Did You Bring Your Skates?

It had just started to rain when I left to go to knitting yesterday about 5:30 PM.  At 6:30 James from the cafe popped his head in the doorway to say that Harmony was closing at 7:00 because the ice storm was building up and everyone needed to get home safely so the three of us packed up and left.  In the hour and a half that I was there the roads had gone from wet to sheer ice, getting home was doable but sticking Beverly to the driveway was chancy.  I managed about 4' closer to the street than planned.  That meant I had about a 10' uphill climb to get into the garage.  Good thing I opened the garage door when I drove in because the only thing that saved me from a fall was being able to slam my purse and knitting bag down on the dry garage floor and clamping my left hand around the garage door track.  I inched my way up the last foot or so and sprinkled a little salt over the parts of the drive and walk I could reach.  Not that I thought it'd do any good but it's always good to layer on salt applications.  I don't know how the paper carrier managed to get up the driveway because the paper was on the porch as usual and there was no unconscious man sprawled on the concrete. Here's the view when I went out to salt again this morning.  Scary, huh?  I flung the salt; there was no way I was going out there.  I'll salt again later and maybe then I'll inch my way along to help the melting along.  Treacherous.  You'd better bet we'll be hunkered down until there's a bit of melting.  Nobody wants a broken anything.

I was dishing out my breakfast earlier when Durwood said, "there's robin at the birdbath!"  I looked and there he was.  A robin.  In the birdbath.  On January 11.  Does that mean it's spring?  No?  Damn.

Calling all fiber lovers, Craftsy has a FREE Quilt Block of the Month class that teaches you color theory using a rainbow of batiks.  I just signed up and keep getting distracted listening to the videos.  (ooh, pretty colors)  D'you think it's an accident that I just bought five 5-fat-quarter bundles of batiks off the clearance aisle at Joann's?  Yeah, me neither.  I'm wondering if there are any more there and how soon the roads will be safe to drive on because this thing calls for a lot of fabric, waaaaay more than I have now.  Plus I forgot to get a can of basting spray this week so I can put my chaos quilt together this weekend; I can sew the back together and cut the batting but I think I'll wait to pin it together until I can stick the pieces together as well as pin them.

January 11--Christian Kintzing, Clavichord.  The glint of gold in the wound caught Jake's eye.  He used one gloved hand to tip the head aside so he could shine his penlight on the dead girl's neck.  A gold wire, like a piece of piano wire, circled her neck.  "This might be the murder weapon," he said.  Detective Wilkins cocked his head.  "Ya think?  What an insightful statement.  Have you been watching CSI again?"  Jake took a photo.  "Blow it out your ear, Wilkins."  Jake was determined to take his time and get this one right even if Wilkins spent all day breathing down his neck.

Man, whatever weather system's muscling its way through today sure is making my knees ache.  I have to go downstairs to get something for Durwood to cook for supper, bet that'll make my knees feel great.  Not.  But moving, even if it hurts at first, feels better in the long run than sitting still.  I just wondered if they make an under-the-concrete driveway heater like they make for bathroom floors.  Wouldn't that be good?  It'd be safer anyway.  Don't slip and slide, stay indoors and eat soup.  Here's a gratuitous DS & LC photo for you, just because I want to.  I'm calling it "Happy Daddy, Sleeping Baby."
--Barbara