Thursday, January 29, 2009

Ice Blue


This morning began like any other school morning in winter. Up early to check the no school reports. The Young One had a two hour delay because of the ice. I went back to bed.


Now a two hour delay today seemed rather silly. The Young One began mid-terms today which means they go on a short day scheduled. Be to school by 9:30 and out of school by 11:30. How were they going to manage home room and the two exams? Not my monkey.


I went out early to warm up the car and to scrape the windows. The driver's door was frozen shut. I uttered some phrases like @!$@!# and $%&%$^ and ^%&%^. Finally, after a few good yanks, the door opened. I got the car started and went inside to finish my tea and to give the defrosters time to heat up. So far, so good.


I went back out to scrape the windows. I noticed ice built up around the left front tire. Gave the tire a kick to break a bit of the ice. Got in the car to move it and rrrrrrrrrrrr. Back tires spinning and going nowhere fast. I tried reverse. I tried drive again. The car wouldn't budge. I started speaking in tongues again while I got the sand bucket and spread sand under all four tires. No go.


By now, I was running out of colorful phrases and the Young One was close to being late for the first exam. So I called her in or tried to. The line was busy busy busy. Other people must have been having problems too. Misery sure loves company. I dialed *66 for callback and waited. When I got through, the secretary told me because of the delay, the kids would be getting out at the regular time (1:50pm) and the second exam would begin at noon if I could get her there. Fine.


I thawed out. Had another cup of tea. While waiting and sipping tea, I emailed a whine to Himself. We talked about things to try. I waited an hour. The temp had gone up a degree to 24. I tried more sand. Nope. I tried a kettle of boiling water. Nope. I tried ice melt and another kettle of boiling water. Eureka! The car moved and I moved it to the end of the driveway. Got the Young One and off to school we went. I went with her to the office to make the official excuse.


I walked out with another mom who was there dropping off some cash so her child could buy lunch. See, they were supposed to be home for lunch. I asked her if there had been a memo about the kids getting out at the regular time. Nope. The school has a contingency plan for a snow day, but I don't recall hearing anything if school was delayed. The other mom and I agreed school should have been cancelled today.


On the way home, I noticed how the ice glittered on the trees. Gorgeous glittering diamonds. The sky was a beautiful shade of blue. Though a frustrating morning, it could have been worse. We didn't lose electricity this time around. The sump pump didn't go out and the basement didn't flood. I guess that's why today is called the present. Each day is always a surprise.

4 comments:

  1. I'm glad you got home safe what with all that ice, and that the house is good.

    FYI, one of the tips they suggest here for ice is keeping a bag of kitty litter in the trunk. Works a treat.

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  2. Kitty litter but not the clumping kind. No one should use that stuff, for anything, ever. The dust can kill young kittens when it gets in their lungs. And in your driveway, when the ice melts and mixes with it, you will be dealing with an ugly clump of sticky clay. I guess it would be the same thing in the kitty lungs but we never see those parts, normally.

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  3. your photo is beautiful, and hopefully the sum will melt alot of the snow today.

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