And so it goes

My calendar is full. But only on some of the days. Is it just me? It seems that everything that needs to happen does so on the same day. This week I had only two things listed on the calendar. Then there was one that needed to be "flexible." Yep. That word. That very bad, bad word. Not to worry, says he. It will happen either on Tuesday or on Thursday. To be safe I wrote on both days on the calendar. I am pretty excited as I start Kate's classes today at 3. Then the call to confirm comes in. "Can you be in Port Orchard at 1 on Wednesday?" Of course, says I. People should rate over dogs, right? I am thinking I will call and see if I can slip into the 4pm class for this one week. If not, I will only mumble and moan on the drive home. If only the weather would cooperate, it would be a great excuse to ride the motorsickle. There is a bit of blue sky showing, so perhaps by the time I need to leave the weather will have made up its mind.

Living out here on the Kitsap peninsula can be interesting weather wise. Five miles away the weather can be completely different. Last winter I heard there was a storm blowing in so decided to run to the store, which is seven miles from here. I only needed a couple of things and while I could feel that something was coming, there was not so much as a dribble of rain. I got in the truck and headed out. A mile from the store the snow began to fall. I parked, ran in, got the two items (batteries and milk) and did the self checkout and left. I was in the store for maybe ten minutes. The ground had turned white, so I was glad I was headed home. These small trucks are a joke in the snow. I considered a stop at Home Depot (for sand bags), but the conditions were practically white out. I headed for home. Strangely the main highway was almost deserted. For this I was extremely grateful as I slide down the road sideways. At the stop light I gathered my nerves and turned left to get the heck out of Dodge. Unfortunately I had a person in front of me in a compact car that was scared to death. She was doing great, but was doing that "great" at about 7 mph. My truck needed to go about twice that to keep moving. Any slower and I lost the rear end and would begin to slide. I also knew that I would be encountering an upward slope and would not make it up the road at 7 mph. There is no way I wanted to attempt to pass her, and there was no way that I wanted to stop and let her get farther ahead. I also didn't want to make her more nervous by sitting on her bumper. She could not pull over as there was now a good amount of snow on the side of the road and she would likely get stuck. Nearing panic mode now, but for the first time I really didn't know how to get out of this mess. As if I was in a movie or cartoon I suddenly was out of the snow. Seriously. We went from white out to little tiny flakes just beginning to fall. The roads were impassable and invisible, to wet and clear. I said my "thanks" heavenward and both the woman ahead, and I, sped up to the posted speed limit of 50 mph. I got home and the truck remained parked for the next six days as the storm came in and dumped record amounts of snow. The same thing happens with wind storms. I can have trees going down and wind howling, and a couple of miles away there is nothing. Vice versa as well. Very strange. It does, however, force a person to have a bit of flexibility; especially if the garage contains only a small rear wheel drive pickup, a motorcycle, and a bicycle.

So I will weather this little calendar storm with grace (yeah right, snicker) and dignity. I will also do it in the truck. Who knows what precipitation might be present in Port Orchard? It is, after all, a good thirty miles away!!



G2