Stud-Muffin

It is definately winter here. February. Now, normally we have put studded snow tires on the car by now, but it was such a mild winter, there was no reason for them. Until now, that is. Now, with everything a blanket of white and the roads covered in slushy snow, and crazy drivers out on those roads it is time for studs.

So, I don't know to much about how this all works, but basically they take a perfectly good tire and shove short little nails or 'studs' into the tires for traction. Typically when I run over a nail, I puncture and ruin a tire. When they put nails in my tire, I am once again able to drive. Go figure.

Anyways, 2 days ago, while trying to take my daughter to school, my husband stood laughing at me at the window while I tried to get out of the driveway. After several attempts to move through what seemed like a small amount of snow, he finally came out and towed us out to the road. The irony was not lost on me that when I struggled to back out of the driveway, the town plow truck drove by... I'm sure I heard him giggle.

Upon my return from the school, like a complete idiot, I pulled right back into the driveway where I normally park. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment because nothing had changed... and so when I got ready to leave again later for the appointment to have the stud tires put on, he had to drag the car out again. Let's all take a moment and be grateful for tractors.

Now, I have studded tires on the car. I can go places that I had feared to go before, like the parking lot of the grocery store and my own driveway. Things are a little different now, the road noise is amazingly loud. So loud that I keep thinking I forgot to shift gears or something as the sound 'winds up' as the speed increases. Oh well. Crank up the radio, the heater, and check that we're in the right gear every once in a while. I have studds on the car, and don't care about anything else.