Friday, December 17, 2010

Annual Snow Parking Madness

That's my driveway. You can't quite see how steep it is, but it's a huge baby hill. Which, of course, makes it very difficult to get up in the winter. So far I've made it and I am proud to say, have received only one snow parking ticket this winter.

This is an achievement as the snow parking regulations in our little town would drive a saint to give up its car.

I got my ticket the one night I parked on the street, November 2nd. No snow. No threat of snow.

Here's what the regulations state, clearly and succinctly:

"From November 1st to April 1st residents between the hours of 2:00am and 7:00am residents must park on even numbered streets on even days and odd numbered for odd days and no vehicle shall remain in place for more than 24 hours."

Only between 2:ooam and 7:00am, so when one comes home, if one has no off street parking or a really steep driveway, one must needs figure out the date for the NEXT day. Other hours, one can park anywhere. And one does.

PLOWING does not occur between the house of 2:00am and 7:00am. And it does not matter IF there is snow or not. Rules are rules.

Fortunately, no one gets towed.

A few years back, my block figured it out. The rule was, "Park on the side of the street with the blue van" these together people always got it right, and by following them, we were able to avoid most tickets. Sadly, they moved away. Or got a new car.

I actually taped a small calendar to my dash and would cross off days as they went by. Blackberry helps now, as do The Gentlemen Who Plow.

I have a gig tonight, and will come home in the wee hours of the morning. If I can't get up my driveway, will someone please tell me what day it is. Or will be?

Love and snow,
Lorraine

96 Comments:

At 09:47 Blogger vampi said...

that is an oddly written law. i suspect someone's brain was frozen when it was authored.

hooray for only 1 ticket though. and have a spectacular gig. i would say wish i was there, but seeing your driveway, i have no desire to be anywhere that cold. i would love to hear your gig though.

At 09:49 Blogger Phiala said...

I'm so glad I have a driveway.

My neighborhood makes it simple, actually: no street parking whatsoever between the hours of 2am and 6am, and we don't care who you are or where you live.

If the seminar is at 10:30 and not 11 as I thought, so I miss it, can I still go out to lunch afterward?

At 09:49 Blogger Chantrelle said...

I remember being baffled over the law last year!

Yay for single tickets :)

We have rain rain rain this weekend. I'm hoping ben's school will get a little snow..it's novel here ;-)

At 10:03 Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have no car-envy at all these days.
Enjoy the gig! I wish I could be there*sigh*.
If I was, I would request the Henry Miller song.Stay warm :)

At 10:06 Blogger vampi said...

(unicorn song!)

¬_¬

At 10:22 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Ireland, of course you have no car, I wouldn't either in Dublin, all the driving there is BACKWARDS!!!

Sounds like we need another webcast doesn't it? Maybe January?

At 10:28 Blogger Na said...

parking and plowing are pretty simple in this city, s'far as i can tell:
they plow the major streets during hours no one is supposed to park along them anyway.
some stretches of curb have big signs (up all year) that say you may not park there if there's any snow, period.
and they don't plow the regular neighborhood streets at all.

here's wishing excellent rockin' shows for Paul & Lorraine this weekend!

At 10:29 Blogger Na said...

webcast, yes, please!

At 10:55 Blogger One Sock Short said...

Makes me glad I've never owned a car. Though that has limited me on where I can live.

Wishing you and Paul a fantastic gig! A live webcast would be most welcome, what with not being able to go anywhere these days, apart from conferences. Though if you talked about metadata for a bit, maybe I could call it a conference. I could provide a script...

At 11:04 Anonymous Wendy Withers said...

In New Orleans, you allowed to park on the street unless there is a sign that says that you can't. You have to park five feet away from corners and fifteen feet away from fire hydrants. This means that some streets have enough room for a very slender scooter to navigate through safely. The problem is not the streets, it is the neutral ground (medians). In most cases, you are not allowed to park on neutral ground. However, some neutral ground strips have parking spaces built in where you can park. If the streets are flooding, then you can park on neutral ground if you think it will save your car, from what I have heard. (The medians here are so large, sometimes there are parking lots, city parks, or even houses built on them. And, there are lots of canals running through them.)

At 11:14 Anonymous Wendy Withers said...

Here is a picture of the octopus I knitted amidst the marketing materials I am designing for my glamorous day job:

http://plixi.com/p/63536141

At 11:19 Blogger One Sock Short said...

Wendy, that is wonderful!

At 11:49 Blogger Marjorie said...

Webcast, Yes please!

Wendy - fabulous Octopus.

Right. Must get changed in order to go out & be sociable. Don't much want to.

At 11:58 Blogger Laura B said...

Where I live you can pretty much park wherever, but you run the risk of being plowed in. Then you have to dig yourself out to leave. I'm only mildly trapped right now.

Wendy, I love the octopus!

At 12:51 Blogger Chantrelle said...

God, someone brought in a box of see's candy. If I eat a tangerine (another box that was delivered for the holidays) for every piece of chocolate, that evens out right?

At 13:07 Blogger spacedlaw said...

Sure. If I am awake. Tomorrow is the 18, which I would assume make it an even day. So you should park on the even numbers side.

At 14:11 Anonymous AmyK said...

We have a 200 ft. (more or less) front yard, with a very long driveway that is VERY steep at the end. We bought our home three years ago in July and didn't once think, or tink to ask, what winters were like in this part of Ohio. Boy do we feel stupid now. "Lake Effect Snow" sucks.

Like you, attempts to get our cars up the driveway don't always meet with success. Often, one's first try ends with sliding backwards into the street again. For a short time I used to work nights, and I'd go off to work with a shovel in my trunk because I knew I wouldn't be getting into my house until midnight, after shoveling and de-icing the bottom of the driveway.

At 14:50 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Maybe you should get a big, white car cozy and disguise your car as a snowbank.

At 15:29 Blogger Jane said...

Doesn't snow much in NC, but it does ice on occasion. Our drive is level, but the street is not. We are at the bottom of the hill and right at the top of the hill is a stop sign so there is the sliding back down the hill part if you stop. And you have to stop.

My sister's dog is newly diagnosed with ugly and aggressive and inoperable bladder cancer and we are all so sad. Why does it seem so much harder during the holidays? And for me it brought back memories of the last 2 Christmases, we were nursing very sick cats through both of them. So, we do keep having pets, the pros outweigh the cons, but some days I wonder...

At 16:04 Anonymous Wendy Withers said...

The crush girl has said goodbye, but the octopus went over well. I'm going to take a nap now. And, maybe buy some hot chocolate later and watch the Discworld TV show.

At 16:15 Blogger Marjorie said...

OK I have eaten festive food, and drunken festive drink. Wanna go home & sleep now, but this party is due to continue for another hour at least.


Rescue me, Fiends. I beg .

At 17:19 Blogger EmilyOliveP said...

I want snow.

At 17:27 Blogger DataGoddess said...

tick - trying to catch up...

At 17:28 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Marjorie, I have my own problems here. I need to get DRESSED and out of the house and to this gig. SO far I have Elf Socks and a shirt I wore 2 weeks ago to a Derby bout, which, no, has not made it into the house or been washed yet.

My car looks like a homeless person lives in it. An active one. Now has a PA, a skating bag, a gym bag , a suitcase, and half a library (you never know)

At 18:14 Blogger Marjorie said...

OK, I concede, you have your problems.

Fuggetabout the car. You're not having the gig there.
Focus on finding pants, I hear they are practically essential for public gigs these days. Derby shirt is fine. You're labelled as "Deadly", noone I'd going to mess with you.


Enjoy your gig.

PS I escaped. Home now

At 19:05 Blogger Dragonsally said...

I'm so glad it doesn't snow here, or we'd get even wackier laws on parking I suspect.
Quiche, considering that I live in tomorrow land, maybe I should tell you what date it is here every time I comment, then you'll know what's coming up for you? Its dead bang in the middle of the 18th right now.

Marjorie - congrats to your brother.

Damn, I have totally forgotten what I was going to say now.

At 21:09 Blogger AletaMay said...

Wish I were at Charlie's! Glad our parking rules are simpler but look forward to the day when I have driveway, or maybe if I dream really big a garage! Imagine no scraping ice and snow off the car. Someday...

At 21:09 Blogger AletaMay said...

opps, tick!

At 00:55 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

I found pants! And rocked!!!! Loved that gig! And the coolest thing, tomorrow is going to be even better, Saturdays often are and lots of friends are coming tomorrow!!!

I believe I have missed this.

A LOT!!!!

I remembered how to play and everything!

At 01:01 Blogger spacedlaw said...

Whoohoo!
So happy for you. And glad that you made it home (I take it that you made it home).

At 01:06 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

I did make it home, but it wasn't that hard, no weather, not too tired.

At 01:15 Blogger spacedlaw said...

Good. I'd been worried about the weather (and your head).

At 03:17 Blogger Marjorie said...

Sounds like a good gig. Glad you had fun.

I've woken up to about 4" of snow. Glad I don't need to go anywhere today.

At 06:47 Blogger Phiala said...

Four inches, Marjorie? Wow! Guess you are staying home today. :) For places that don't get snow, that's tremendous.

When I was living in North Carolina, we got 6 inches once, and everything was shut down for a week. I just laughed, and enjoyed the time off.

Jane, I didn't say yet, but I'm sorry to hear about your sister's dog. There's no good time for that, but I agree that now seems even worse. I have old pets (11yo dog, 16yo cat) and worry about them a lot too. But it's still worth it, I say with a cat on my lap rumbling like mad, and a dog draped over my feet, and I'll keep doing it.

At 08:47 Blogger Jess said...

RAWK. \o/

Hello! Here we are in the Over-Seas. So far I have had a bacon sammich, and committed a serious Queueing Offence. Later we will go to the Garden Centre. Yep, we must be in Britain.

Look! Quiche has a side business in airplane snacks! The things you find out when you travel. :D

At 11:43 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Good Morning!!!!!

Ah, the UK is all snowed IN! Good thing Jess went over for that.

I have a long list of Things to do today. Going to get to that. Annnnnny moment.

At 14:35 Blogger Jess said...

It snowed everywhere but here! Peterborough has frost. And 28 degrees! Hell, I could have stayed home for this sort of weather. I am about to put leggings on under my jeans just to go down the pub. Layers! Here! Ridiculous. Where's them mild December temps I come here for? You know, 40 degrees, sunny with periods of damp?

Off we go. Beer beer beer, I'm going for a beer.

At 15:23 Blogger Marjorie said...

Excellent song, Jess! Also Cheers!

At 15:25 Blogger Marjorie said...

Also, I think you're very ungrateful. I mean, the entire nation has risked grinding to a halt, just to make you feel welcome, and this is how you repay us.

At 17:43 Blogger Jess said...

What, by going for a beer? Or putting on leggings? I had a whole pint, you know. I'd say that's fair dues.

At 17:47 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

An entire pint?? Go Jess.

Off too rock, would love some nice chatter to come home to, and read during my breaks.

Unless you are somewhere exciting, you know, doing things.

Yes, I am wearing the Elf Socks again.

At 18:04 Blogger Chantrelle said...

Off to meet ms ticia and ms. olga nunes for sushi and then see mr webley play in monsters of accordion.

Staying in SF tonight because the storm coming through is supposed to be bad and i have to drive a twisty mountain highway to get home. Better safe tonight and drive home in the morning!

At 18:16 Blogger Phiala said...

Interesting? No, I'm writing, which is only interesting much later.

I can recommend making rumballs with gingersnaps, though, if anyone is interested.

At 23:58 Blogger spacedlaw said...

Interesting? No, I was just sleeping.
No particular dreaming either.

At 00:56 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Not much interesting here either. Gig was ok, but more like work than ROCK, weird night, we did ok, but didn't light anyone's world on fire.

There was a pub crawl when we got there for the first hour, 40 drunk people not listening. Kind if kills the show.

Got it back, but the energy wasn't there. Hands hurt. Arms hurt. Neck hurts.

But I'm home now.

At 00:56 Blogger Beez said...

Home from work, woohoo!

Need sleep.

I hope rock ROCKED tonight.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...........

At 01:07 Blogger spacedlaw said...

You are home and the kitties are sure to be delighted.
Nice to know that all the usual bits hurt but not the head.

At 01:32 Blogger Marjorie said...

I was sleeping. Had some strange dreams. All about running away from something horrible, and falling. Not much fun.
Sorry the gig wasn't the best - I can see how 40 drunks would kill the mood.

At 01:35 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

There was one women who was really fun, she was dressed as Santa but wore a Grinch mask. I liked her, but they weren't able to be focused.

Sometimes the Magic's there, and sometimes it's not.

I would so totally KILL if there was someone who would massage my neck until I could turn my head right now.

At 01:56 Blogger Marjorie said...

Ow. I wonder whether you could talk any of the leopards into kneading it in just the right place?

At 10:28 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Hands hurt!!! Should have iced them, or snowed them last night.

Have coffee. That's me so far.

At 13:51 Blogger Beez said...

Up. Laundry done. Going to Lakewood Cemetary to take pictures, then to work.

Same same saaaaaaaaame.

I hope your hands and neck feel better :(

At 15:48 Blogger Dragonsally said...

You can tell its the silly season - its very quiet here!

Hope your poor hands are feeling better by now Quiche.

How are all the snowed in people going?

At 16:21 Blogger Beez said...

More snow coming tomorrow- winter storm warning! Booya!
(of course I have to go to work, but the whole "football outdoors" thing tomorrow will be amusing.

Got into Work II and found out that a member of la famligia was diagnosed Friday with celiac disease. We are now launched into learning how to do from-scratch gluten free Italian. We will not be stopped! Pasta and bread our staffs of LIFE (risotto too, but it's already gluten free).

Of course, our first test was a gluten free Buche de Noel. Not Italian, but hey- it's Christmas.

At 16:36 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Winter Storm Warning????? Tomorrow? Oh no I do not think so!

I am taking Cabal to the vet tomorrow, in Minneapolis. No storm.

At 17:03 Blogger Na said...

i've just been outside digging and moving snow around for a couple of hours. monsters and i made a solid start on a snow fort! and i dug out walking paths, and cleared our parking spot and the back porch.

as i sit here and type, my legs, face and ears are all tingly as feeling returns.

speaking of football outdoors, i watched a show this week about the fabled Ice Bowl. that was insane.

hope your aches are receding, Lorraine. luck with Cabal's checkup!

At 17:20 Blogger Dragonsally said...

It seems that my State has gone cold in solidarity with the Northern Hemisphere....it even snowed in our Alps overnight. Oh summer, please come back to me.

At 23:43 Blogger Dragonsally said...

Have the Fiends wandered around the why did you buy me this website?

I found something so creepy it was perfect for Fiends.

At 00:22 Blogger spacedlaw said...

Okay I won't complain any more.
These must have caused tons of "present face" cases.

At 00:30 Blogger Dragonsally said...

Nathalie! I'd forgotten how much I love that song....

At 07:48 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Good morning!

Ah look, cold and dark out. Yes. Morning indeed.

Even coffee is not making me want to go out into it.

At 08:35 Blogger Phiala said...

I arrange it so that I have to out to get coffee. Otherwise I might never make it off the sofa.

At 09:06 Blogger spacedlaw said...

I've has an office lunch. And to say that i am drunk might be a gross understatement. Too much to drink (nice drinks though). I can feel myself really slowly enunciating those emails and tweets, a bad sign.
How long do you think it will take before I can safely drive home?

At 09:10 Blogger Phiala said...

I could tell you about my office holiday lunches. That would sober you right up.

At 09:18 Blogger spacedlaw said...

I'd need some sobbering up. Not that the world is spinning by, it just seems to have slowed down a bit. I feels sluggish. Maybe I should forget about working and attempt walking instead.

At 09:46 Blogger Marjorie said...

Walking sounds like a plan!
We have our Christmas meal in the evening, and the firm lays on taxis so noone has to drive gnome if they don't want to.

At 11:39 Blogger spacedlaw said...

Walking was gret and brought me back to an acceptable level of consciousness. My car however has decided it would not budge.

At 12:13 Blogger Chantrelle said...

That is the creepiest doll pendant ever...I WANT!

Nathalie...no driving after drink! Bad, bad idea! Stay safe.

At 13:33 Blogger spacedlaw said...

90 minutes in the gym had sobered me up greatly but there is something wrong with the electrical wiring of the car apparently (the battery is still working) and I can't start it.

At 17:13 Blogger Dragonsally said...

Maybe the wiring is frozen?

You are now a certified hero gyming when drunk Nathalie. How did you ever manage that without hanging over the porcelain?

Tales of Christmas functions are always entertaining Phiala, do tell!

At 17:31 Blogger Jess said...

Hey, we are in Marjorie's house RIGHT NOW. When she is asleep we will move all the things around, and see whether she notices! Ahahahaha.

At 17:33 Blogger Dragonsally said...

In that case, I feel pity for Marjorie's shins!

Have a blast together..don't forget to share the photographic evidence!

At 20:33 Anonymous wendy Withers said...

i have lots to report but i have an arm pinned down by a cat

At 21:26 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Home. Ugh. Took FOUR bloody hours to drive from Minneapolis, generally take a wee bit over an hour.

Didn't know it would be THAT bad. Took 2 hours to get down there.

At 22:04 Blogger Siri said...

I feel your pain, Quiche, m'dear. And you can never tell until it's too late to go back. I'm sure people would have given hyou a place to stay, but you are happier being home, I'm sure. Get warm, have some lovely tea and thumb your nose at the weather gods for beating them.

Now that you are safely home, that is.

At 22:19 Anonymous Wendy Withers said...

New Orleans is currently accepting snowpocalypse refugees, that is, if you can handle the freezing temperatures in the low 50s to mid 70s.

http://wendylbolm.wordpress.com/2010/12/21/first-good-day-in-a-long-time/

At 22:20 Blogger Beez said...

Yes. Family and I are extending a Standing Invitation.

We have room and beds and are also very pet-friendly.


Sorry the trip home sucked. I was afraid of that.

Now I get to see how much I get to shovel out before work tomorrow a.m. :P

At 22:27 Blogger AletaMay said...

I was thinking of you and your drive Q. How did it go for Cabal?

I had to move my car for the snow emergency parking, thought I'd run some errands too but once I got the car cleaned off I just pulled it into the driveway and called it a day.

Just glad not to be a football player.

At 23:16 Blogger Dragonsally said...

Oh god, they aren't playing at that stadium that had the roof cave in are they?

Glad you survived the drive Quiche, sounds dreadful.

At 00:16 Blogger spacedlaw said...

About drunk gym-ing: This was inspired as a quick detox method by colleagues who were telling me that when (younger and) drunk and needing to be reasonably fresh shortly afterwards, they would sweat the alcohol over a game of tennis. This is actually a dangerous thing to do as your heart, already rendered fast by alcohol is also under attack from adrenalin and the effort. But I reckoned my usual 1 1/2 hour brisk walk up a slope would be not too strenuous yet enough effort to get me back to an acceptable (if not entirely legal, yet) level.

How did Cabal fare on his exam?

At 09:04 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Ack. Raining. Or icing. Car is on street all plowed in, couldn't get up my driveway. It's covered in ice.

Now what? Back to bed????

At 09:36 Blogger Phiala said...

Took me a couple of extra hours and a handful of drugs to make it out of bed this morning. I have now made it to work, though my head still hurts some. *grumble*

Raining, Q? Back to bed it is. No travelling in the ice!

Here it is a beautiful sunny and clear solstice. It was NOT clear early this morning when I tried to watch the eclipse. *grumble*

At 11:27 Anonymous Wendy Withers said...

I vote for back to bed! Or, eating chocolate.

At 11:28 Blogger Na said...

covered in ice is definitely stay-home-worthy.

we had a good view of the eclipse. some moisture or ice in the atmosphere, but that only added to the show by producing a lovely moon dog, which of course disappeared as the Wolf ate the moon. i woke my monsters up toward full eclipse, having made sure they'd seen the full moon before going to bed.

merry solstice! "here comes the sun, do do do-do"

At 12:33 Anonymous Wendy Withers said...

It was too overcast here to see the eclipse. Instead, I watched Cronos and edited an essay I wrote. Also, I ate pizza. Lots and lots of goat cheese pizza.

At 14:33 Blogger Dragonsally said...

Lucky you Na, it was clouded over here too. I was so disappointed - I wanted to see a red moon (and how tempted I would have been to howl at it)

I do hope you've stayed safe and warm at home Quiche, ice driving isn't fun

At 14:38 Blogger Chantrelle said...

Foggy here last night too. We watched a little of a webcast but no live view.

Ben's holiday performance was last night. SOooooo cute! Got home at 10pm. I haven't caught up on sleep from seeing Jason Webley saturday night yet. I could never live a rock star life...nevermind the fact that I have no musical talent...I need my sleep or i feel ill!!

But, nevertheless, I'm heading up to Oakland tonight to take mr. webley to a FoodPorn dinner and catch another accordion show. The life of an amateur journalist and foodie is never dull. Well, it is but not this week!

I interviewed Olga Nunes before jason's show too. She, her friend (other) Jason, Ticia and I went to sushi and it was so FUN!! Made 2 new friends who are awesomely awesome.

Yet again expanding my circle of cool people via Boss.

At 20:12 Blogger Beez said...

Gosh NO Sally. They played in the stadium that never had a roof at all!

It was kind of fun to watch, but I miss the Games Of Yore when it would snow on the field so hard they had to run out with shovels to clear the yard lines between plays.

Crunched through the ice to work- not bad, roads well sanded. HOWEVER we got a light flurry of snow on top this afternoon. Roads turned very slippery things.

At 23:12 Blogger Na said...

Sal, and anyone who couldn't see the eclipse, there's a time-lapse coverage of it.

At 23:15 Blogger ariandalen said...

For all the Fiends who didn't get a card from me, here is the tanka I included:

Once more celebrate
What has passed, what is to come.
Sun stands at year's hinge;
Hanging on yesterday's breath,
Tomorrow's promise beckons.


Merry Solstice!

At 23:33 Blogger Dragonsally said...

Thanks Na, that was beautiful. Damn the clouds for hiding it from us.

At 08:02 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Good Morning!

New blog is up! Wasn't meant to be a blog, it was a comment, but it got too long and grew up into a post...

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