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Frozen


EvansLight

1,206 views

Ya' know the phrase "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished"? Well this is the second time in under a year i got to face the cold (pun intended) hard reality of that phrase.

So over the last few years, starting back in high school, whenever we had a freeze here at my house, i would go out and salt the steps, scrap my grandfathers truck, sisters car, and moms van, and just kinda do other things old in the cold to make sure they can leave and leave safely. Now I started doing this 'cause im about the only person in my household that can not only stand the cold, but enjoys it. Its been in the 20's today and it hasn't bothered me at all.

Well I can't say i've ever really gotten much thanks for it, and im fine with that, was just something i did without expecting anything in return. Well today haMFened to piss me off on that end of things.

I stayed up all night, 'cause i knew i wouldn't be up in time, and all but my sister would be gone before sunrise. So i started late at night, about 2am, and went out and coated the steps with salt. As the conversation with Eric here on the forums has taught us all, the salt lowers the freezing temp. of the water therefore melting snow :D gotta love physics.

Come the early morning when they start getting ready, i got out, and started my work. My mom's van was the worst, farthest from the house so it got the most of the freeze. The driver door WOULD not open, i had to get in the van, and slam the door open. Needless to say hers took the longest to de-ice (which involves the cars heater, and a whole lotta scraping).

Next i worked on the steps more. I made sure each step was at least to the point where it wasn't slick anymore, and even scraMFed off the railings for my grandfather since hes getting on up there in the age department.

Then came my grandfathers truck. Fairly easy, trucks don't have the most amount of window space to de-ice, and also his heater was on for over 30min. I made sure he got out easy, printed him the latest weather reports, and even got him some updated traffic info.

Next was my sisters. Heres where things took a turn for the "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" area. Started out with i wanted to start her car at least an hour before hand, giving it ample time to de-thaw itself, saving me time. Well instead of a polite "No, we can wait" i got a "Not now, i don't leave for another hour" (think of it in a rather harsh tone).

So i waited. Took off all my gear, which is just regular pants, socks, shoes, a very thin sweatshirt, a cut up old shirt wraMFed around my head to cover my mouth, my hoodie on, a hat, and some gloves. Simple but for me thats more than enough. Needless to say i made a major mistake while working on my grandfathers truck, i started sweating.

So time went by, and i finally got to turn hers on. Another 10 minutes or so and it was getting hot enough i could start. The ice was literally a 1/4 inch thick on the vehicles, hence the need for the heater to help out. Well my dumb ass in trying to hurry since with the little time i had she would be late, forgot to turn on the rear defrost. Problems on there way.

I started working on the front, then passenger side, then hit the back.... i hit a 1/4 inch thick of solid-not-going-anywhere ice. Well i decided to finish the rest and come back to it. I got the last of the sides and front done without a problem.

Now at this point, other than the slight lil problem with the sweat, i was just fine. Not exhausted yet, and wasn't really all too cold. This was going to change.

To make sure she wasn't anymore late, i just started chiMFing away at the sheet of ice. Once i got a nice dent in it, i could use the scraMFer to just knock off pieces of the sheet. And lets say my method left something to be desired. I was slamming into the ice and really giving it all hell. Well then on one hard smack, i felt my wrist go a direction it wasn't suMFosed to. Ouch is the word. Nothing to bad, slight sprain, ive had worse and not even cared. So i kept working, not realizing with pain now i wasn't paying attention to the fact that i was leaning against a frozen solid car, and my body heat started to melt the nice pretty ice.

Well i almost couldn't finish. By the time i hit the drivers side of the back window my arms were dead, and i started to feel my legs freezing. But i powered through, and got 90% of the ice off the window. I started to walk back up to the house, got in the side door, and colapsed right there. I couldn't say anything, my now frozen legs gave out, and my arms were putty.

I laid there, panting like a dog, half out of it, from all the work and the fact i hadn't slept yet. My rather oblivious mom, who was home again, passed by me in the kitchen, didn't even notice me. When they did, 7 minutes later, she just laughed and said "What are you suMFosed to represent?" Don't you love that much worry from a mother? So with what lil energy i had i said what haMFened, to constant laughter. I was too tired to get pissy and tell her to F**k off XD

Well she told my sister who joined in the laughter, at me, now sitting up at the side door. So i pulled my self up, calmy and nicely placed her ice scraMFer on the table, walked to my room, droMFed my soaked pants, and i mean soaked, and crawled under my very thick wool blanket, then added my other 2 blankets on top.

All this, and i got one half assed, quick "Thank You" from my sister, and then asked where her scraMFer was. Not one question of "you sure you ok? Sure that wrist of yours is fine" . . . Nope.

So needless to say, my legs are still frozen, after 30 minutes, my hair is covered in sweat still, my nose is running, i smell to high heaven and don't have the strength to pull myself to the shower. Im now about to pass out, still cold, wrist starting to hurt ( i typed this one handed, i ain't stupid :P ) and really wanting to say, screw y'all, your on your own next time.

Once again, 2 times in under 1 year, i learned no good deed goes unpunished.... the hard way.

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I don't use scrapers anymore. I get the de-icer in a can... now, I don't have to deal with frozen over vehicles as much here in Alabama like I did in Texas... but this little can has saved my life. Now that i have a decent job, and one that requires me to be ready for work earlier than I used to have to be up... there are days that I am RUNNING out to my car and don't have time for 10 mintues to scrape and stuff. Just use a little bit of this stuff and BAM, all the ice is gone within 5 seconds. Now, you personally probably don't want to use this stuff EVERY time because it'd get expensive if you get frosts every night *I've had the same can for a long time though so it might last you a couple frost days..* but my point is this... pick up a can and instead of killing yourself on your sisters car like that, just spray this shit on and BAM it'll just melt away. I'd say it'd take you two layers at most for as much as your described. Now Wal-Mart has cheap kinds... but I've NEVER had good luck with those. Like the nozzles will break and get all over your hand... and when it's freezing out and you get that stuff onyour hand... it feels like your gonna get instant frostbite. This is what works GREAT, and it a little cheaper in wal-mart than on here in Amazon I believe... and honestly, in all the years I've used this stuff, I've never had to use the scraper

http://www.amazon.com/Prestone-Spray-Icer-...l/dp/B0002JN16Y

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