I Can't Spin My Wheels Anymore

      ...in the land of the clear new snow where it's 99 below... 

    Yes, here in the land of ice and snow we still have to travel from place to place. We have to get to work, go shopping and take our kids to hockey. We  get where we want to go quickly, efficiently and safely. We have some different driving skills and have modified our vehicles. We have such things as winter tires that do a great job. 

      About 7:30 AM this morning an odd snow flake was floating down. By 8:00 AM it was snowing heavily. By 9:00 AM the wind had got up. The first snow melted on the pavement so the road was wet. Things cooled of and snow stayed on the road so we had a sloppy mess. 

     Now in the good old days you could step on the gas and the wheels would spin. You would sort of test to find the condition of the road. Was it icy? How icy was it? And then if you go farther back in my time some people (maybe me) would purposely spin the wheels and turn the steering wheel and put the car or pick up in a spin. You could make some very attractive tracks on the road and you could brag to your friends about the skid marks. We rarely went in the ditch. There was nobody else out there to run into. Fun times!

     So this morning when I left, I wanted to check the road condition. I pressed the accelerator sharply and nothing happened. The wheels were not going to spin. How come? Well I bought a new fancy dancy car a few weeks ago. It's like one big sensor. There are sensors for everything. One sensor turns my radio volume up and down. At high speeds, when the driving is noisy, the volume is automatically turned up. Slow down and the car is quieter and the volume mysteriously is turned down. 

      So this fancy car has sensors on the wheels that will not allow one wheel to spin. What a disappointment! I can't spin my wheels anymore. But wait a minute. Didn't I read in the 385 page manual that I could turn the wheel sensors off? I'll have to try it when I get the urge to spin my wheels.