Total Pageviews

Friday, January 5, 2018

The Writer's Life 1/5 - Ice & Snow

From Yahoo's Odd News come's a metaphor to love. Washington D.C. has a problem other than the human the rats in its political swamp. Rodent complaints were at a four-year high. Authorities have found a unique way of attacking the problem. Last month the Mayor oversaw a demonstration in which dry ice was stuffed into a rat hole. As the ice smoked, the emanating carbon dioxide suffocated the varmints. Residents are encouraged to purchase their own dry ice. The city is working on usage guidelines. Given the glacial pace of government, what's the chance of the guidelines coming out before people buy the ice?


There was great news in an article in today's NY Post. Since 1991, when deaths peaked, the cancer fatality rate dropped 26% in the period up to 2015.

A friend posted sensible info on Facebook yesterday. He suggested that anyone over 40 take aspirin before going out to shovel snow. This seems to jive with the use of the product by people who have had heart problems. Since I had only ibuprofen in the apartment and suspect it does not work in the same way as aspirin in this instance, I bought some Bayer at Rite Aid, which is open 24-7, on my morning walk. In reading the instructions I was shocked to find the suggested dosage is four tablets. When I opened the bottle at ten AM, I saw why. The tablets are tiny. I waited until noon to go out. It was cold, but the wind was blocked significantly on East 13th, so I was never uncomfortable in the hour-plus I worked on digging out the old Hyundai. My pace was slow and I paused several times, taking deep breaths. The best part is I didn't suffer a heart attack. The second best was that the engine started immediately. I let it run for about 20 minutes. I cleared the snow from the middle of the car to the front. Since the driveway ahead hasn't been cleared, I didn't bother creating an aisle before my front bumper. The rear and passenger side are blocked by a huge mounds the owners of the house put there. There was no place to put the snow I removed but onto the mound at the rear. Since the sun was out and vehicle traffic was close to normal, I spread a bit in the street, hoping it would be ground into water. I may not move the car until some time next week. Why dig it out, then? With temperatures forecast near zero, the snow may freeze, making removal infinitely harder. There won't be much melting until Monday, when a rain/snow mix is predicted. I hope a plow doesn't undo the work I did. I was perspiring when I returned to the apartment, but I felt fine. I laid down for a nap just after two, wondering if I would suffer a coronary in my sleep, a type of thing one considers after a certain age. At three-thirty I went out for a couple of slices. The wind was stiff on Avenue Z, blowing hard through my regular book nook. I'm surprised at how much snow is on the ground. The Cyclone Bomb must have hugged the coast.

I don't know if the mailman came yesterday. There was nothing in my box, which I checked at six, seven and eight. I don't have a problem with there being no delivery on such a day, despite the slogan "Neither snow nor..." To be productive, I worked on next year's novel, searching out and removing glaring errors, and inserting chapter breaks. I will not read it carefully until some time after I've gotten Present and Past out of the way. Hopefully the second proof will arrive today. I will be disappointed if it doesn't, but these are unusual circumstances.
Vic's Sixth novel: http://tinyurl.com/zpuhucj 
Vic's Short Works: http://tinyurl.com/jy55pzc
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)