The madness of scarlettina

So, I mentioned yesterday morning that I had an appointment with a new agency. I went. At 10:15 AM. The snow poured out of the sky. The alley and two streets I had to drive before getting to the main road were unplowed and nearly undisturbed. The first main arterial wasn't bad, mostly sandy-slushy and bumpy. The entrance to the freeway was clear. And Interstate 5 was sandy-slushy but drivable...through Seattle proper. The further away from downtown I got, the worse it got.

Once I was close to Renton, where my interview was, it got much, much worse. Many trailer trucks. Deeper snow left sanded but unplowed. My car slid slightly as I approached the exit to Martin Luther King Jr. Way. At that exit, I saw my first stranded vehicles--two four-wheel-drive pick-up trucks sitting at angles at the roadside. MLK Way was a sheet of ice downhill. After about ten minutes of slow driving in the fiercely falling snow, I called the woman at the agency to check if I was in the right place (I didn't recognize anything, all covered in white) and let her know I was still on my way. She checked my location, told me I wasn't lost.

In the end, it took me 70 minutes to get to my destination in the snow. When I got out of the car, my whole body hurt. I'd been so tense that my whole body had been clenched up the whole way. Thankfully, the meeting went well.

Then, I had to get home. Much more slip-sliding ensued. Everything I'd ever learned about driving in the snow back east kicked back in. I attempted to take MLK Way back up the hill, but every single vehicle was turning back about halfway up. I found another way to get back--a much flatter way-- and did so. Multiple accident on I-405; jack-knifed articulated bus on I-5; SUVs pulled to the side of the road. I hit nothing and no sliding lasted longer than a couple of feet. It was still snowing when I got home.

I haven't left the house since.

This, folks, is how much I want to be employed. It was a lesson, and I probably won't do it again because I spent most of the rest of the day recovering from the constant, compounded stress and got almost nothing else done. I didn't realize that I'd gotten almost nothing done until after dinner time. It seems as though the rest of the day was sort of telescoped. I may have napped. I honestly don't remember.

This morning, my physical therapist called to cancel today's appointment. "I've been for a walk," she said. "It's far too icy. I don't want you out on the roads." Just as well. Neither, frankly, do I.

The ever-changing Merlin

Over the last year, as I have recorded here, Merlin has begun to display heretofore unseen behaviors. The last couple of days it's been a persistent desire to sit on the window sills. I believe quite fervently that this has less to do with the view than it does with the fact the the baseboard heaters are located beneath the windows and the heat distributes nicely straight up. The window sills in this place, however, are pretty narrow, and even skinny ole Merlin isn't quite narrow enough to effectively navigate them. I may need to figure out how to mount some sort of ledge or sling for him against a window. Or I need to continue to resign myself to being the one consistent heat source in the house and, therefore, forever have a feline rather insistently perched upon my lap.

The madness of scarlettina, part II

It occurred to me about an hour ago that my vow not to leave the house had one drawback: It meant that I couldn't retrieve and deposit my unemployment check. So I left the house. I retrieved the mail, check included, and went to the car.

From my carport, I pulled into the alley safely and got halfway down the incline. Then I saw a car on the side street I was headed for slowly sliding sideways downward. Suddenly this isn't such a good idea.

I try to pull back or turn around, but there's no getting back up the alleyway. I carefully jockey my car into the street and see a vacant parking spot. The car starts to slide. Another car very nearly hits mine. Together, the other driver and I spread some kitty litter on the road (there goes the spare I bought for the boys), got me into the parking spot and got the other car on its way. I hike back up to my place, and here I am.

My street--that to which the icy side street connects--is also a hillside sheet of ice. So right now, it doesn't look like I'm going much of anywhere any time soon. My two anxieties are my car getting swiped on the side of the road and my not being able to get to the bank to deposit my check. Now, I don't have to worry about any automated withdrawals hitting until January 5--this is good. But I have other stuff I need to address, so this is a challenge.

I may brave walking into Fremont to deposit my check, but the sidewalks are just as bad as the street.

Good thing I went grocery shopping before the storm hit. I may be here a while.

ETA: More objective evidence for me being crazy and Seattle being dangerous in snow. With credit to anaka for the link.