it may have stopped snowing at Neue Schloss Drang about the time I left for work, the storm moving north a little slower than I, but it started up again shortly thereafter, or so I am told.
Compared to other places, of course, the less-than-half-a-foot we got everywhere in the Puget Sound region barely qualifies as a snowstorm at all. I notice that, when folks in places that don't consider it winter until they've had two or three dustings like this snort, they never ask say, Los Angelenos or San Franciscans how they think they and their neighbors would react to what is, so far, a relatively minor winter storm even for Puget Sound.
Anyway. Got out to the employee parking lot at the Salt Mines at midnight-ish, and there was very little snow on the hood of the Drangmobile, and a couple of inches on the roof. I had to pry the driver's door open...
...and it wouldn't latch shut...
I don't believe I blogged about this at the time, but a little over a year ago I had to have... Y'know, I'll bet there's a lot of readers who, if I admit that the Drangmobile is a pre-Obamamobile Blazer, would be able to finish that sentence for me.
Anyway, apparently Chevy uses cheese for door hinges. Good, sturdy cheese, but the hinges are still crap, and eventually, you'll have to replace them.
If you're not aware of the problem, and don't get it taken care of in time, you may have to have other work done, too.
I did NOT get excited when the door wouldn't latch. I just started the engine and cranked the defroster, peeled the windscreen cover off--leaving behind a thin skin of ice, but but was still easier to deal with than the full monty would have been--and then discovered that I couldn't get the passenger door open. (The windscreen cover goes inside at both sides, attaches to inside of windscreen with suction cups.) Well, that was easy, I opened the window and pulled. That one came open, windscreen cover removed, door closed and latched...
The latch on the driver's side door was frozen in the closed position, my Gerber Artifact sufficed to pry it open enough to close and latch the door. Ice scraped from back window, note to self: Get rear defroster fixed.
The parking lot could not be described as a skating rink because skating rinks are usually flat; no way a Zamboni has been anywhere near this place. 4 Hi out the gate, and on out to the main drag. (I only use four wheel drive once or twice a year, but when I need it, it's worth the expense...)
Surface arterials and freeway were wet but free of ice, despite the fact that Washington State Department of Transportation said that pretty much all road surface temperatures in the Puget Sound region were pretty much all below freezing. (I checked before we released the crew.) Side streets were slick. Very little traffic, and no idiocy seen, I assume that no one who didn't have to hit the road did so.
On the way home it started to snow again.
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