The Fog of Winter

Isn't a nice fog in the middle of winter just fun?!

I spent a good part of Saturday shovelling the snow off my roof in case this next round dumps more on us.

I'm hearing it's supposed to start again by the end of the week, but I'm also hearing it'll most likely miss my area.

Whatever. I'll take either.

But anyway, the break from the cold was sure welcome. And I'm amused by the fog that rolled in over the last couple of day due to this extreme temperature change. (Or whatever it is that causes fog in January.)


As you already know, I do most of my driving at night. I finally switched to mornings at UPS - so now instead of showing up late to Schwan's I just leave early. A bonus to that is that while I'm on my way to Schwan's, many of the cars I meet are driven by people on their way to Intoxication instead of those who have already visited.

And then there was the fog.


I like fog. I like the way it rests in the valleys of the Granite Falls Scenic Overlook when I'm driving home in the mornings. I used to love it when it pooled on the playground back in grade school, causing my feet to disappear. I like it when it hovers just above my car as I'm driving down the road, or when it's all wispy and spread out. And I like how a thick fog can disorientate you and how oncoming cars look like ghostly blobs until the headlights pierce through.


But I really enjoy the unique qualities of a winter fog at night. I like the way the trees on a well lit street or parking lot seem to have extra character, and how the snow covered ground seems somehow beautiful and mysterious, and how the highway signs sort of look like creepy murderous hitchhikers waiting in the dark...

No, wait. Not that one so much. :)

And then, when the fog lifted, the trees and shrubs had a frost on them that made them look they'd been rolled in pure white cotton candy and powdered sugar. It would have made for many excellent pictures. So naturally, I didn't take any. (Sheila, I would have LOVED to have you drive up and take pictures of the kids to put on next years Christmas card. Just one. For me. Unless you'd also take care of sending them out if I bought a bunch of stamps.)


Although I must admit, even with all of the things I DO like about fog, I'll probably scream like a little girl if I ever come up on deer...or anything else that doesn't move...while driving in one of those thick fogs.


And maybe I've seen too many movies, but when I'm driving on a fogless night and I meet an oncoming car...there's many times where both the driver of that car and I will both switch to low-beam at what seems like the exact same time.

It makes me wonder if I'm driving toward a me from a parallel universe or alternate reality and if we'll cancel each other out by sharing the same space at the point where we meet.

That's some scary shit right there!

I don't have to worry about that on a foggy night because most of my doppelgangers will also have their low beams on, thus avoiding the simultaneous switch in beam brightness and bestowing the false sense of security offered by assuming it's yet another someone on their way home from Intoxication.

But now the fog is gone and it's cold again and the little person that lives inside my dashboard is telling me that there's freezing rain and snow coming.

The perfect frost is gone and may soon be replaced by ice, and while this also can look neat...it's hell on the trees, and then the street lights and power lines lob frozen projectiles in my general direction when I pass beneath them.

Oh! It's snowing now! I shall have to fill the Super Soaker with alcohol and anti-freeze in preparation for the upcoming confrontation with the snow gremlins on the power lines with their arsenal of ice missiles.

Little bastards.

Many are the paths of weirdness I let my mind travel upon. :)