Frozen in place.

I've been getting a lot of mileage out of telling you how hot it has been here and it’s still too dam hot! But maybe I should move on to other things before I lose your interest. Let’s let our minds drift back to a time when the weather is at the other extreme.

Several years ago in February, we had one hell of a storm. High winds, lots of snow and cold with a lot of ice. Traffic had been at a stand still and people had been cooped up for several days. It had started to warm up, the snow was melting and we had slush coming out of our ears. Then it turned cold again and froze solid. Along comes about sixteen inches of new snow to cover all that Ice. The following day the snow plows had the streets open and Peg had gone to the store as we were out of several food items.

I decided to clear the front walk to the mail box and check to see if there was any mail and found several days worth. A lot of snow had blown into the box and I was removing it as I sorted the mail. I had all this stuff in my hand and was reaching for the handle on the snow shovel. My feet started to slide apart and there was nothing I could do to regain my balance, so down I went. I never knew my legs would bend that way and I could feel the tendons and mussels stretching. It was only a few week after I came home from having surgery.

I must have passed out for a few seconds. After being there for a while I managed to get a hold of the Mail Box Post and upright myself From the street level I had to step up one step on the curb and there was a second step from there to the walk. This is when I started taking flying lesions. My feet left mother earth and who knows how high I was. I never heard anyone say to buckle your seat belts, but the landing was hard and this time I stayed there and couldn’t get up !

The mail I had in hand had gone every which way and I had lost interest in it. It took a while., but I managed to drag myself up the walk and up the wheelchair ramp to the front door. Sometime later I gathered my senses and attempted to open the door but the storm door had locked it s self. Peggy was gone grocery shopping and not even God knew when she would return home.

It was about ten a.m. when I started to pick up the mail. It was now about twelve fifteen in the after noon, My son Scott had just came home from his noon job at the school. He found me setting on the. front porch and got me inside and on the bed. Scott is not very good when he has to dealing with an injury or sickness or an emergency, he is just like his mother.

Along about five p.m. Peggy came home and I was just about thawed out. Apparently there were no visible after affects, I had. frozen my “balls” and to this day I don’t have any bounce left in them !

The moral of this story is:" When December comes around, sell everything and go south for the winter !”

Ben R. Bauer