LOATHESOME WEATHER
Okay, I'm not a big fan of winter at the best of times - and this sort of thing certainly doesn't help:
Sean and I were heading out of the village to do some errands around 4:00. The mid-day snow had turned to sleet and as I was rounding a bend about half a mile from home, the car started to skid. Now, I'd been taught in driver's ed eons ago that if you're in a skid situation, you should turn the wheel in the direction of the skid and avoid slamming on the brakes. So I turned the wheel in the direction of the skid and tapped the brake lightly and released. Unfortunately, the direction of the skid was also the direction of a steep limestone embankment, which we skidded into at about 35mph - which was enough to raise the front of the car and roll us over.
Very fortunately, there don't seem to be any serious injuries. Sean escaped pretty unscathed and I had a gash on the top of my head and a few abrasions from flying glass. Even more fortunately, the village (which has a population of less than 100) has two EMTs associated with the local volunteer fire department and one of them was on hand within about two minutes of our 911 call - and the other seconds later. The emergency vehicles were there within about fifteen minutes, despite the fact that the nearest station is five miles away over icy country roads.
An ambulance arrived shortly thereafter and brought me to the nearest hospital (about thirteen miles away) where I was the not-so-happy recipient of several x-rays, a CT scan, some "wound irrigation" (like I want the wound to grow?), and a dozen staples through my scalp. Some serious chest soreness is setting in from where the seat-belt kept me from flying around the interior of the car (or worse) and I'm sure we'll both have our share of aches and pains emerging by morning, but otherwise we were pretty lucky.
I'm guessing that the car is totaled (heh, I'm not even sure where it was towed yet) and I lost my glasses somewhere during the course of the accident, but that's all relatively unimportant.
Nevertheless, this winter has been extremely irritating: ice storms, 80mph winds, heating oil running out, frozen pipes, dead truck batteries, pine trees and roadsigns blowing over, and now - yay! - a demolished car. it's about time this season came to an end.
I blame the freakin' groundhog.
Sean and I were heading out of the village to do some errands around 4:00. The mid-day snow had turned to sleet and as I was rounding a bend about half a mile from home, the car started to skid. Now, I'd been taught in driver's ed eons ago that if you're in a skid situation, you should turn the wheel in the direction of the skid and avoid slamming on the brakes. So I turned the wheel in the direction of the skid and tapped the brake lightly and released. Unfortunately, the direction of the skid was also the direction of a steep limestone embankment, which we skidded into at about 35mph - which was enough to raise the front of the car and roll us over.
Very fortunately, there don't seem to be any serious injuries. Sean escaped pretty unscathed and I had a gash on the top of my head and a few abrasions from flying glass. Even more fortunately, the village (which has a population of less than 100) has two EMTs associated with the local volunteer fire department and one of them was on hand within about two minutes of our 911 call - and the other seconds later. The emergency vehicles were there within about fifteen minutes, despite the fact that the nearest station is five miles away over icy country roads.
An ambulance arrived shortly thereafter and brought me to the nearest hospital (about thirteen miles away) where I was the not-so-happy recipient of several x-rays, a CT scan, some "wound irrigation" (like I want the wound to grow?), and a dozen staples through my scalp. Some serious chest soreness is setting in from where the seat-belt kept me from flying around the interior of the car (or worse) and I'm sure we'll both have our share of aches and pains emerging by morning, but otherwise we were pretty lucky.
I'm guessing that the car is totaled (heh, I'm not even sure where it was towed yet) and I lost my glasses somewhere during the course of the accident, but that's all relatively unimportant.
Nevertheless, this winter has been extremely irritating: ice storms, 80mph winds, heating oil running out, frozen pipes, dead truck batteries, pine trees and roadsigns blowing over, and now - yay! - a demolished car. it's about time this season came to an end.
I blame the freakin' groundhog.