Slip-Sliding Away

Boulder is hoping to get up to freezing (32 degrees F) on Monday - we're having lows in the single digits, with wind chills well below 0.  Lots of snow still on the ground, and yesterday I kept getting angry with drivers while I stood at the bus stop.  It was a silly, useless anger and I talked myself out of it, but here's what happened.  The bus stop is on the side of the road, next to a ditch; it's set about 7 feet back from the edge of the 4-foot-wide bike path, which, in turn, is directly next to the road lane for vehicles.  Due to sunshine, travel, salt, dirt, and chemicals laid down on the road, there was both muddy water and slush in the vehicle lanes.  I was standing a good 11 to 12 feet back from the vehicle lanes - as far back as I could without falling down into the ditch - and I kept getting splash-back from the vehicles passing by splattered all over me.  Muddy water, slushy snow, pieces of ice and snow were thrown up and out and coated me from head to foot.  A few vehicles pulled slightly away from me, and their tires then missed the puddled ruts in the road, which meant no splash.  I was very grateful to the drivers who did so; at the same time, it seemed that some drivers delighted in pulling closer to me and making me that much muddier....   I think karma will get revenge on those folks.
   After doing all my running around yesterday, I stopped at the grocery store on the way home.  Emilio was just finishing topping some strawberry-swirl cheesecakes with huge piles of fresh strawberries; he convinced me to buy one since they were on sale for $5...  I picked up some food and crunchies for the kits, nuts for the squirrels, and more Parmesan cheese for me, plus a box of cereal.  I decided to walk back along the alley, as I knew the sidewalk behind Jo-Ann's was totally iced over, and I didn't want to have to walk up the 30 steps at Folsom Street with two bags of groceries - one in each hand.  I was about half-way down the alley when both of my feet slipped out from under me.  I slid on my butt for about 15 to 20 feet, before I slid into a wall with my left shoulder.  I was quite happy that I hadn't dropped either grocery bag, and had them firmly in my grasp.  I decided to sit and collect myself, and catch my breath, for a minute before getting up.  Then I realized that a car with two college girls had seen my debacle; they jumped out of their car, after putting on the emergency flashers, and ran over to see if they could help me.  They wanted to help me up to my feet, but I thanked them for their kindness, and told them I was afraid that I'd just pull both of them down on top of me, if they tried that.  They stood beside me, saw me up and on my feet, made sure nothing was broken and left.  I walked in teeeny, tiny baby steps the rest of the way home.  I had the pie sitting on top of the box of cereal in the bag, when I fell.  Getting home, I had to laugh because all of the crust edges had broken off the pie and were scattered artfully across and around the heaping pile of strawberries, while the berries looked as if they hadn't shifted a bit....   This morning, I'm stiff and achy, and I found that I had broken off several fingernails at the quick, but otherwise, I'm fine.
   My kits will be extremely happy when this snowy spell is over.  Nedi loves to run and chase things and act the fool for several hours each day.  Since it's so cold outside and snow is blanketing everything, he's turning his playing attention to Lovey, who is not happy about it.  Last night I gave them both new, freshly made catnip toys and that kept both of them occupied for several hours - but Nedi wants to run and leap, and there just isn't that much room in the apartment for his gymnastic escapades.  At least they'll be able to play outside for a few hours on Monday!
    Enjoy your weekend, my friends!