I hate Oklahoma in the winter

I'm singing that line -- badly -- to the tune of "I Love Paris in the Springtime."

I love Oklahoma, truly I do. But these past five and a half days of frigid temperatures, freezing rain, solid ice and going nowhere/doing nothing are five days' too much. We live on top of a hill with a fabulous view -- you should see the sunset reflected in the glass of twenty-some-miles-distant downtown Tulsa -- but it's a bitch when it's icy. My truck has four-wheel-drive, and it's never failed us yet, but it's unnerving as hell to go down the hill in a 6,000-pound vehicle that's sliding out of control. Our deal is Robert steers and I pray until we hit the paved road a mile away.

Unlike waaay too many people, I don't drive on this. When the highway patrol says, "Stay home," I stay. I haven't driven on snow or ice in twenty-some years. To be fair, we did live away from Oklahoma for sixteen of those years, in Southern California, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. Not a whole lot of snow that I can recall -- maybe 3-4 days in sixteen years. I like control, and when I have zero control over either my vehicle or the idiots on the road, I freak. It's not a pretty sight.

Of course, when I'm stuck at home for days at a time, I have a tendency to freak, too, if I don't keep myself busy. Kind of a lose-lose situation, huh? Rachel12:12 PM