the car to let it defrost all that ice without having to scrape. double duty blanket. gotta love it!
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