Weekend Warrior...

It was Little Baby who first alerted us to the threatening weather situation on Saturday.

I looked out the window and noticed that frozen rain had begun to fall.

I checked the weather channel on the television and found that, unfortunately, they were predicting the "Snow Storm of the Century" for all of Kansas. But when I nervously related this fact to Blaine, he casually shrugged it off and said: "No big deal. I was going to grill kabobs on the deck today but I can do it tomorrow."

"Grill kabobs on the deck?" I replied. "Tomorrow?"

"Yeah," he replied nonchalantly. "I've been planning to do them all week. But I'll simply marinate them a little longer and by Sunday they'll be even tastier for grilling."

But I was worried about much more important issues than grilling kabobs on Sunday!

"You idgit," I said. "Grilling is out of the question in this weather. What we need to do is hurry up and get to the grocery store so we can stock up for this storm. The news says it will be a bad one. So we should go to the store NOW--- before the roads ice up and become impassable--- and grab everything we'll need to last us for the entire weekend."

But Blaine wouldn't be swayed from the idea that he was going to "grill on Sunday" , even though he did concede that it would behoove him to make a quick dash to the grocery store.

Blaine can be an obstinate bird, sometimes. Once he gets an idea into his head, he plows towards it like a stubborn mule, no matter WHAT anybody else says, come hell or high water.

And in this case, it looked like high water --- or high snow -- was going to be the problem. Because the freezing rain continued to worsen by the hour. And I fretted until Blaine returned safely from his trip to the grocery store. And he admitted that the store had been completely thronged with frantic crowds who all had exactly the same idea on stocking up on supplies that we had.

And as the weather deteriorated steadily, I couldn't help but to continue pointing out each new development to Blaine while repeating my notion that there was no way in heck that he would be able to grill on the deck come Sunday. In fact, weather conditions looked more and more "un-grill-able" with each passing hour.

"It looks like it might rain for forty days and forty nights...." I quipped.

"Cute," Blaine replied. "But I'm grilling come Sunday...."

Even when I directed his attention to the fact that his precious BBQ-PRO had now iced up to the point where icycles were hanging off of it and it was frozen shut, he never wavered in his determination.

I was really nervous about the ice. Ice storms can bring terrible consequences in Kansas.

"I hope this ice doesn't cause any trees to fall on the power lines," I muttered ominously. "The last thing we need is to lose electricity."

"I don't need electricity to grill on Sunday, " he retorted. "I just need propane..."

And as the day wore on it began sleeting, and soon a fine mist of whitish slush covered the neighborhood. I rather unkindly pulled the curtains open wide so that Blaine could see the harsh circumstances.

"Yep, it's sleetin' so hard out there that we'll be lucky if we don't have to start bringing in animals two-by-two...." I joked.

Then I put on my good ole Bass Pro Shop rubber boots and went outside to find the snow shovel. I had carelessly tossed it somewhere the last time I had tried to clear snow out of the driveway and God only knew where it was. I finally found it, frozen to the deck.

Even when the sleet turned to snow, Blaine wasn't discouraged. But I eyeballed the new development and turned to level a silent, yet meaningful gaze at Blaine.....

"It's only SATURDAY," he stated evenly. "And I told you--- I don't want to grill until SUNDAY."

Whatever...

I tried to entice Blaine into cancelling his grilling plans by making a huge pot of my bad-weather specialty, southern chicken & dumplings. I make my dumplings with Lo-Fat Bisquik, and the leftovers last for two days. But Blaine wouldn't budge in his plans.

By God, he was going to grill on Sunday....

Incidentally (and I don't mean to brag here) but I don't just make good chicken & dumplings --- I make EXCELLENT chicken & dumplings. I boil the chicken all day in the pot, adding lots of sage, chicken boullion, chopped onions, diced carrots, a handful of peas, salt, pepper, a little garlic powder, and a can of Cream O'Mushroom soup. When the soup is done, I thicken it a little before plopping in the dollops of dumpling dough. And I don't just mix up the Bisquik with milk to make the dough. I add things to the Bisquick powder first--- like salt, pepper, sage, paprika, parsley, garlic powder, and onion powder --- thus, making "herbed" dumplings, and THEY ARE GOOOOD.

As my southern grandmother would say about good chicken and dumplings: "It's lairpin'!!"

Anyhoo, by Saturday afternoon a true blizzard had developed, its windy gales blowing layers upon layers of wet snow on the neighborhod--- but idgity Blaine was nonplussed.

"I'm going to grill on Sunday...." was his mantra.

I braved the storm to stomp around outside in my rubber boots, trying to make sure that none of our neighbors had accidentally left their cats or dogs outside--- nobody had --- and I was finally chased back inside when the now gale-force wind got even snowier and the temperature dropped futher.

(Is 'snowier' a word?)

It snowed throughout the evening, and was still going strong when Blaine and I went to bed at about 10:30 pm.

And then....sure enough.....

We woke up on Sunday to find that the snow had stopped.... but the entire neighborhood --- and our back deck --- was buried under at least six inches of snow.

"It'll melt," Blaine declared before I even had a chance to say "I told you so".

"Maybe we should send a dove to fly out and see if there's any land which isn't buried under snow..." I remarked.

"You know, the Noah's Ark jokes are getting old," Blaine replied smartly. "And besides, Noah was in a FLOOD, not a blizzard..."

Stung, I briefly considered making a sarcastic crack about Donner Pass but thought better of it, since that would be in poor taste.

Get it? "Poor taste"?

I know, I know.... pretend I never said it......

Throughout the morning, as I sat knitting on my "Mystery Project" with a bemused expression on my face, Blaine proceeded to methodically lay out his ingredients for the kabobs--- the container of meat marinating in Blaine's own marinade mixed with "secret ingredients" (that he won't even tell his own mother), and a stack of pita breads to "wrap" the kabob meats with. Even when he asked me to chop up some onions and tomatoes for the "relish", I didn't comment--- but my smirk said it all.

And then , as Blaine waited patiently, staring out the window with an expectant look until about 4:30 pm.....

...suddenly, like magic.....

...the dadgum snow began to melt.

"But the BBQ-PRO is still iced shut and you'll never get that propane to flow," I reminded him, thinking a little snottily to myself that he was STILL foiled in his grilling intentions.

"No matter," he replied, unconcerned, whistling to himself.....

(I think it was the tune to "Day-O" by Harry Belafonte......)

Puzzled, I stared at him as he cheerfully whistled his way down the steps to the basement....

...and then returned with a bag of charcoal which --- after he daintily, and with a dandy wrist flourish, brushed the snow off a little appliance I had forgotten about --- he triumphantly proceeded to open --- and then began plopping charcoal chunks, one by one, into his portable table-top Weber charcoal grill....while loudly whistling the tune to "Plop Plop, Fizz Fizz, Oh What a Relief It Is" .....

... and danged if Blaine didn't proceed to GRILL ON SUNDAY.

(You know, those dang kabobs were lairpin'....)

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First Storm of the Winter....

The day started out so innocently...

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It was a little gray, cloudy, but nothing out of the ordinary. But I should have remembered--that just when you think you know Texan weather, you find out that you don't know jack.

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It started sprinkling around mid-morning. I thought "no big deal" to myself and continued on my way. But then it all went to hell in a handbasket soon after. When the rain had first started I didn't really worry about it because I have four-wheel-drive and the Jeep is sturdy enough to handle the Apocalypse. I will confess that I'm waaaay too arrogant when it comes to road conditions, which is really quite foolish of me because of an incident which occurred last year--

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There had been an ice storm in the night and the early-morning roads were treacherous, covered in invisible patches of "black ice". My Road Nurse Company had scheduled all of us very tightly and had made it crystal clear that they would "frown upon" any Road Nurse who refused to drive due to the weather conditions. I lived near another die-hard Road Nurse buddy of mine and both of us had assured our company that "nothing" would keep us off the road. But then....both of us, each at different times during the same day, hit the exact same iced-over overpass... and had launched into out-of-control spin-outs in our vehicles. Fortunately for our foolish selves, the Good Lord was looking after us. Because in both of our separate events, our vehicles spun into a complete 380, spiraling crazily forward and then sideways, then hurtling completely off the Interstate, miraculously avoiding collisions with other vehicles, then subsequently plunging down the steep roadside embankment--- finally slowing and then coming to a rest in a ditch---unbelievably with both vehicles and drivers intact and unharmed. Even though we later laughed about the whole thing when our boss called us "Stunt Nurses", we were both nonetheless shaken by the experience.

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(And although they're faint, you can still see the skid-marks on that spot of the Interstate....)

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Anyway, by the time I arrived at the first ranch this morning the rain had saturated everything. To my misfortune, I slipped into a deep mud-patch after getting out of the Jeep. I got so much mud on my shoes that my patient's wife made me take them off before entering the house.

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On my way to the next ranch the rain turned to sleet---and then to snow. And sure enough, the overpasses started to freeze over. Still raw from my spin-out experience last year, I knew when to admit defeat. So I turned around and drove carefully back to my office. By the time I arrived, the Jeep was covered in a mixture of snow and sleet.

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As the weather deteriorated, I hunkered down with Lu-Lu and the office secretary to wait out the afternoon in our warm office, staring at the computer screen for periodic updates on the weather radar. We found out that Podunk is square in the path of an arctic front which is in the process of crippling roads and airports all over the midwest and southern plains. It has progressed quickly and has already caused snowstorms.

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During the afternoon, I got a text-message from my sister which read: "It's sleeting here in Dallas."

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Around 2pm, Jane-Anne finally made it back to the office in one piece. But one of our other LVN's called to say that she was stuck out in farm country to the south, too afraid of the road conditions to continue onwards. We advised her not to return to the office--and told her instead to simply drive home since she was fairly close to her own town. Then we called our two other branch offices to make sure that the rest of our company's Road Nurses got themselves safely off the road.

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But I am worried SICK about Belinda. Because Belinda and two other girls had set off early this morning on a four-hour drive to another state---a state which currently has a blizzard warning in effect. The reason they had to make the trip was to attend a "New Employee Orientation" at the headquarters of Belinda's new Road Nurse Company.

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And Belinda just found out that she is pregnant-- and she hasn't been feeling very well....

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I had text-messaged Belinda's cell phone about 3:30 pm this afternoon, saying: "I'm worried about you guys on the road." I never got a reply.

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Finally, at 4:30 pm, we all left the office with a resolve to call each other in the morning to compare driving conditions. Because although I live across the street from the office and could easily drive to work no matter what the roads are like, everybody else lives quite a distance outside Podunk. They may not be able to drive in safety in the morning if the roads are frozen.

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When I got home, the storm had worstened and I was treated to my first-ever glimpse of my apartment building dusted with snow:

And now I guess I'm going to continue to try and get ahold of Belinda. Lord, I hope she is alright. The weather is supposed to get even worse tonight. And I'm also concerned about driving conditions tomorrow morning. I have TONS of patient visits tomorrow---especially since I've got to make up the ones that I missed today. And I've got two patients who absolutely have to be seen. They are post-op from surgical procedures, one with an amputated toe and one with an open wound on his elbow. Both of them will need their bandages changed.

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So I'm going to retire to the living room television to knit while I'm watching the weather updates--- while continuing to try and reach Belinda....

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