Frost Heaves

So you know what frost heaves are, right? If you’re not from around here, you might not. Frost heaves are part of the carnage that is our New England roads in winter. It’s rough driving here in winter for many reasons including snow and ice. Then frost heaves jump in the mix. They happen when the ground freezes underneath the road, makes lumps and bumps in the pavement all winter long. Like a choppy amusement park ride. It’s usually ok, we make it through. Might get a blown tire in the process. (Just happened to me: Neon Sign In The Sky)

But the real chaos? That comes when spring arrives. The ground thaws, those bumps and lumps shrink down, cause the pavement to buckle as the ground beneath caves. The roads are a mess here in winter, often a mess all spring and summer as road crews repair the winter carnage. (Hint: fall is a nice time to drive in New England.)

So yesterday I pick Charlie up from school, take a right out of the parking lot. There’s a road crew on site fixing some pretty horrendous buckling pavement from the frost heaves. There are some big craters in the pavement I’ve been avoiding every day for weeks now. The opposite side of the road is completely blocked off. All the cars ahead of me on my side go ahead, but I’m the lucky one.

The construction “police” motions me to stop and wait so the crew can smooth out a huge pile of gravel and dirt into one of the big holes with a backhoe. There’s a car length or two between me and the construction workers. Suddenly the huge double cab pick-up truck behind me lays on the horn. (At me???) Then pulls around fast in front of me, too close, crowding the construction workers. The next car behind that truck pulls into the left lane of blocked road, just beside me. Now there’s cars piling up behind me. Huge snowbanks to my right. I’m literally hemmed in on every side. And out of the passenger side of that big double cab pick-up in front of us jumps an angry little lady in hot pink stretch pants. I use the term “lady” loosely. She screams, throws her hands up, gestures obscenely at the construction workers trying to do their job. Charlie and I watch wide-eyed. I guess they’re in her way and she has to wait for a minute? Yeah, this is the crew working in the freezing to fill in the gargantuan abyss so she doesn’t blow a tire, fall in. That crew.

And it’s not only frost heaves, construction crews and screaming women in hot pink pants we have to be concerned about around here right now.

Think antlers. FYI, I’m working on a very interesting moose blog post. (Soon!)

We’ve had a few frost heaves, lumps and bumps in our kitchen this winter too. Remember my broken dishwasher? Well it’s still just that. Broken. It’s getting to be real irritating too, because the left side of our kitchen sink is tiny. (That’s what we use to drain/dry dishes.) The right side is big, but it’s got this tendency to fill up. Fast. We’ve all been washing dishes by hand for weeks now and everyone’s weary of it.

And the dishes seem to reproduce faster than rabbits. So there was a big pile-up in the kitchen sink yesterday. Seriously just not enough drying room around the kitchen sink for a family of six. But why, tell me why….. did it take me ’til today to figure this out? Just realized that I have TONS of drying space in my kitchen. Seriously, just had this epiphany this morning. Tons of drying space, underneath my kitchen counter….inside that broken dishwasher. HELLO!

Now that, is an epiphany.

And why it took so long for the lightbulb moment, I just can’t say. I came home today, washed up that mess of dishes, and now they’re drying on those lovely empty dishwasher racks! Thrilled with my “new” drying racks! Score!

One last note. I’m adjusting my posting schedule to four to five times weekly on Through Her Looking Glass in the coming weeks, as I’m also focusing on growing other aspects of the blog. You know if I had it my way I’d post eight days a week, because I absolutely love writing here. Wanted you to have a heads up, no surprises. Thanks for taking the time to drop in and visit Through Her Looking Glass. Makes my day to know you enjoy spending time here. Have a super weekend! Tell us what you’re up to this weekend, what’s on your mind…

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