Tuesday, March 03, 2009, 05:38
March!
Can you believe it? It is March! The month that spring arrives! The month the snow starts to melt! The month that the birds start to come back! The month that. . .
Wait. I should not get too carried away. Not just yet.
Saturday morning it was 8 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. Sunday morning it was 2 degrees below zero. Monday it was 4 degrees below zero. All three days the high temperature was only in the teens. That makes 32 days so far that we have had zero or below zero temperatures in the morning. Spring will come someday. But not just yet.
On a brighter note, after we got some snow last week, Pixie decided to take a snowbath. She loves to push her nose into fresh snow. And she looks so funny with snow on her nose and the mane around her neck.
My Christmas cactus also is blooming. I put it under the upside-down aquarium, and it seems to like it there very much. Henry decided he wanted to help me take pictures of the Christmas cactus.
The Christmas cactus shares the aquarium with my miniature rose bush. The bush bloomed last summer with lovely tiny pink roses. I brought it inside in the fall and put it under the aquarium. It all died back and I thought it was completely dead. I trimmed off some of the branches, just to see what would happen. One whole branch came back. So I guess the bush is not dead yet. I bought it in memory of my big tom cat Duke who died last June. So I am hoping it will bloom again this year. I will have to transplant it into a bigger pot when spring arrives and then will have to carefully acclimate it to being outside again.
Last week, after the snow started to melt off the roof of the barn, the plum tree was decorated with long graceful icicles. The ice was actually quite thick on some of the individual branches. The cedar tree by the basement door also had quite a lot of ice build-up on it. Fortunately, the weather warmed up for just long enough for most of the ice to melt off before either tree sustained heavy damage. It is a sign, I think, that the sun is getting stronger.
Little Sister, the momma cat to Snowflake, Henry, Katerina and Dora, likes to sleep on the hay next to the barn wall beneath the plum tree. She enjoys the sun and has several different places around the barn where she settles down for a nice, warm, cozy nap.
Perhaps the world would be a better place if we all occasionally took time to find a place for nice, cozy, warm nap in the sunshine. . .
LeAnn R. Ralph
Sunday, March 01, 2009, 20:26
A Near Miss and a Snowstorm
We were half-way down to Madison on Thursday for the funeral of my friend Debbie. A car had pulled up behind us on the interstate and then pulled around to pass.
It's a good thing my husband remembers his driver's training and maintains one car length for every 10 mph between the vehicle he is driving and the vehicle ahead. Not everyone abides by that rule. I can't begin to tell you how many cars I saw traveling with about 10 feet between bumpers at 65 mph.
The gray car passed us and pulled up ahead to pass a semi truck. As the car pulled up even with the semi, it drifted over and . . . sideswiped the rear tire of the semi -- at 65 mph.
Suddenly, the car was fishtailing in the road ahead of us. The driver somehow regained control. My husband pulled over. The semi truck pulled over. The car pulled over on the other side. Randy rolled down the window, and the driver of the car waved, indicating he was all right.
Randy got out his cell phone and called the state patrol to report the accident. As he was talking to dispatch, the gray car drove away.
The semi-truck pulled up behind us, and with traffic whizzing by at 65 to 70 mph, I got out to talk to the driver.
"Are you all right? Did he hit you?" he asked.
"No, no. We're fine," I said.
"I thought for sure he was going under my trailer. I thought he was dead," the driver said. "I asked him what was going on. He said he fell asleep. I told him, 'Man, if you're that tired, pull over and sleep.' He said, 'I'm wide awake now.' I just bet he is," the driver said.
"Yes, I suppose he is," I said.
"But you're sure you're all right?" the driver asked.
"Yes," I said. "We're fine."
I got back in the truck. The driver got back in the semi and then pulled back onto the road.
We had to sit there for a while, with traffic whizzing past. Talk about a scary experience. The truck rocked every time a semi went past. Finally we were able to pull back out into traffic.
Randy got off at the next exit.
"I need something sweet," he said. "And maybe some coffee."
When we got out of the truck, Randy took my hand. He was trembling.
"If he had fallen asleep 15 seconds sooner, he would have hit us," he said.
"I know," I said. "I know. But he didn't."
Actually, I have no idea how the driver of that car maintained control after sideswiping a semi at 65 mph.
We got back on the interstate a little while later. About 20 miles farther, it started to snow. It snowed for a little while, and then it began to rain. It was windy, too. With the heavy rain, the visibility went down to about 50 feet. Traffic did not slow down at all. As anyone who has driven on an interstate knows, sometimes if you don't keep up with traffic, you create more of a hazard. As I told Randy, the really frightening thing was that I knew the other drivers could not see any better than we could. But even though they were all still traveling at 65 mph, they kept trying to pass. How stupid is that? When it's raining and it is 30 degrees, you just never know when that rain is going to turn to ice and start freezing on.
Anyway, by the time we reached Madison, Randy was exhausted. We checked into the motel amid a cold, heavy downpour.
We took Pixie with us, and after we checked in, I got her out of the truck. Poor little Pixie was getting soaked while she was trying to find a suitable spot to empty her bladder. When she had finished, we had to cross the curb to go back across the parking lot. A heavy stream of water was running down the gutter toward the storm sewer. Pixie thought it looked dangerous and was reluctant to cross. As we stood there and got wetter and wetter, I finally convinced her it was safe.
We relaxed in the motel for an hour or so. Then it was time to change our clothes and go to the visitation. We took Pixie with us and left her in the truck. I didn't want her to hear strange noises and start barking in the motel room.
Pixie, good little Shetland Sheepdog that she is, waited patiently for us. It helped, I think, that we took her plaid blanket with for her to sleep on.
Thursday night, neither Randy nor I slept very well. I woke up every half hour and tossed and turned all night long. Finally at 6:30 a.m., I figured it was time to get up. I think Pixie had an all right night. She had her plaid blanket to sleep on. Maybe I should have slept on the floor with Pixie.
We showered and got dressed for the funeral. When Pixie saw we were packing up our things, she went and sat by the door. She was *not* going to let us leave her behind, that's for sure.
Randy had somewhat of a difficult time getting the truck doors open. After all of the heavy rain the day before, it had turned cold overnight. The sidewalks were covered with a quarter inch of ice. Traffic was moving along the streets all right, although there were some slippery places here and there. We made it to the church without any problems.
Once again, Pixie waited patiently in the truck during the funeral service and the lunch afterward. At least I didn't have to worry about it being too hot in the truck -- or too cold. The sun shining in the windows kept it warm enough to keep Pixie comfortable.
We left Madison about 2 p.m. Randy got us out of the city, and then I drove the rest of the way home. By the time we got home at 6 p.m., Randy had a horrible migraine. "I hope you don't mind if I lie down for a while," he said.
"No, go ahead," I said. "I will shovel snow and feed the horses."
While we were gone, about six inches of snow had fallen. It was all rain in Madison. It was all snow farther north here at home.
My husband slept pretty much through the night, from 6 p.m. until about 6 a.m. Saturday morning. When he got up, the headache was gone. This was supposed to be Randy's annual ice fishing weekend at his mom and dad's place in eastern Wisconsin. So while I got ready to cover a public hearing for the newspaper, Randy got out the snowblower to clear the driveways. I left for the public hearing at 8 a.m. and he left shortly afterward to go on his ice fishing vacation. He had signed up for vacation on Thursday and Friday long before he knew we would be going to a funeral.
I suppose it always pays to remember that life can change in the blink of an eye . . . or with a single telephone call . . .
LeAnn R. Ralph
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