It's been almost a week since I posted to this blog. In my last entry, written in a hydrocodone haze, I described the injury to my toe caused by a slip on the ice. Since then, the injury has begun to heal, although I am still walking with a limp.
The ice began to melt on Thursday. All day long, outside my window, I could hear the massive icycles crashing to the ground from the rooftop two floors above. You wouldn’t have wanted to be walking below at the wrong moment, no indeed you wouldn't.
A reader of this blog in New Mexico wrote to describe his own recent toe injury due to ice. He was sweeping ice from his sidewalk when he got the idea to kick a large chunk out of the way. It turned out to be a more substantial chunk than he bargained for. Weeks later, he’s still in pain.
Ice is great in a glass of rum, but--well, there can be too much of a good thing. All things in moderation, I say.
But I also have to say that, except for my injury, I enjoyed the ice storm. I like cold, miserable, gloomy weather. So does Diane. Also, we both tend to be reclusive, therefore are not as susceptible to cabin fever as most people. Why, I think we could have endured another two days of ice, maybe four—hell, maybe a week. But then, we are not sane.
Everyone else we know—sane people, that is—quickly developed cabin fever. And I understand their point of view. My daughter, for instance, had to contend with a restless three-year-old during her three days of confinement. That sounds worse than an injured toe. Even I might have succumbed to cabin fever under those circumstances.
(Incidentally, another sane person, my friend Brian Roper, wrote a funny blog about his experience with cabin fever while he was snowed in last week in Fort Worth. Check it out
HERE.)
But, as I say, the only thing I disliked about the ice storm was the injured toe. If it had not been for that, everything would have been perfect. Nevertheless, despite the injury, I remember the storm fondly—the many days of no sunlight, the dark grey threatening clouds, the damp biting cold, the punishing sleet. Oh, how wonderful it was, and what a disappointment it was yesterday when the sunlight returned.
Who knows how long it will be before we have another cloudy day? That's one of the disadvantages of living in Central Texas. Too much sun. Don’t get me wrong, I like a sunny day at the beach as much as the next guy, but you can have too much of a good thing. All things in moderation, and that goes for sunlight too, as much as it goes for hard liquor, loose women, and--well, ice.
Yes, the ice storm is over, and I’m sorry to see it go. But at least I have this injured toe to remember it by. Ouch …
