On Wintering in the Northeast without a Garage

Tools needed:

Ice scraper/snow brush and shovel, for obvious reasons.

Broom and dustpan -- the broom for swishing away large amounts of snow from your car (over 3 inches) and the dustbin as a makeshift shovel to remove even larger amounts of snow from your car (over 6 inches).

An even temperament, for when you have a baby or young child who is sick, and your husband is away on business, but you still have to get dressed, get your child dressed, and go outside to clear and move your cars before 10 when the snowplow comes through your parking lot. If you don't move the cars by 10, they will be towed. However, you couldn't possibly leave them on the street overnight, because the city has a "Snow Emergency" during which all cars parked on the street are towed while city plows try to clear the streets. There is no lovely lingering over hot chocolate and chicken soup -- after EACH AND EVERY STORM, you must get out and move your car, whether it be on the street or in the parking lot.

A hot bath, for after you have cleared your cars, and both you and your daughter are soaked to the bone and freezing.

A large doormat, for scraping not only ice and snow off your feet, but also the copious amounts of sand that follow you into your apartment. Apparently, sand is the ice-melt of choice here, and it builds up over the winter months so that you would think we lived near the beach. It gets ground into the bottom of your shoes, into the floor of the car, and every fiber of the carpet in the apartment. It scrapes the finish off the kitchen and bathroom floors. Somehow, by about April, food even tastes a little gritty.

A reliable alarm clock, for waking up 20 minutes earlier than you normally would to make it to work, church or anything else that requires your leaving the house. You see, even when it doesn't snow, it is so cold that the icy frosty buildup on your windshield and windows takes a good deal of time to remove.