This weather is wierd

[dwalt]

Last two mornings I have run in to freezing fog. I don't know if ya'll have ever driven in it but it is not fun. It just kind of hangs in the air and when it hits the roadways it's really slippery. I saw two spinouts yesterday and one this morning. OK, I've vented, hows you day going?

[crestofwaves]

Winter and darkness and cold depress me.  I anxiously await spring, warmth, and longer days.  Every year I struggle with S.A.D.  This year is no different.

[ProblemAgain]

have you tried the light that combats the SAD? i have read that gives good results

[crestofwaves]

Yes.  And I sit in the sun and walk in the sun when it's out.  And all that works, but it takes effort.  I'm not suicidal.  I just can't wait.

[dwalt]

A lot of people up  here have it.  I call it cabin fever.  I get out and go to work every day so I haven't experienced it.May be that is why Seattle is the suicide capital of the nation.  As far a the "big" girl pany thing goes, ummm, I weigh 108lbs so they would probably fall off.  That what you call "freezing your a$$ off".

[crestofwaves]

When I worked, it was even worse because I got up in the dark, was stuck in school all day, came home, and it was dark again.  February is DEATH month for me, and we are approaching it.  This too shall pass.

[dwalt]

I have a friend here that goes to bed and doesn't get dressed for days on end.

[dwalt]

That's how it is with me.  I get up and am on the road by 4:30am and by the the time I leave & get 1/2 way home it is dark.  I see more weird stuff driving in the mornings, drunks, deer, elk, idiots, you name it.

[ProblemAgain]

oh that brings back memories of working in the far north...30 fricking below....dark all the time....no thank you....i'll take tropical beaches for 200, alex...

[Karin M Fichtner]

I've done years of going to work in the dark, and returning in the dark. I don't think I can truthfully say it had any serious effect on me.  I got tired of not being able to enjoy the sunshine, but no real depression.  I have spent 60 of my years in the northern cold climates.  Just used to it, I guess.  Driving in blizzards is bad; I don't mind the ice, but I have to be able to see where I am going.  In the Chi-town area, we have what we call "Lake Effect Snow", and it's lethal to drive in.  All your headlights do is reflect off the snow and come back at you.  I've been stuck out in this stuff more times than I can count.  I've done my share of white-knuckle driving.  Christmas 2010's trip up home had my sil and I driving to LaPorte, In, at 10:00 p.m. to pick my daughter up from work.  We were on Indiana State Hwy 35, and there are two lanes each way.  The plows hadn't been there yet, and the only way we could see where we were on the road was....I opened my window on the passenger side, hung my head out, and watched for the mailboxes on the side of the road.  As long as we stayed on the left of the boxes....we knew we were on the road.  What usually takes 15 minutes, took almost 45 minutes that night.  And we still had to drive back home! 

They're panicking here right now because they "may" get 1-2 inches of wet snow tonight.  Big deal!  By Sunday it's supposed to be back up to 51 deg, so it's not going to last.  It's amusing how these Virginians go off the deep end over and inch of white stuff. 

[ellevan]

I, too, live in Virginia and I grew up in western New York State.  We are getting very heavy snow right now and it's a mess outside.  I would not drive in this, I would drive in NY but I would not drive in Virginia in the snow.  For one thing, we are in a very hilly area but, more importantly, no one seems to know how to drive in the snow and they slam on their brakes and do 360's and God help us all.  I live on a hill and one car after another makes it halfway up and starts spinning and then going sideways and sooner or later, someone goes out to help them or else they straighten out and go back down the hill.  Very few make a second try.   I used to love it when it got dark early because I could convince my kids that it was bedtime.  What a horrible person I am...now I don't mind it but my husband suffers from SAD and uses a light with very little effect.

[ProblemAgain]

oh pardon me...i was still stuck back on that visual of big girl panties and galoshes....8)

when i used to work in the mountains, i was young enough that i enjoyed shoveling the snow....then after that, working in the north was an adventure...til one day i realized i had had enough...and turned south...let other people do skating donuts on iced mountain roads with no guardrails and 500 feet to the bottom of the canyon.....i like no shoes...i like a sweatshirt being considered heavy winter clothing...call me a woosie....but i ain't stupid....sorta

[frenchy]

well commin from jersey and ny i can relate to the winter drivin stories and weather .. i worked in a warehouse as a supervisor for quite a few years when i was younger and it was always dark on my way to work in the winter and always dark on my way home ..bein the head honcho can have its perks but like the captain you're supposed to go down with the ship and be the first to arrive and last to leave .. then in the 80's came ronald reagan and his trickle down theory .. well i got trickled on pretty good and ended up doin roofin and actually got to see the sunshine everyday .. or what you might wanna call sunshine .. more like gloom and doom most days .. and i too suffered from that sad thingy but i never even knew it had a name .. i just knew every fall i'd get depressed as hell .. i'd look around and everything was dyin.. and man it would depress the hell outta me .. and i had a buddy who moved to florida and wanted me to be best man at his weddin and i came down .. looked around and liked it ..that planted the seed .. and the next time i had to shovel 18 inches of partly cloudy to get to work i said thats it i'm goin to florida .. and now ?? no more of that sad stuff .. oh i can still get depressed for other shit .. but it ain't seasonal .. its been unusually warm down here tho the last week or so .. in the mid 80's everyday .. and its usually in the mid 70's .. so i guess there's two ways to look at this .. if you're in washington state or virginaia or jersey if al gore is right you might be wearin flip flops and shorts in january pretty soon .. and me ?? i'll be lookin more and more like a piece of bacon by the end of august .. i'll take tropical breezes and backyard pools for 400 alex ..