It's a beautiful day to be outside today if you're not starting your journey in our driveway. It was packed with snow yesterday...the nice, heavy kind that makes great snowmen and snowballs but is a real bitch to walk thru or shovel. Our neighbor opened the long driveway from the pavement to his garage this morning, clearing the berm that the plows create in the mouth. We needed bottle water and were getting low on bread so I suggested we go to town after lunch. Jeff thought about it for awhile and then decided I could probable make it on my own. I had a bill/payment to mail so I decided I'd try it.
I had driven into the space between the house and the garage the day before yesterday...the last time I had gone out...because the driveway was pretty icy and heading in created the shortest route to the steps. I started the car and cleaned off the hood, found the headlights and dug out the window wipers. Unfortunately, only 1 wiper cooperated...the one on the passenger side. The driver side wiper definitely was not working up to par, so I just turned them off. Luckily, it was sunny and I didn't need them. It took half a dozen tries...going backward, then forward before I got the car on to the open driveway. I was down to the mailboxes before I realized I had forgotten the envelope I wanted to mail! I took a deep breath and drove back up to the house...well, not exactly up to the house coz I got stuck where I turned off the plowed driveway, slid out of the tire tracks and almost into the pine tree that's there. I tried to walk up to the house but couldn't stay on my feet! 8" of snow covered our speed skating rink and it wasn't worth trying to walk on it. I backed out of the snow pile I was in and drove down to the neighbor's to turn around in front of his garage. The payment was already a day late so another day won't make much difference if it didn't get mailed today.
I decided to skip my trip to the library in Ilion and just go to Walmart. I kept thinking about getting back into the snug little space between the house and the garage and the more I thought, the more I wanted to get to it. By the time I got back to our mailboxes I had a plan.
Now, I'm noted for not being able to back up in a straight line. For some reason, I find that damn near impossible to do but today I decided if I could ever pull it off it had better be now. The driveway is cleared nice and wide...probably wide enough for 2 cars to go side by side...so I thought why don't I just back up from the paved road to our garage, turn hard right (backwards) and hope I fall into the tire tracks. And, by God, I did it! I put the Forrester in almost the same place it was before I went out except it's facing the other direction! (And on the 1st try!!) I let out a whoop when I got out of the car and saw how precise I had parked it and the dogs...in the house...heard me and started barking and baying! I began to unload the groceries and Jeff met me on the stoop and carried them inside. (Better than no help at all, huh?)
I had splurged and bought a container of butter pecan ice cream for dessert (Valentine's Day) but decided not to wait and rewarded myself with a bowl when I got inside. Zoey and Fanny sat by my side waiting for their share, Jeff overwhelmed by all the excitement, went to take a nap. Now that the house is nice and quiet I think it's time to get back to that Guernsey vest. Only 2 1/2" or so of straight knitting to go before it's time for the yoke and I'm back to counting stitches. I definitely think I should have done the first vest in gray instead of soft navy. Oh, well, it's more than half finished....
No comments:
Post a Comment