I hate winter!!

I used to love winter for a plethora of reasons.

1. You can always add layers when you're cold. There's only so much you can take off when you're hot during the summer.
2. I love the smell of a fireplace - it's romantic.
3. Christmas - 'nuff said.
4. My birthday is January 25th, and that was the primary reason why I liked winter.
5. Hot chocolate with marshmallows
6. Skating on frozen ponds, lakes and sometimes arenas ( I love the days when the arena is warmer than outside, it's such an oxymoron!)
7. Really big fat snowflakes falling outside your window

That's why I used to love winter. Now I hate winter. For one reason, and one reason only.


My fiance is long-haul truck driver who drives in Spring, Summer, Fall and WINTER! Picture this: driving an 18-wheeler truck with 45,000 pounds of cargo in the back through a snow storm. Do you know how long it takes one of those trucks to come to a complete stop... in the summer? Imagine what it would be like in 3-5 inches of snow!


Since going out with Mike, my daily habit involves checking the weather forecast. This was not done before I met him - I check it every single day. And during the winter, I develop a case of OCD and check it up to 2 dozen times. Once an hour. Every hour.


You see, Mike got into an accident in February 2006. No one was hurt, but media reported that everyone in the accident had died because it looked so bad. He was carrying over 40,000 pounds of salsa in his trailer and when it crashed, all the bottles exploded, and it looked like like blood all over the snow. The only part of his truck that wasn't damaged was the driver's side. If he had a passenger, they wouldn't have made it. Someone took pictures of the accident and I look at them every now and then and wonder how it's possible he lived through that. Even listening to metal crunching makes him cringe and he gets a little shaky when he hears about truckers who get into accidents. But yet, he got back out there. He got into the seat of another truck and continued doing what he was doing within two weeks of his accident. I admire him for that, but I also have small heart attacks when I think about him out there in the snow.


There is a snowsquall warning for Southern Ontario and Quebec tonight, heading straight into and through Wednesday. Mike is currently driving through Illinois, crossing into Canada sometime early tomorrow morning to deliver in Quebec. To do this, he has to drive straight through the snowsquall.

I have faith in his driving capabilities, but I don't trust the other arseholes out there who drive recklessly in conditions like this. I've been in the truck with him during bad winter weather, and he can handle the situation, but I've seen on more than one occasion where a driver has intentionally made bad driving decisions because they don't want to be behind or around "a big truck".


PEOPLE! Think about it! If a deer crosses
your path, your little car is completely F*CKED! It will damage a big truck, it may even put it off the road, but it won't hurt anyone. If you were smart enough to get your licence, then you should know that if a truck is that big, you don't want to do stupid things around it. It's PHYSICS! Doing something stupid equals your car/truck/SUV becoming a STAPLE when you get into an accident with a big truck.


Yes, I'm ranting now, but it seriously bothers me when I see stupid people of all ages, races, and sex drive erratically around big trucks. There should be a common sense test to go along with the drivers test to make sure the dumb f*cktards out there should actually be allowed to drive.


Okay, rant completed.


I'm crossing my fingers that Mike will be okay driving through Ontario and Quebec tomorrow, and I'm hoping that my mother will be able to fly out of Toronto tomorrow and have no problems getting home.