Glen, now that your bosses wife has a Macan you don't have to call me for a beer run when the ice and snow gets too deep. However, still don't mind a bit if you don't want to get out in the cold and dig any vehicles out.

Was ready to stay holed up this drizzly cold snap, but the big bosses called me in for that fireside chat. Sure, let's make the guy that works from home come in when the weather sucks. At least there was hardly any traffic and no trouble finding a parking spot close to IT.

Work is pretty hectic since they are planing on building and moving into a new facility by the end of 2020. The new facility will be just 3-1/2 miles from my house. They showed proposed pictures from the architects at the employee meeting last week. It sure don't look like no manufacturing facility to me. Looks more like a artsy office building in a park setting.

We just stayed home, and played survivor. It is my type of survival training, stay home with all utilities and cold beer in the fridge.

The ice was just a super thin layer, but it doesn't take much to make things dangerous when there are so many dangerously stupid idiot drivers on the loose in a SUV with 4 wheel drive and invincible. They had so many wrecks the cops quit responding unless there was an injury. The cold last night caused a lot of sublimation of the ice, so the roads are mostly dry now.

I will have to venture out today to get a new supply of bananas and moo juice for the bosses wife. I may slip by the beer supply store and add to the stock, don't want that to get critical low.

The Macan likely would do fine in slick conditions. I already know if I took it out in the slick conditions and salt for a beer run, I would have to spend a weekend cleaning it. Not worth that effort for beer. I do have limits, and a good emergency stock of beer. ;)

One point of fact that is scary about drivers. Every year thousands of brand new drivers get a license and the keys to a 300+ HP vehicle. No real training for slick road driving. Plus lots of immigrants from areas that have never seen snow and a mix of foreign students in the area going to two close by universities that have never seen slick roads. I prefer to just stay away from them.

Moring all. 29 out and a good reason to stay inside if you ask me.

20°F here now. Might go to Taco Bell and get a couple of cheap Brrrrrrritos fer lunch taday.

All the drivers I saw when out yesterday were going slow. Did not ever slide any that I noticed in the Cayenne. Did see one wreck were two vehicles were off into the bar ditches on either side of the road. it was in a completely dry area too.

My wife took her Macan in for the intermediate service that is due after two years. My 911 is still on my lift, and I need to get back out there to finish up the AC fan switch upgrade. This work thing got in the way of my garage play time.

I mentioned before the battery powered ratchet I bought last year. It worked great for a while, then something internal broke and it would spin, but would not produce more a a few inch pounds of power. I could hold a socket still in my hand. I took it in for repair at a local warranty shop. They have had it for a month. They had to order some parts, and then they had issues getting it repaired. It is supposed to be ready, so I will go fetch it today.

The dealer gave her a brand new Macan as a loaner. It only had 171 miles on it when she got in it. I took it to the tool repair shop to pick up my battery powered ratchet. It is weird the option package they order on a car. When we ordered our Macan the sunroof was just part of a package that was required to get some of the front cameras and interior upgrades. The dealer's Macan has no sunroof, and no keyless entry, so I had to stick the fob in the dash to start it. It has no forward or side cameras only a backup camera. And it has a navigation package. Weird combination. For us, the nav package is stupid for the 98% of the driving we do in town.

Anyway it did just fine to get me to the tool repair shop and back.

A few days ago there was a bit of a pileup near Neenah, WI. 130 cars piled up because no one will slow down when the roads are slick. I am guessing with all the aids today people don't pay attention and expect the car to defy the laws of physics and save them.

130 cars wow. We had a stretch of freeway in Oregon with a 115 mile back up due to trees and power lines down on the road.

Yep. So many car safety aides make everyone feel invincible and like a race driver. But as Scotty said long ago, You cannot defy the laws of physics.

I vividly remember back in the 70s driving along at night, in my 914 in HEAVY rain at 45 to 50 MPH in the bad old days of the 55 MPH national speed limit. The interstate was covered in water and it was hard to see. Some moron flew past me in a 1970s Cadillac at 70 or more. They got a few hundred feet in front in front of me and I saw his headlights, taillights and round and around he went and vanished off the side of the road into a field. I pulled over to look, noted the mile marker and drove on ahead to the nearest gas station and called the highway patrol. I reported the location and suggest they send a tow truck. I was sure he was stuck in deep mud. I was not going to get myself and my car all wet and muddy by checking on the idiot. The professional are paid to do that.

That was long before ABS, traction control and all the other nannies. He was just a idiot that did thought his fancy Caddy made him invincible. He was wrong.

Said there were over 500 cars backed up on the freeway. What on earth is so important you are out in freezing rain on the freeway!

nothing that I can think of.

Yea, I could not think of much that would get me out in that crap. I was smart enough to buy a house less than a mile from my work. My commute was just a short trip for many years. I had to put in a boat winch to pull my car up the hill of my driveway in slick conditions. That worked great. Once we had some deep snow and I told the boss there was no way to get my 914 down the road with drifts like that. He picked me up that day in his Suburban 4 wheel drive.

When I got married and moved to the suburbs I had a 14 mile commute for a few years. That sucked. I much prefer my stroll down the hall.

One time with ice and snow on the road was going to GF's. Was driving my front wheel drive Audi which did very well in the ice and snow. Just driving along and with no warning it just spun around and landed in the bar ditch. Then it immediately pulled up out of the bar ditch and back on the road headed the opposite direction. The whole thing happened so fast I didn't have time to take my foot off the gas. Decided I shouldn't go the route I had originally planned and took a different route. It felt really weird.

And have taken a highway trip in ice and snow with it snowing none-the-less. However, it was from OKC to Atlanta to spend Christmas with my Brother and his family. It was only icey and snowy in Tennessee. Was in my Jeep Cherokee, no worries. In fact, kind of enjoyed it. Was listening to the book on tape, Pillars of the Earth by Ken Folleit. The jont thru Tennessee it was not only icey and snowy the book was describing winter during big snow storm.

3 different times in the Boxster got caught in heavy heavy rain on the hwy. You could hardly see the other cars/trucks and nobody was going over 20mph. And it wasn't just impaired vision. It was coming down so heavy the water wasn't draining off the road and if you went over 20 you hydroplaned.

All three times pulled off at an exit and waited the rain out at a restaurant. Twice it was on the same stretch of highway south of Dallas. Even went to the same restaurant. And the events were a year apart.

I will admit that back when I was younger and dumber and hornier and single, I was driving in stupid ice and snow for a date. It was my first year in OKC, I finally had found a girl to um date, yea, that's the word. Anyway it was New Years eve, and I had bought the NYE package from a local place called Molly Murphies, which was a crazy fun place. I still had to buy dinner and regular drinks but at midnight we got a bottle of Champagne, and party favors with a good table in the bar area.

Anyway, the weather outside was horrible. It had snowed for several days and the roads would thaw and freeze with huge ruts and it kept snowing. It took me and hour to get to her apartment, pick her up, and get to the restaurant. It was an hour to get to the restaurant, and I did not get her back to her place until after 2:00 AM. My 914 kept dragging the engine cross bar mount. It fact the mounts bent a little.

I have not been up for NYE midnight in many decades. BTDT.

Molly Murphies was a unique place. All the staff, every one of them was dressed up as their favorite characters. One time Wonder Woman was my waitress, and we ordered the Bacchus Feast for a table of four. A really big dude dressed and Superman brought out a huge silver platter with a chick dressed as Mini Mouse curled up on the platter with an apple in her mouth. He plopped it on our table, we all laughed a lot, and she Mini Mouse got off the table and walked off. The salad bar was a really nice Jaguar XKE. I miss that place.

Morning all. Tad chilly here but warner than it has been.

We were told by the weatherman on Wednesday the "the sun would come out tomorrow" but he lied again. No Annie outcome, it was cloudy all day.

Upper 20s here. I bet not so much warmth where Pete is.

Misty/light drizzle here this morning, although it looks like the sun is just starting to make an appearance. Tonight and tomorrow will rain. It’s been months since I’ve had to turn on the irrigation system.

Yeah, we haven't had to use irrigation in months either.