The Pros and Cons of Snow

Because of the snow, I've been able to take some time off work for the past few days. When the roads are snow-covered, icy, and treacherous, the office closes and we can all stay home. The con of snow, however, is the snow removal process. A lot of people complain that the plows are never out clearing the roads. That doesn't seem to be the case in my area. They seem to have done a great job and I'm grateful for that. Everything was clean and clear and there was hardly any ice or slush on the major roads. However, what was left behind was the sand and pebbles—or whatever it is—that they drop on the ice. On the one hand, this stuff is great because it either melts the ice or gives you a little bit of traction so that you can drive without sliding around. This is bad, however, because the cars in front of you kick the sand and pebbles back into your car, and, naturally, these can fly directly into your windshield. Just about every car in Colorado has tiny chips or cracks—or both—in their windshields because of this. For quite a while, I've had a crack that has run across the bottom of my windshield. Because it is out of my line of vision, I haven't really done much about it. But today I noticed a brand new crack right at eye level on the passenger side. So now I'm thinking that I might actually need to get this replaced sometime soon. It's great that I've had several days off of work, but now I'm not exactly looking forward to this new, unexpected $300 expense to replace my windshield. Sigh...