johnguinness's Diaryland Diary
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Ice Age or Snowmageddon?
The freezing rain is still coming down. According to the CNN reporter outdoors in Saint Louis, it's actually coming down sideways, and we really could get a couple of feet of snow after a full day of sleet and freezing rain.
I have a check from my sister to deposit, but it wasn't good until today, so I had to wait until the bank closed yesterday and put it in the night deposit. At least, that was the plan. In real life I was fine walking on the level sidewalk along my building. Apparently there had been ice melt or something spread there last time. But when I got to the corner, where the sidewalk slants down to the alley, there was a slick layer of ice there, and on top of the thin layer of snow left on the rock parking lot. The best case for me would have had me staying upright as I slid down two blocks of sidewalk, across two roads, then caught air in a fat man's version of ski jumping, sticking a perfect Telemark landing in the big drainage ditch at the end. I turned around.
Plan B has a baggy containing my bank deposit, my rent check and ninety cents in coins being put out for the mailman.
This horrible sketch is to give you a vague idea of my situation if the two feet of snow hits, then drifts with the strong winds.
On the left, picture a two story building. In front of you is a ten step stairway, with the East-West street level at the top. So my sidewalk is roughly ten feet below street level in that direction. The sidewalk and stairs are maybe three feet wide.
The odd looking thing on the right is a retaining wall. The North-South road starts out at the height of the E_W one, but goes steep downhill parallel to my building. The top part of the retaining wall is more or less even with the street, maybe six feet above the sidewalk. The circle is an open culvert well to the North of my door.
The point I'm trying to make, badly, is that the sidewalk outside of my door is closed in on three sides by the building, the steep stairs, and the retaining wall. If you filled in that narrow space with snow, to street level, my front door would be completely buried. If you start with two feet of snow on the sidewalk, then have snow blowing at 45 MPH over the retaining wall, and have snow two feet deep on each of the steps, I'm not going anywhere until Spring.
The plastic or rubber seal at the bottom of the metal door has been broken for years, so if the snow would melt at the bottom, it would probably come in. I'm pretty excited.
I watched a movie about Steve Prefontaine, the former American middle distance runner, on Netflix. It wasn't a great film, but I used to be a runner (training for tennis at first, then just doing it as part of my day), and I love watching running scenes. It makes me feel good to see someone out training in the woods, or up hills, or across a park, like I used to.
Those phone calls on my caller ID really were from an elderly woman who visits the Alberto Contador Fan Club. I know that, because I got a letter from her yesterday. With a unique name, I'm pretty easy to stalk. Anyway, she's really upset about Alberto's situation, I mean really torn up about it, and she wants someone to share info with and talk to. I don't know how old she is, but WhitePages.com showed her as 65+.
I empathize with her, but felt the need to explain that I am distancing myself from most of the sport, and don't even "follow" on Twitter people who were friends in the past, because I need to control my own mental state. Some times when I got upset about something, they would throw fuel on the flames and hours later I was too worked up to sleep, thinking of ways to do battle. I don't need that, so I told her to just follow me on twitter for now to keep up with article links.
I'm in for two meals already today - a can of chili and two big pancakes.
I've got on CNN online, catching up with the protests in Egypt and tracking the 2000 mile(!) storm.
Stay safe.
7:17 a.m. - Tuesday, Feb. 01, 2011
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