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Thursday, March 12, 2015

#sol15 March12 Craters



Finally, I ditched my "woollies" for dainty pant socks socks and shoved my filthy mittens into my pockets.  The piles of dirty snow have been melting like rivers of butter on hot bread in the bright March sun. Like everyone I talked to, the sun was beginning to work it's magic.    

Yet, before too many days of sunshine-happiness-exercise-and-excitement had passed, they began to appear as if by spring's magical power.  They blossomed this week like flowers long awaiting the first warm days.  They seem to be multiplying by the minutes.  For those of us with long traffic-filled commutes, they add a dangerous-springtime-dimension to driving. 
Cold Climate Gardening

I'm a bit sensitive to them this year as LAST year, THEY caused me to replace 5 tires and 4 rims. Seriously, I was on a first name basis with the people at Midasl!  

So when the weather finally turned a bit warmer this week, I headed out with "renewed focus" on tire safety,  I was hopeful I would handle the road craters when they appeared.  

On Monday, there were a few and I took a dip into a couple of them.  Each time a tire went into a hole, I held my breath awaiting the all too familiar whop, whop, whop and its implications.

On Tuesday, they had doubled (at least) and I swore off the Saw Mill River Parkway for a while. I hit more than my share that evening as the thick-snow-powered-warm-air-confused-fog shielded my view, hiding them in a gray blanket of surprises. 

On Wednesday, it seemed they quadrupled over night! They were everywhere and you could not avoid them all no matter how hard you tried.  Every time the tire went into a hole, I held my breath awaiting the all too familiar whop, whop, whop and its implications.

There have been more than a few cars dotting the sides of the road with jacks holding their sides astray, already, and the road crater season has just begun. So far, I have been spared the costly and dangerous implications of whop, whop, whop; however, we're only 4 days into the season of road craters.  

After hitting one of many road craters and holding my breath to make sure the tires held up through the assault, this song (to the tune of Moon River) seemed to emerge from my grateful heart: Road Craters

Road craters
Dotting every mile,
You cause me not to smile
These days.

Tire wreckers
Can be worse 
Than ice and snow
You're making it hard to go
Too fast

I'm trying
Hard to straddle you,
Every hole 
Could make me blue
I'm tired out, 
That is true
With every thump
I'm sure I'm through,

Road craters,
Plenty around here,
For me and you. 






7 comments:

shogem said...

Your post was wonderful. I love that you call them craters. Definitely a better name for potholes. I felt like singing the song aloud, but I thought it might disturb my husbands's sleep.

Linda B said...

I could laugh, then cry, over your sad song. It was on the news about this last week. They were saying hundreds need work. I only have a short drive, so fewer problems, but even then I watch carefully. Good luck with the avoiding, Anita!

Tara said...

Like Linda, this makes me laugh and cry - we have so many craters these days, our town crews have much work to do!

Catherine said...

Very clever, Anita! We've got a bumper crop of potholes around here, too. Hope you don't have to get reacquainted with the Midas man this year!

Becky Leff said...

So funny! But wow, they must be terrible where you live. It was a beautiful sunny day here in Chicagoland. One of my teaching colleagues told me this is the day she always gets pulled over because she's happy and singing along with the radio, enjoying the sunshine, and not realizing she's speeding. Hopefully she won't add hitting a pothole to that mix.

Unknown said...

Your post was wonderful! The poem, bolded words, and wonderful figurative language made this a fun read!!

Half Marathon Training said...

So true! I hate those road craters! I try to avoid them at all costs, but really...how can you? A lovely ode to spring. Although, we can leave the potholes for someone else. :-)