Winter

I was (am) seriously unprepared for Winter.  There are a lot of things you have to know.  For example, there are many kinds of show shovels, and some are much better for the back than others.  And you have to throw salt around your driveway and walkways or the snow will melt, then it will get cold again, and you will have an ice path.  There are, of course, many kinds of salt, with names like Magic Salt and Blizzard Wizard, etc.  I have learned how to shovel snow, and even which kind of shovel to use with which kind of snow.  A couple of tips I learned from experience:

• Shovel the snow soon after it fell.  If you wait long enough, you're shoveling ice. 
• If a little snowball falls into your clean driveway and you see it sometime afterward, don't kick it. (see previous bullet about snow becoming ice)
• Snow is generally welcome before Christmas.  Not so much afterward.
• Be very nice to the neighbor who has a snow blower.  Or go buy one yourself.
• Don't try to drive a BMW in the snow

My BMW 325i, which was so fun to drive up and down PCH did not do well in last Wednesday's afternoon rush hour snowstorm.  I slid into the side of the road 4 times before giving up and stopping at a motel.  Apparently, there are tires that you're supposed to put on your car in winter.  And you're supposed to have an all-wheel car to drive in snow.  Who knew?

Also, all this cold weather complicates everything.  Just to go out to the car, you have to find a coat, decide if it is snow or rain (different coat), a scarf, gloves, coffee, a shovel for when your car slides into the ditch next to the road, a scraper, a brush.  It is like having babies again.  It takes ten minutes to put all your stuff in your car.

But, if you're smart enough to stay home, the snowscape is awesome...and you can count snow shoveling as a workout...