As we all know, we’ve had a week, as the saying goes.
For those outdoor snow bunnies, congratulations, you finally got the big snowfall you’ve been craving. I think most of you who crave such a snowfall would rather it happen during Christmastime; nonetheless, it’s here, and with freezing temps, it’s here to stay for a bit.
If you are a steady reader of my column, you know I have a hate affair with the snow, ice, and cold — if we could just go from summer to fall to spring, I’d be fine with that.
Snowstorms such as we had last weekend, and I’m glad we averted another possible sizeable storm this weekend, it’s crippling to our streets and avenues, school systems, and just about everything in between.
Working parents had to reshuffle all week with either school off or 2-hour delays, and that’s a pretty tough situation.
Grocery stores are stressed to the max, with everyone getting their milk, eggs, bread, and other last-minute staples to get by for a few days.
Overall, I think the local grocery stores handled the rush pretty well, and shelves were being stocked as fast as they were being emptied, so kudos to those working at all the grocery stores.
Thanks to all the road workers for plowing and clearing streets, parking lots, and sidewalks. It was a tough storm to get ahead of once it started. It’s a strategy you can never rely on or get down pat.
I cleared some of my driveway the night before it ended, and the next day, it didn’t look like I cleared anything at all.
What’s worse for me is the borough crew plows me back in, and instead of 10” of snow to clear, it’s usually doubled — and the plowed-in part is twice as heavy.
I had to employ the Snow Joe 11” battery-operated snow thrower at first to cut through the top snow, then I shoveled a bit, and finally, I had to pull out the big snow thrower.
My snow thrower hadn’t been used in a few years simply because I didn’t need it. My neighbor affirmed that when she said she moved next door four years ago, she didn’t remember such a large snowfall.
A few days before the approaching storm, I had to empty the machine’s gas tank with the older gas and replace it with fresh gas. The second thing was to address low tire pressure. As you can imagine, the pressure in the tires was low, and since it’s a self-propelled snow thrower, I need to get those pressures up.
Since I have an air compressor, I filled the right tire, but the left tire would not inflate, so I made an executive decision and decided to put the machine to work. There was enough pressure in the tire to navigate even though it drifted a little to the left. I’m not sure why the tire didn’t inflate, but my guess is that it wasn’t seated properly to the rim.
So the fun did not begin with me clearing my lot and helping a few of the neighbors.
The fun started when I was picking out what clothes, gloves, and boots I would wear. Since I have poor circulation in my hands and feet, I had to choose wisely.
Once dressed, I put on a fresh set of boots with a thick soul and tons of tread, good choice, right? Wrong.
As I was walking down my 14 steps to get to the garage, my beautiful rubber soul caught the carpet, and I began to lose my balance.
I found myself falling forward, and with 12 steps to go, I was doing all I could to catch myself — I failed miserably.
I couldn’t catch myself, and my forward motion was picking up speed, and I began to fall headfirst down my carpeted steps.
The entire fall seemed like I was going down in slow motion. I tried to grab the handrail, but I couldn’t catch it, so my forward motion accelerated.
My next instinct was to roll down by turning my shoulder. I’m not sure how I had enough time to think in a split second, but as I said, everything slowed down.
At the bottom of my steps are a landing and my front door, and I wasn’t sure how it was going to end, but I knew it wasn’t going to be good. Yes, I even thought that as I was falling.
Soon enough, my orientation was all over the place, and when I finally landed, I hit my head, but it wasn’t a huge blow.
There were a few things that saved me: me rolling and the Amazon boxes I had lined up on the steps that I was setting up to cut up for recycling.
Once I landed, I wasn’t sure of my position, but I was like a pretzel. I stopped, assessed my situation, realized nothing was broken, and the only thing hurt was my pride, a sore shoulder, and skinned knees.
I really lucked out. I could have broken my shoulder; I could have knocked myself out, or maybe even broken my neck.
I stood up, took a breath, brushed myself off, and headed out to conquer the snow.
The next day, I thought I’d be feeling my oats to the point where I couldn’t move, but all was good. I was lucky — this time.
Quote of the week
“It is not the fall that kills you; it is the sudden stop at the end.” —Douglas Adams
Thought of the week
“I fell so hard, gravity apologized.” —Unknown
Bumper sticker
“Luck saved me, but gratitude changed me.” —Unknown
