Tuesday,
February 25, 2003
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cabin fever I'm glad to be able to stay home. But I don't relish having to do it. When I get up at 7:30, I put on sweats. Maybe this afternoon it will be safe to go to the club. It is frozen outside. There isn't much traffic. I can smell fires in some neighborhood fireplaces. FFP has gotten in the two papers that did show up. No Wall Street Journal. I do a few things on the computer including working on the journal. I have cereal and milk and a banana for breakfast. (Need to eat the bananas, they are getting ripe.) I make a big bowl of tuna salad because I have some boiled eggs, a couple of apples that need eating and tuna. I call Dad, FFP's parents, SuRu and make sure everyone is warm and safe. The bookkeeper and the maid call. They won't make it today. The maid couldn't get home all the way last night and had to get a ride with someone with a 4-wheel drive to get up a treacherous hill near her house. She's further west. I watch the ice on TV. Things are moving here and there but there are ice perils everywhere. A lot of people are staying home, averting chaos. Oh, yes, we sand. A sanding truck flipped over. How funny is that? Apparently they toss gravel about, too. And close roads. I print packing lists for my upcoming trip. And glance through guidebooks. And think warm thoughts. And read The New York Times Science Times articles about DNA. It's the 50th anniversary of Crick and Watson's announcement Saturday. This is stuff I don't really understand but it's interesting.
I fill my day reading and watching TV. I have a big salad with all kinds of vegies and sprouts and Eastside Cafe Feta dressing (a local wonder I remembered to buy the other day).
Well, it won't melt! The dog notices this. She slips on the ice, it doesn't melt when she squats, it is hiding her favorite odors. The neighborhood kids are in their yards and, once, in our driveway trying to slide. They have cabin fever today but they have that giggly attitude of kids with an unexpected reprieve from school. I remember that. Once, when we still lived on the farm, we had a huge storm. I think we couldn't even get into town. My sister and I tried to make a fort by freezing square tubs full of snow. We had no proper gloves, though, and we were little and skinny and the cold and wet was excruciating. The good news here is that it doesn't last long. The bad news is that we are unprepared and that ice without snow is the most perilous roadway. I've driven in Illinois and Wisconsin and the high dessert of California in pretty impressive snowstorms. I hear they closed IH35 up toward Waco. The truckers have just pulled off to wait it out.
So...soon enough it's time to eat again. I have some tuna salad, some chip and dip, some wine, some cheese and salsa and chips. Just grazing. FFP has some canned soup and this and that. Joins me in the wine (which was a leftover vacu-vinned bottle). FFP sorts through the wine collection. He has worked today. He and his Mac artist work from home. He has worn a tie and sat at his desk e-mailing ads back and forth for changes and approvals. I have accomplished far less. I should have started packing, but I haven't. I couldn't go work out. I did pick up after myself, clean up a bit here and there.
We watch some TV. I read papers while paying a small amount of attention to The Simpsons, NYPD Blue and a tape of CSI:Miami. I should watch less TV. I should accomplish more. However, I'm pleased we just stayed inside. We had no pressing need to get out and why risk it? It will be thawed tomorrow.
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this ice interferes with all the good smells
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170
JUST
TYPING