We start our day in gray tones….
A few Greenies warm us up.
Woo-hoo! Now we’re ready to rumble!
=(^+^)=
Officially, two and a quarter inches/ 5,7cm of snow fell while I was in dialysis. From light flurries when I drove to the hospital to enough to bog my VW Golf SportWagen down if not careful, I also paid too little attention to the predicted weather and was out in a light jacket in heavy coat weather! Saturday’s snowstorm dropped more inches of fluffy stuff than the official record if my experience driving in it beats that official record.
Snow frog is gone. Remember how it helped show how deep snow got after a storm?
I miss snow frog!
Kristen, the hospital nutritionist and an old friend from my Mississippi Avenue days, offered to drive my car from the parking spot to the pick-up spot, just a few feet in good road time, but an ordeal for a walker user in deep snow. Either that, she said, or she’d shovel the path to my parked car! That would have been heroic! I settled for the pick-up spot when I looked outside and saw just how much snow dumped from the clouds in about five hours.
Taken at 6:30 Monday morning. Without a runner’s light strapped on my head, this area is lit only by that streetlight on the next lane over and a house light on the first unit to the left of my car. Frankly, without the light strapped on my head, I am very vulnerable to falls. Saturday morning, that streetlight was NOT lit when I left the apartment a bit after 4:00 AM!
Kristen backed the car over to the pick-up spot, getting my car stuck just before centering it on the cleared sidewalk from the hospital door to the pick-up spot. She cleared snow around all four wheels and under the car where the wheels would go, then tried to move it into position for me. With a spin of the front drive wheels till they hit a spot with good traction, she accomplished what would have been hell for me to do.
My car in position, it’ wa my turn to brave drifts and partially cleared main streets till I hit 6th Street and my lane, Lane 2. I headed out of the hospital parking lot, going in reverse of the traffic direction normally taken since Kristen backed my car into position. The correct direction lead to unplowed parts of the parking lot, so I headed the wrong way, where a plowed path looked best for me to try. Of course, driving on the wrong side, I had a plow coming toward me just before I came to the parking lot stop sign at the main street, Box Butte Avenue.
Fearful of getting stuck – a nightmare for a person with a disability and who gets around with a walker! – I threw caution to the wind and bolted through the stop sign. My rationale: get caught and fined versus getting stopped by the police and stuck, a fine is preferable since the policeman would be there to get me unstuck. LOL!
You can see the unhelpful light on the left in this photo. See any other cause for concern? Yes, the unused side of the parking spot has been cleared, but the mess around my car Monday morning was a slip-and-fall hazard I need to be alert to if it’s like this when I leave for dialysis this morning. (The person who mows the lawn tipped the handicapped parking spot sign, not me! I’ve left it that way in the hope he will feel guilty and straighten it up.).
Yes, I break the law at all stop signs or risk getting stuck in deep snow. The snow on 6th Street was partially cleared – one lane! – making it scary if I had any traffic coming toward me. Fortunately, no one was on the street with me and Lane 2 is just a short drive from the corner. No vehicles drove down the lane making a cleared path before I tried my luck. I made it to my parking spot, I backed in, then almost slipped out of the car trying to get out, said lots of bad words, tried again and succeeded.
Maneuvering through deep snow with a walker is hard. If you aren’t careful, you can bog down and tumble forward! No kidding! The alternative is to push through the snow as best you can till you sense you might bog down then lift the walker and set it down as far forward as you think you can move yourself safely.
It took me a long time – almost 10 minutes – to get from my car through the deep snow that hadn’t yet been cleared from the parking spot, lane, or my walk, to my door.
I sure was glad I stupidly wore a light jacket that morning! And Andy love, love, loved all the snow I carried into the apartment with me on my feet and the walker because he likes to lick snow.