Unexpected snow...

We had a snowstorm 2 nights ago. On the way home, I realized I wasn't going to make it all the way. The tires were spinning a little on the hairpin turn about a mile away from the house. It's mostly uphill from there so I started looking for a turnout. About half a mile later, I saw the volunteer fire station. There's a nice flat turnout there but I wondered if I would get towed or ticketed for blocking part of a fire station's driveway, so I pressed on.

At this point, the tires were more spinning than gripping and I was headed to tight, right-hand turn.... which leads into the last, steep uphill to my road's turnout. I tapped the gas to see if I could get any sort of speed into the turn and I just started to slowdown, since the tires were only gripping slush and snow.

Fortunately, there was a turnout on the outside of the turn. I coaxed the car across the road and gunned it the last 30 feet. The car came to a stop on it's own with snow piled up in front. I was stuck... on the shoulder... but definitely stuck.

I popped the trunk to get my flashlight, donned my jacket, and started walking in the tire tracks heading up the road. I was wearing very breathable running shoes. Great for those summer jogs in the forest... not so great in slushy snow that was over ankle-high.

It was snowing still. Very quiet too. And I could see pretty well in the dim light. When I got home, Taiga was so excited to play with me. I was pretty wet and cold but she had that childish, joyful look. We ran around in the snow for about 20 minutes before I had to go in or start really chattering from the cold.

The snow is still around today. I think I'll head back down the road now to go get the car from the shoulder. Life's a little more interesting with snow.

Orion trips and falls...

(An engraving of Orion from Johann Bayer's Uranometria, courtesy of the US Naval Observatory Library)

I was stargazing the other night. It was a rare winter night where the air temperature dropped below freezing. At the house, that normally means a light dusting of frost everywhere and.... amazingly clear night skies.

Most of the time, we don't notice all of the light pollution in the sky. Lights from street lights, advertisements, shops, and closed businesses tend to bleed into the air and add an ethereal glow to cities. Since I live on the edge of woodland, I can see the nightly bubble of light pushing above the trees in the distance. It's the light from the town of Duvall. For the most part, out where I am, it's pretty dark. Thankfully, the immediate neighbors don't feel the need to keep giant sodium lights on all night. Here are the recent great times I've had wandering in the darkness while out playing with Taiga:

• I got to play chase and fetch in the yard by the full moon. It's amazing how bright, cool and magical that pure moonlight looks and feels. The landscape is a pale and subtle bluish gray. All things seem blurry unless I focus on them and then they become as detailed as daylit objects. Taiga is inky black during the day. In moonlight, it's like playing with a silhouette... a dog-shaped. happy mystery. Oh, and the shadows.... moonlight casts shadows on those clear nights that are so deep.
• Clouds on moonlit nights look like floating crystal. Lately, as the skies clear, there are some nice clouds to watch. I've seen ocean waves washing on sand castles, a bunny, half-eaten birthday cake, and a dragon's head. It really looks as if the clouds are made of crystal when they are all lit up with moonlight.... and little terrestrial light coloring them from below.
• The constellation of Orion..... tripping and falling over the horizon. Two nights ago, it was rather clear and crisp as I got home from the gym. I ended up having a nice chat with Taiga outside and we walked around the yard. In the distance horizon, over the western hemlock trees across the meadow, was the constellation of Orion. He was tilted and leaning far more forward then he should have been. I chuckled to myself as it looked like a photo of someone tripping forward and falling. I imagined him falling through the heavens with a big "O" shaped mouth.... falling through the night and over the horizon. By 1am, he was well on his way for a face plant. Sorta serves him right as he was not really a nice fellow in the Greek mythologies. By some accounts, he tried to assault Artemis. By others, he claimed to be so great as to kill every animal in existence. In all of those old stories, I think he ended up dead. Charming, no?
  
  

Was that really 30 years ago?

I'm going through my music CD's and ripping everything. I've decided to put the CD's away and start thinking about fully embracing the world of mp3's. It's a little bit of a leap as I don't have a way to stream them to my stereo, however I've a mp3 player in my car and an iPod.

I was pleasantly surprised at rediscovering songs I'd forgotten from the 80's. It was a youthful time. Secret crushes, broken hearts and countless hours with friends doing nothing. I have been looking at the good in my life and trying to revisit it.... enshrine it as part of my history in my heart and mind.

Music, at times, has been so much fun and brings back so many honest moments. It's why I seem to always setup 70's and 80's playlists when I first cobble new playlists. It's also why "Time After Time", "Tenderness" and "Roxanne" seem to make it to my lists every time. It's why, when I feel down, I listen to "99 Luft Balloons" or, if I feel like yelling at fate, I click the repeat button while listening to "King of Pain".

If you weren't around in the 70's and 80's... and didn't listen to the rock du jour... these song titles will sound foreign. To me, they are calls to my past and echo in my thoughts with inspiration.

Bang your drum...

I woke up yesterday with a pain in my ear. Over the past couple of weeks, I had a tickle and jabbing pain in my ear. It was pretty painful at times but it would disappear rather quickly so I thought it was just a passing headache or similar.

When I awoke, the pain was pretty bad. In fact, I think the pain woke me up. It hurt with every exhale. When I burped or yawned or sneezed... ugh.... it was like someone was sticking a nail in my ear.

So with my left eye closed (from the pain), I went through my morning routine and got dressed. I headed down to the computer and looked up my local doc. They squeezed me in that afternoon and the pain subsided as I went through my day. I even considered canceling but I thought I should get someone to peek in my ear.

My guess was that I had somehow torn my eardrum a little... then now fully. When I moved my head, I heard a scratching and crackly sound. I didn't notice too much of a loss of hearing but the highs seemed a touch dull as I listened to music on the way to the appointment. "Sigh", I thought, "I just hope I don't have too much permanent damage." I knew that torn ear drums could heal over a few months, but I was concerned that I could not go swimming or diving.

When I got to the dr's office, they checked me out. As the doc looked into my ear with a scope for less than 10 seconds, he immediately and cheerfully said "Ah ha!". I braced myself for the bad news.... what would it be? Deafness? Would he compare my eardrum to a tattered and used tissue?

"It's a hair. In your ear. One end hooked in your ear canal. The other end it poking right into your eardrum and the hair is under tension like a spring. The hair is trying to poke right through your eardrum."

Now, as relieved as I was, I started looking at his hands and thinking he didn't look to have great dexterity... so who was going to pull this thing out? I mean, this wasn't brain surgery but an eardrum is not somewhere you want to be stumbling around. He mentioned there was an easy way to get it out...

An assistant came in with a ear wash bottle and after a couple of pleasant bursts of warm water, I was free from pain. The hair looked like a clipping from my head and was about an inch long. I am thinking it was the recent haircut + blow dry that sent it in there.

Today, I am pain free and really happy to be hearing well.

A Prayer and Good Thought

A friend's father is very ill and it has prompted me to think about them each day. I imagine they are struggling with so many things.

To my friend and the family, my thoughts go out to you...