The "You Just Never Know!" Story

The Sprint on the left and Aerostar on the right before the kids
and I shoveled them free of snow on Janet Ave.

It was an ordinary day.  Cold as all git out and hard on the hands and feet.  I just finished shoveling out the Ford Aerostar and Chevy Sprint which Carol and I use all the time.  We have lived on Janet Ave. for years and every year is the same when it snows.  Shovel the walks then the cars.  Kids usually help knowing that some year they will want help shoveling their car from it's parking spot along the street in front of the house.  We have a detached single-car garage behind the house which would hold one of the cars, but then you have to shovel a pathway from the garage to the street on the rear alleyway in order to get the car to the street.  Supposed to get really cold tonight and school may be called off yet another day.  Bring back memories from when you were a kid or parent in the northeast part of the United States?  Well, we didn't know at the time that the worse was yet to come.  Come morning we heard on the radio that schools would be one hour late in order to get the morning rush on the roads complete before the school buses had to take to the roads.  Since I teach at the same school where my children attend, I had to be to school at the regular time so I dressed, ate breakfast and headed out the door to the car.  Hoped in the Aerostar and started it without any trouble.  Knew I could escape the parking space, since I had moved the car back and forth a dozen or more times after I had shoveled it out yesterday.  So, put the car in "D" and gave the accelerator a slight push.  No go!  Eased off and tried again.  No go!  Now what, I thought to myself.  Can't be stuck since I dug it out yesterday.  Put it in "R" and tried it again.  No go!  So, I got out of the car to see what could be keeping the wheels from moving.  Wow!!  I should tell you at this point that Janet Ave., located in the Grandview Heights development of Manheim Township, is about five or six blocks long.  the street starts about three or four blocks to the west of our house, gradually rising and then sloping down towards our house and one final block to the east.  What I found was the right hand side wheels of the car encased in ice.  Walked up a block to the west and found that a water main had burst late last night and sent a torrential stream of water down our block and the final block of Janet Ave.  All the cars on our side of the avenue were entrenched in ice.  And the cold temperatures weren't going to relax their hold for quite a while.  I tried chipping the ice, but to no avail.  Already late at this point so I found a friend in the next block to the north to take me to school, but Carol would have to stay home today.  Later that day the temperatures rose enough for the ice to release its hold on the wheels and tires of the cars and we were able to get out of our spots.  Always think of that morning when I park the car in cold weather.  You just never know!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.