Snow What?

I used to laugh at that scene in Fargo where William H. Macy is having a hissy fit while scraping his windshield. Well, that's kind of me now, sans actual fit but complete with vigorous scraping motion and weird cold-induced noises.

See, the trick is to bundle up really well and then just take a dash at your car. I'm slowed a bit by the turnstile gate at work, but if I can get some speed up, it keeps me from cussing (loudly) and warms me up a bit before I get to scraping. For the record, I miss Canyonero 2.0 because it had a remote starter and keyless entry, so I could start my car from a distance and not worry about my keys getting locked inside. I do love my Toyota, but all of the braking system/accelerator issues in the media are overshadowing the possessed power locks these cars tend to have. And I just don't even want to bother with risking getting locked out of my running car in a parking lot - especially at work.

Here are some tips for you who aren't fortunate enough to live in a tundra and thus aren't seasoned snow removers:

1. If you can, have your car running while you scrap. It's not 100% necessary but it really does help and it's efficient.
2. Get one of those long handled scrapers. They're great for us short girls and it gives you some mechanical advantage.
3. Wear gloves. Mittens work too. Just makes sure you have something covering the digits so you don't feel like you're going to snap one off.
4. If it's snowing/going to snow and you're going to be parked in place for a while, put the wiper blades up on your car. It eliminates the need to 'peel and pray' prior to scraping
5. Caught completely unprepared? Use a plastic (credit-type) card. Don't use an important one as there's decent chance of bending it up during use. Or, better yet, get a cute boy to scrape for you. Actually, any helpful boy will work just fine. If he won't help, that's what snowballs with pennies jammed in them are for
6. Frozen locks? I like key+lighter. Do not attempt if you just sprayed alcohol de-icer all over everything though - probably not the type of fun you want to have
7. If you do happen to run your wipers over the ice and find that they then won't contact the windshield well, pick 'em up and drop 'em back against the windshield a few times and they should start working better

While this seems pretty basic, I had to learn a few on that list the hard way. Unfortunately, "move to a warm climate" isn't a good avoidance plan because the whole country, it seems, has been locked in an icy death grip this winter. Being optimistic: at least it's good weather to chill a case in the trunk while at work all day.