Stupid Californian questions

[Friday]

I haven't lived in a place where it snows since I was 6 years old. Not surprisingly, I didn't have a car back then.? So I'm wondering how it works having a car in New Hampshire. If you leave it outside in the winter, do the fluids freeze? Is it necessary to have an indoor parking space? If it snows during the night, do you need to shovel around the tires of your car before you can go anywhere? I really don't have a clue how this works.

Another thing I was wondering is that I get the impression a lot of NH apartment complexes have centrally controlled heat. Is that true?? So you have no control over when it comes on and off, or what temperature it's set to? I'm used to keeping my apartment 60-65 degrees in the winter, and 55 degrees at night, so I'm wondering if I'm going to wind up sweating like a pig my first winter in NH, as strange as that may sound.?

Thanks in advance for the help.?

[intergraph19]

Well I can answer a few of these questions.  No, you don't have to have covered parking and most of us do not.  We invest on snow removal devices such as snow shovels and car brushes or ice scrapers with a brush in it.  Sometimes we do indeed have to shovel out in front of the tires to get going but only if it snows a lot or happens to be very thick, heavy snow (like we are supposed to be getting tomorrow).  The only fluids in your car you need to worry about freezing are the coolant or radiator fluid and the windshield washer fluid.  Basically as long as you aren't using water for either of those, you should be fine.

As far as apartments go, that depends on each individual apartment building.  I have only lived in one building where the heat was centrally controlled and that was in another state.

[Russell Kanning]

It is best to have a garage to keep you car covered and a little warmer. But we are surviving without one. Cars are made to travel in cold weather, most people live in a place where it gets cold. They just don't like cold....just like they don't like heat.

[Kat Kanning]

Hi Friday!

I had my radiator replaced (it cracked this summer) when I first got here.  I was shocked when I looked inside and the mechanic had put in pure anti-freeze!  I had mostly water for my window washer fluid and it froze, which was a pain.  You need to change to washer fluid rated for cold, which is widely available.  You really need the washer when the streets are sloppy.  My car is outside and other than the washer fluid, I haven't had problems.

Don and Cathleen are renting a centrally heated apt. and they're always too hot.

Kat (Ex-Californian)

[Lloyd Danforth]

Although I have lived in New England for most of my life, I only recently got the idea to pull a cheap plastic tarp over my vehicle before it snows and just pull it and the snow off after it stops snowing.

[Dave Ridley]

I've barely even noticed it's winter and I came from Texas.   I keep thinking "why did I even worry about that?"  The coolest thing is knowing I won't have to face another TX summer.  Winters here are 100 times better than TX summers.  main issue is getting your car undercarriage washed and being ready to overnight at work or wherever you are if there's a blizzard (1 or 2 a year apparently, this year's was very fun!  I got stuck at work all weekend but snuck out to the car so I could watch the thing, it was magnificent to see!) 

My car is pretty snow challenged compared to most, a 2 door saturn...but it's never gotten stuck.

[Friday]

I've barely even noticed it's winter and I came from Texas.? ?I keep thinking "why did I even worry about that?"? The coolest thing is knowing I won't have to face another TX summer.? Winters here are 100 times better than TX summers.? main issue is getting your car undercarriage washed and being ready to overnight at work or wherever you are if there's a blizzard (1 or 2 a year apparently, this year's was very fun!? I got stuck at work all weekend but snuck out to the car so I could watch the thing, it was magnificent to see!)?

See, now it's good that you mentioned that, because it would NEVER have occurred to me that I might have to spend the night at work due to weather!? So how do people handle that? Keep a sleeping bag under their desk??? In California, we keep water under our desks, in case of major earthquakes.? Actually, that's what we're supposed to do, but I'm the only person I've ever met who actually does it.? I also keep a bottle of hard liquor in my desk; I figure when the Big One hits, I will need it.?

Yes, Texas summers are unbearably evil. I spent two weeks in Houston on business and the only day I could breathe was the day the hurricane hit.?

[Lloyd Danforth]

When I was a teenager, I hated winter. As I got older, I began to understand the value of anti-freeze, a good battery, layering of clothing, keeping a hat and gloves handy and, giving myself more time to get somewhere.
Winter has improved quite a bit!

[Friday]

How come, when I asked for a milkshake with a specific flavor of ice cream, the young man behind the counter grinned knowingly and said "You mean a FRAPPE?"  What exactly are you Hampsters trying to pull, making up new names for classic all-American junk food items?

[AlanM]

How come, when I asked for a milkshake with a specific flavor of ice cream, the young man behind the counter grinned knowingly and said "You mean a FRAPPE?"? What exactly are you Hampsters trying to pull, making up new names for classic all-American junk food items?

Us old timers in NH have a curious distinction between a milkshake and a frappe. A milkshake always used to be: milk and flavored syrup stirred up together. If you add ice cream to a milkshake it becomes a frappe. The rest of the world has it all wrong. 

[Russell Kanning]

or an ice-cream shake

[Kat Kanning]

It took me a while to figure out what a grinder was, too.

[AlanM]

Another oldie is "tonic", which is soda. If someone asks if you sell tonic, you know they grew up in NH. 

[BarryD]

Perfect thread for my question(s).

I look at realtor sites alot for NH homes. Why aren't there a lot of garages for the homes up there? That would be the first thing I build (well, one of the first). Wouldn't you not want to go through all that hassle in the morning of scraping ice and everything else with such a quick fix?

And another thing...(Mary Lou Retton -  a la Revco) I notice a fair amount of swimming pools for homes. Isn't that a little weird?

[Dreepa]

Barry I have noticed a lot of pools too.
In fact 3 of the main houses that we are looking at all have pools.

Yes Tonic!  What is this 'soda' crap..
Yes Frappes.

And Friday.. NH was calling them Frappes long before CA even thought of a milkshake!

Damn I can't wait to get back to NE.