Tell me something good
Because I have a whole heckuva lot o’ nothin’ today. This was the first morning in about two weeks I felt confident enough about the conditions underfoot that I ventured out to walk at 0-skunk-30 without my YakTrax. It was all fine (that means I didn’t fall or even slip) but there was a little light snow coming down and apparently that caused a whole bunch of spinouts and other loverly little incidents on the freeways that ring The Planet Ann Arbor. The roads were getting messy enough when I got out to Maple that I opted to slodge along on the surface streets. Distance-wise, it’s a wash, just takes a while longer. Fortunately the long-suffering, cat-herding person doesn’t much care what time I get to work unless he has me in his sights for something in particular. (Hmmm, is it “sights” or “sites” in that usage?) I suspected that wouldn’t be the case today and it wasn’t. I got there hours before he did. I dunno. As a person who is woefully horrible at job interviews and tends to fall absolutely backwards off cliffs into jobs, I always seem to end up with the best bosses. And no, he doesn’t read this. I don’t think. I think it would be waaaaayyy too boring for him.
It is January. It is getting to be late January. The sun is heading “up north” again and the days are getting longer. I am always conflicted about this. I love the winter solstice. I mean, I have lucky-shucky and central heat and running water and a water heater. The winter solstice would be a lot harder if I had to cut down trees and chop them up into firewood and manage a fire all day and throughout the night and worry about large, dangerous aminals coming into my cave or log cabin or whatever. If I had to do that, I wouldn’t be able to commute over to my work every day. Oh, roight. If I had to do all of that to stay alive, I probably wouldn’t have an automotive vee-hickle or a computer or two or five. (Yes, five is exactly how many PERSONAL computers yer favo-rite blahgger owns. Right now, right here in the overwhelming land of wretched excess.) My eight mile commute would take a whole day (or two or three, depending on the terrain) instead of 15-30 minutes depending on weather and traffic. It would be a dangerous commute but, since horses (for example) don’t go 80 miles per hour (I don’t think), there wouldn’t be quite the number of crashes. The Planet Ann Arbor stopped counting at 42 this morning… At this time of year, I would be watching the sun every day I could see it, I think. I would be looking for more light. Would I celebrate yesterday’s brilliant sunshine? Or would I be struggling to keep my children warm in the bitterly cold temperatures. Maybe I would welcome today’s somewhat warmer temperatures even though they came with a bit of snow?
The yield sign is still down in case anyone is dying to know. Probably a whole bunch of other signs too, after today.
Tell me something good. If you can…
January 24th, 2011 at 9:12 pm
Our yield signs aren’t down (so far) but the neighbors are plowing each others side walks off, some times twice and there just isn’t enough snow for even one snow blowing pass… ? Maybe some kind of neighborhood neighborly competition?
Fun stuff can happen in the best and worst places. Our side walks are clean and I really can’t say why, but rather, obviously how. Going to keep track, too, of the differing tracks out in the back yard snow. Possums, rabbits, some squirrels, and other small footed creachers own our yard at night. Nice to know we’re not alone.
January 24th, 2011 at 9:19 pm
Mountain lions have been sighted in Saint Louis County, about 20 miles from our house. I gave them your home address; I hope that you don’t mind.
January 24th, 2011 at 10:37 pm
It’s warmish here and rainy, no snow–is that good? For me it is! We have three computers in this house(when my school district laptop is here) and my husband won’t use tech, so that tells you something about me. I always like a back up or two. 😉 Sights is right, not sites.
January 25th, 2011 at 1:10 am
Don’t get me started on commutes. Today was the commute from hell. Both to and from work. One freaking hour each way. I guess I should be glad it wasn’t via horse, although I think a horse would have been faster. But wetter. (Poor horse).
January 25th, 2011 at 7:36 am
John, skunks are probably among those other small footed creatures in your yard 😉 I can’t figure out why people are blowing their sidewalks either. Not enough snow and the flat surface just gets icy later. I put salt down after the *last* significant snowfall (2 weeks ago) and the snow we got yesterday mostly melted when it hit.