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Oohhh, I was doing so well. I was beginning to think I’d get through this winter without the doldrums, without the SAD. I was cheery and chipper despite the cold and the grey skies. I was even managing to get to yoga class, in town, first thing in the morning. Well, that’s aaaalllll changed. Winter has officially kicked my bum.
We’ve had such a cold winter—since December, it’s been above zero only a few times. This winter the temperatures have averaged around -10º. Cold with no humidity. I’m just cold. All. The. Time. But, I’ve managed to stay upbeat partially due to learning how to blog about the Winter Blues! It’s been a good diversion.
But things got worse last week. Even though my driveway turns into a slick skating rink, after the snow melts and refreezes numerous times, my shiny, blue, 4-wheel drive truck has always been able to negotiate the slick and get me out on to the road.
Not last Friday morning. It spun and shimmied and slid sideways as I tried to get to the main road. I live alone and, when these things happen, I usually have to take care of them myself. In the wintertime, that gets me down.
Ack! My driveway!
Luckily, I had the blue Ice Melt and some pea gravel and, after 45 minutes, I was on my way. I went about my day, the weather was fine and all was well. I even had a massage in the evening. It was -13º but all was well.
When I arrived home that evening, it was so dark and, knowing the state of my driveway in that kind of cold, I chose to park on the side of our street. I put the Icers on and walked down the driveway to the house. I got to my front door without falling down and deemed the effort a complete success. Winter had still not gotten the best of me.
HA! The next morning, my driveway was even worse than the day before. As the temps had risen during the day, some of the ice melted and when the temps went down again, the pools of water refroze making the rink even more of a rink than the morning before. ARGH.
When I made my way up to the truck, I discovered I had received a parking ticket! Halifax municipality now has a winter parking ban in the city between 1:am and 7:am. I live in the boonies but tax-wise, we’re part of the city. But, we don’t need a parking ban out here. We don’t have teeny little streets with lots of cars! This is what my street looked like the day I got the ticket:
And, I parked off to the side in the snow! There was no snow falling that night, no snow plows trying to plow. Some Mountie with a quota and nothing to do at 4:21am gave me a ticket. Ooo-ooo, the Winter Bum Scoobies were beginning to foment.
I didn’t notice it at first but my truck had also been vandalised! I’d been afraid of that—I’m known in the community for working against ATVs on our walking trails and ATVers here are known to retaliate. Hello! Now I had at least a can of that string-in-a-can stuff all over the truck which had frozen and dried out and which left hard, crumbly, grey, chalk-like stuff everywhere. It turned into a powder when I tried to remove it. That powder, in turn, made it’s way into the windshield wiper mechanisms. This could cost money. Not happy. Bum scoobies gathering momentum…
As I was driving into town, my tire warning lights came on. *Really deep sigh* Had the vandals let the air out of my tires, too?? Bum scoobies now really gaining speed… I took the truck into the shop.
They checked the tires, put air in them and then tried to reset the warning light. It wasn’t happening. I had to make an appointment to come back into town so they could put the truck on a hoist.
By then, I was fairly livid. It was freezing cold, the driveway was dangerous, I couldn’t park on the street, the truck was broken, and when I got home, Gracie, the Turdsicle dog, had gotten into the garbage. Unfortunately, I had had salmon for dinner the night before. Little Miss Turdsicle Pup had eaten all the skin, and fat and had spread fish stink all over the house. Now, I know Gracie getting into the garbage has nothing to do with winter but if it had been summer, at least I could have opened all the windows! Winter makes everything harder. *whine*
Yesterday and last night we had another wicked storm. From the news, I knew the roads were all bad. There had been snow, then freezing rain, then rain, and then it all refroze when the temperatures went way down. No yoga class for me–I had no hope of getting out of my driveway this morning. I stayed home all day… a Prisoner of Winter. *snif* I’m whooped. Today, the Winter Blues/Bum Scoobies win. Winter has finally kicked my butt. We’re due for another storm in a couple of days and maybe I’ll just stay in bed for the entire weekend!
Hockey Players at the Ice Palace in Honolulu
Today I learned there is ice skating in Hawaii! I’ll be damned. I wonder how long the Ice Palace has been there. There is even an annual hockey tournament! There was no place to ice skate in Hawaii when I was growing up. Ice skating never crossed my mind in Honolulu in the 1950′s. It’s like finding Mexican food in Nova Scotia—it’s all just a matter of time. We are all becoming *one* in this world of globalization and we are eating (and playing) better for it. Now, if we could all just learn to play nice *together.*
I’m not sure why it’s such a huge deal when I fall in the driveway during the Winter. It’s a failure of some kind. All my life I’ve been capable and strong. I’ve been able to beat serious illness, a rotten upbringing (almost beat), and the lack of family. I’ve excelled at sports and pretty well learned anything I set my mind to. However, when the driveway is covered with ice and I fall while doing something incredibly easy, like fetching something from the car, it feels like I’m an incompetent boob. Or, a lazy, incompetent boob because it’s more than likely I didn’t put on the hardcore black-rubber-with-steel-cleats-mailman-ice-grippers that work like magic when I DO wear them.
Hmm-mmm-mm… Maybe these are my new metaphor for getting my act together…Take care of myself? Stomp on whatever tries to defeat me?? Wear black?!?? 
Find Icers here.
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