Here I sit, in our house in Duluth during a blizzard. I had planned to go skiing today, but even before the snow started, I decided that Spirit Mt. wouldn't be open because of the wind. I thought of doing some shopping, but driving is not recommended.
I did go out for the papers this morning and that was a bit of a struggle – bare sidewalk and then shin-high drifts. There was only one car at the restaurant where the paper boxes are, and I had breakfast there to give them a bit of business. I had planned to go tomorrow. A few more people came in, but the restaurant was short-staffed because of the blizzard and it closed at nine.
When I came back home it was into the wind. To keep my hat on, I had to look at the ground in front of me. To get up the steps from the sidewalk I had to pull myself up with the handrail because of the drifts. And I had to struggle to get the front door open because of another drift.
I thought of going to the fitness center because the buses were running, but did I really want to battle my way to the corner again?
Some of the heroes today are those who put the papers in the boxes, the bus drivers, the restaurant staff, and our mail carrier. She or her sub came by far earlier than I expected, and our box let in a lot of snow. At least there were no soaking checks or blurred ink. Another hero is the person who went down the block struggling with a snowblower. Unless he has somewhere to go, I don't see the point; the continuing snow and the gusting wind will soon fill the path up again.
It was fortunate that my wife had chosen yesterday to go to Tokyo to visit our son and his family. The same flight out of Duluth today was cancelled. Even then, her flight from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Tokyo was delayed because of snow.
My lunch was rather makeshift because I was going to buy some of the stuff I had planned to eat. So I had to pick and choose stuff out of the refrigerator that I wouldn't normally eat for lunch, like yogurt and peanut butter.
So, here I sit with a pile of stuff on my left to file or throw out and a similar pile on my right. I could download Turbo Tax and get started on taxes. I could clear up my backlog of email. I could practice singing. I could read any of the five, six, or seven books I've started. I could even start a fire in the fireplace and sit all afternoon reading. But I just flit from one little thing to another. I read a bit of one newspaper or other online. I play a bit of SuDoKu.
Instead I stare at the screen or I try to look out the snow-covered window to see if the storm has abated. I really can't see if it is still snowing without going right up to a window and looking out through a "clearer" spot. I do know the wind is still blowing.
I do get in some of my physical therapy exercises for my sore shoulder, but that only takes five minutes or so.
I could drink our last bottle of wine, but I would only get woozy and sick.
Maybe I will light a fire and then finish "Il Compagno Don Camillo" and then reread "Comrade Don Camillo" to see how much of the Italian I understood. I do get the larger picture, but I know I'm missing lots of nuance. Well, maybe not lots. I do know that compagno Don Camillo doesn't miss any chance to use Communist doctrine to point up inconsistencies in Soviet practice.
That's what I need. A good chuckle! Ciao!
