PRACTICAL TIPS

“And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter.”  (Mark 13:18)

In my last posting I mentioned that I’m not a “snow person”.  I’m not, but since I’ve always lived in a place that gets cold and snowy in the winter (Massachusetts and Missouri) I’ve had to learn to adapt to it. 

Sunday WAS a tough day, although it certainly could have been a lot worse.  I had pretty much made up my mind by 4 p.m. on Saturday that church would be canceled.  Thus, it was with no great shock that when I got up at 4:30 on Sunday morning, almost an inch of snow had fallen and it was snowing steadily.  The weather forecast for Sunday which The Weather Channel was putting forth could be summed up as “gloom ‘n doom”.  At 5 a.m. I put out my official e-mail canceling church and between 6 and 8 a.m. I pretty much called everybody who needed to be called.

(Incidentally, being the RADICAL and ECCENTRIC guy that I am, I didn’t really CANCEL the service...as in baseball I just kind of “rain checked” it.   What would have been the Sunday morning service will take place on Wednesday night at 7:00.  Visitors are welcome, and in fact encouraged to attend!)

Along with my son, I shoveled at least 3 times at home, and we went over to the church and helped shovel out the walkways there, as well.  The weather ran the gamut from fluffy snow in the early morning to rain in the late afternoon, to bitter cold and strong winds after Midnight.

On Monday morning it was hard to believe it was raining and around 40 degrees just a few hours earlier, for everything was as frozen as I imagine northern Siberia to be!  I tried to get into my 1989 Volkswagen Golf and the doors were frozen shut.  This necessitated the use of a long extension cord and a hair dryer.  I called this piece “Practical Tips” and this is one of them.  Simply running the hair dryer over the edges of the door and over the door handle areas for a couple of minutes enabled me to get into the car.  The next event, however, was more frustrating than the frozen doors were.  I just could not get the car started.  The engine would “turn over and die” and again “turn over and die”.  I realized the car’s gas line was frozen!  I tried to walk up Harrison St. to the Exxon gas station and the snow banks around the barricades (you’d HAVE to know Harrison St. to appreciate this...it’s kind of like Berlin before 1989) were so high I could not walk through!  After an embarrassing phone call to my wife, she brought me her Dodge Caravan and I went out and bought some gas line antifreeze.  This is NOT to be confused with the antifreeze you put in your radiator!  It comes in little plastic bottles.  Years ago, it was called “dry gas”. If you don’t know what gas line antifreeze is, ask at your local auto parts store or gas station...most carry the stuff.  At first, I was disappointed because pouring it into the gas tank did not yield any results.  But, after a few hours, the Volkswagen started and ran normally My late father used to swear by gas line antifreeze.  In the winter, it’s a good idea to put a bottle full in every time you fill up with gasoline.  It will prevent the kind of thing that happened to me yesterday.

Well, I’m tired and I’m sore and I’m not ready for Christmas.... maybe somebody has some practical tips for ME!