This was a very interesting week for us. It started out very cold. News agencies were abuzz on Monday about a severe winter storm watch that night. You could hear people discussing it everywhere, at the hospital, at the law school, even on the streets. And considering the recent tornados and death in southern Indiana (nowhere near us) due to winter storms, it wasn't surprising people took notice.
We had lost power for a night last week due to a lightning storm, so we looked up a report to see what the forecast was. Dangerous electrical storm? Three feet of snow? Six inches of ice? Winds gusting over 45 mph? Sub-zero temperatures? The reports said we'd get some ice, plus 3-6 inches of snow.
3-6 inches? I suppose it is because we're from Rochester, but we laughed at the "extreme dangers" posed by snow that might not even cover the toe of our sneakers. I told Lauren that night, if the roads are bad when you get up, wake me up and I'll either drive you to work (I'm an excellent snow driver), or if they're really bad I'll walk with you. Expecting nothing of the sort, we retired to bed.
Early the next morning I woke up. Lauren was already up, and had already gotten dressed. She reported that there was just a dusting of snow, a light glaze of ice, and nothing to worry about. She went to work without any problems. When I went to school I put on my Nazi boots, but the walk wasn't bad.
I went home for lunch. As I left the law school, I noticed my face was awfully damp. That’s odd. My glasses kept accumulating water. It wasn't raining. Then I realized, it was misting. And misting so heavily that to breathe in deeply with an open mouth would've caused fits of coughing. After lunch the misting had stopped. In its place the wind had picked up, and all that mist had frozen. Cars were locked down by a half inch of ice, the roads were masquerading as ice skating rinks, and my 5 minute walk to school took 15, even with my Nazi boots. It was treacherous.
At school I received an email entitled "emergency!" where the first line of the subject area said "well not really." Our rear passenger tire had decided it was tired of being so full and under pressure and it was ready for a break. Lauren's hospital friends had tried to change the tire, but one of the lug nuts required a key, and the lug nuts were fastened so strong, her friends thought the lug nuts had rusted or frozen onto the studs.
When I left for home, it was hailing. However, the hail was an incredible blessing. It was like God poured traction onto the slick ice. Pedestrians marched about confidently, and my stride lengthened nearly to the full 1 sidewalk block length I am accustomed to. I no longer had to put one foot forward, and push with the other to slide my way to school. People were picking up their feet, something they wouldn't have dared do after lunch.
Lauren and I went to the car. The lug nut key was in the glove box - problem one solved. Problem two was a bit more difficult. I struggled in vain, heaving the entire car forward, trying to loosen a single lug nut. No dice. Out of ideas I called a towing service. $45 and the earliest they could come would be tomorrow. So we called a nice guy I home teach, but had only met once, who works for a towing company. He may not make it out to church all that often, but he immediately volunteered to "swing by" and see what he could do.
What he could do turned out to be pretty much everything. With the spare tire on, we drove home. The next day, Wednesday, I'd take the car to a tire store for which we had fortuitously bought a book of "free coupons" from a door to door saleswoman just weeks before. The next day I dropped Lauren off at work, and prepared to go to "Expert Tire." Except I couldn't find the coupons and I couldn't find the lug nut key.
To make an incredibly long story slightly shorter, we found the coupons but cannot find the lug nut key. Tire stores don't just have these lying around either, nor do dealers apparently. The dodge dealer here wanted $100 to evaluate and take off the lug nut. We called my home teaching friend again, he invited me up to his shop, and he tried to remove it, but this time we were out of luck. He did suggest a local tire shop that could help.
My father called the dealer in NY who had put on this idiotic lug nut lock. They gave us a part number so we could order it. Only no one here: the dealer, the dealer's supplier, or even the manufacturer, knew what the devil the part number we'd been given meant. So I called the local shop. "Frank" told me the price depends on how long it takes, when pressed he conceded it would be no more than $40 but probably more like $20.
A bit more reasonable than $100, and they could get us in tomorrow morning. So that’s what we're going to do - they can cut the lug nuts off without damaging the stud. Then sometime next week we'll use our "free tire repair" coupon, get the tire fixed, (and get the tires rotates while they're at it, we've got a free coupon for that too) and be done with this business.
Where was Valentine’s Day in all this? Honestly it got left out. We were both so exhausted that we went to sleep about 7:30, I got up about 10 and did homework until midnight, and Lauren just got about 10 hours of sleep. She did bake me mini heart-shaped carrot cakes (my favorite cake) though, with pineapple cream cheese frosting, which was delicious.
If I had to pick out a moral for this story, I'd have to settle on a few. Ice is bad, bad luck only happens in bad weather, lug nut locks on factory tires are stupid, and things work out in the end. Especially with someone half as patient, helpful, and wonderful as Lauren.
I have been so touched by motherhood lately. Jordan seems to give me "precious moments" more and more! I wanted to share the video with anyone interested in seeing his reaction to finding out it was a boy. I smile every time I watch it. The video (link above) is blue, regretfully I didnt bother to check the settings before pressing record.
