Winter Woes: Snap!

This winter has seemed long and cold enough to try the souls of even the most ice-embracing among us, so we asked readers to share their low points of this season -- and boy, did they. Here are some stories to warm your sense of schadenfreude, if not your toes.

Sharon L. Casey, St. Paul: "In January, the lock on the driver's side door of my car went on the fritz, so I couldn't get the door to open from the inside or the outside. Didn't have time to take it to the shop, so for a little over a week, entering my wonder vehicle went something like this:

"Open passenger-side door. Park dupa [Polish for "butt"] on outer edge of bucket seat. Lift size 10 clodhoppers up over driver's seat and wedge them under the steering wheel, while simultaneously levitating parka-clad bod up and over shift lever. Drive to wherever while sitting on melting snow blob that fell off of boots and trying to twist free of parka, which has now torqued around midsection like a straitjacket. To exit, reverse process. Such joy!"

Heidi Busse, Bloomington: "Slogging home in the minus-20 degree temps after a failed root canal that left the entire right side of my mouth swollen and bruised. Crying because of the pain (which didn't help the already chemically burned-sinus situation) and getting out of the car to freezing tears just about sent me over the edge."

Stephanie Yant, Andover: "We horse owners have our own unique winter struggles, but this freezing winter has been as miserable as they come. When there is snow on the ground, I use a heavy-duty utility sled to haul horse droppings into the woods for disposal. I was unlucky enough the other day to take an awkward step on the icy snow leading down the incline into the woods. My calves were hit hard from behind with the overloaded sled, knocking me flat in a blink of an eye. What was worse was the sled sliding halfway up my back and tipping over!

"I ended up with frozen poo and urine-soaked hay spilling into my jacket at every available opening, including my neck and hair. The bruises are big, but my ego is crushed. Geez, I hope no one saw me!"

Megan Johnson, Los Angeles: "My story is actually from last winter when I graduated from college in December. The ceremony was to take place in the evening, and of course that afternoon we got hit by a blizzard. I had to work that day and left early in an attempt to give myself plenty of time. No dice. Not only did I get stuck in traffic for two hours when I lived only a few miles away, I ended up missing my own graduation dinner.

Jana Freiband, Minneapolis: "Night driving in a Minnesota February becomes a game of hidden pothole surprise. You can't see them, but you know they are there.

"Driving down King's Highway on such a night I took the pothole plunge of all time. Drug down deep inside the hole and crashed to the top, by some miracle my tires seemed to survive. The next day I discovered a bent tire frame and a missing hubcap. Returning to the pothole scene, I discovered not only my hubcap on the side of the road but five others. All the hubcaps were lined up neatly in a row, waiting for pothole travelers to return.

"As I tried to attach my hubcap again to my wheel, it rolled out of control directly onto my white pants (an attempt to lure spring into being). Hubcap unattached, pants ruined, I drove off with plans to go on a vacation."

Mary Beth Chirico, Richfield: "Hmm, my brrrrreaking point would have had to have been the night that I jumped out of the hot tub, danced and hopped my way through the snow in my bare feet, bounded onto the deck and without thinking grabbed the metal handle to the sliding door with my still wet hand!"

Kate Fullmer, Apple Valley: "I live in Apple Valley and work in Eden Prairie, so I spend my commute maneuvering through the abyss that is 494. One Tuesday in December it snowed all day long, and I decided to leave work at 3 p.m. Well, it took me four hours to drive the 23 miles from my job to my house. The irony is that I'm a runner and have completed many triathlons and marathons -- 23 miles in four hours is about my marathon pace. I could've run home."

"Moments later, we discovered the kitchen window was stuck open, so here I am -- bronchitis, pulled muscle, now having to get the ladder out of the garden shed and fix the window.

"Uff da. I'm ready for spring!"

Rod Broding, Battle Lake, Minn.: "Even with a temperature at minus-20 degrees and a wind chill near minus-60, I was determined to go ice fishing. So, I gathered my bait, my warmest clothes, started a reluctant ATV and headed one half-mile across the lake to 'Fishhouse Village.' So incredibly raw was the wind and cold, I had to look down to tolerate the pain. My ears burned, my fingers tingled, my eyes froze, my forehead stung, but I arrived at my destination eager to wet a line. Not another soul in sight. Reaching into my pocket hurriedly for the key to the icehouse ... the key? THE KEY??? Hanging on the hook by the back door."

Erin Sayer, Minneapolis: "Mine was Feb. 18, after two glorious days above 30 when I read the paper and it said we were going to have another below-zero week. I started crying, and couldn't stop all day. I cried at school, and I cried to my boyfriend, and wrote a sad cold-induced blog. I thought about going tanning, but decided to take vitamin D instead.

"Now the longest month of the year is here -- March, when we see one 70 degree day, and 30 days of bone-chilling dampness."