What a week this has been! Tuesday was my daughter’s birthday. Very late on Monday, she texted saying she and her boyfriend were thinking of a spur of the moment trip to the coast if I could stay with the boys. I agreed but warned her that we had snow in the forecast and she should research the weather and road conditions before decided to actually do it. She said she would. Famous last words.
I really didn’t think they would go but I made a mental list of things I needed to pack in case they did go. It was only one overnight so I didn’t need much and I’m a short walk away so I could grab the boys and walk home for whatever I forgot. Or we could drive but the boys love walking here and back so I figured we could do that. Then she said yes, they were going and leaving in just a couple of hours. I hadn’t packed because I didn’t think they’d go. So I rushed and drove over there thinking I would take the boys out to the Dollar Tree to get a few craft supplies besides the ones I took with me. They left and about twenty minutes later, she texted saying it was snowing lightly and that I should take the chance to get out to the store if I needed anything before it began to snow here. I looked out the window and realized that it was too late. In the twenty minutes since they had left, it had begun to snow and there was already almost an inch out there and the snow was coming fast and heavily and the wind was blowing. Spencer convinced me to get his snow clothes on and take him out on the driveway. Of course, he didn’t stop at the driveway and he made me follow him, trying to catch up with him. He was fast, even in the snow.
It snowed all night long. Heavily. And it snowed most of the day on Wednesday. And the wind blew. Before long, the news was reporting that it was a record snowfall for Portland. Downtown Portland, which gets an average of less than one day of snow per year and that snow is trace amounts got over a foot of snow! Up here, in the foothills, we usually get more than downtown but we got less this time, about seven inches outside my door. My youngest daughter lives about ten miles away and she measured thirteen inches out in her yard. So yeah, we got a lot of snow. On Wednesday afternoon, the boys and I walked to my house so I could get a change of clothes because Tina and Chris were not able to get home that day because of the weather. It was a great excuse for them to play in the snow. There were lots of other kids out playing in it, too. While they played in the front year, I ran in and filled a tote bag with things I needed and some treats for the boys. When it was time to make the walk home (I didn’t want them staying out in the cold too long and although the walk is only about a half mile, because of the depth of the snow, it would take us about ten minutes or more) we put the tote bag in a little plastic snow disk that I pulled behind me all the way home.
That was Wednesday. Today is Sunday. The snow is still all here. We haven’t been above freezing since then so it’s sill all here. When I tried to drive my car home on Thursday, I couldn’t get it to start. Apparently, the cold zapped my battery. We eventually got it going and I was able to get home driving along the tracks of other cars but when I got to my driveway, I couldn’t get in so Chris had to come and shovel my driveway so I could get in.
I haven’t left home since then. Not just because of the snow. You might remember that I have been having horrible back pain. My back finally gave out on me on Friday when I tried to get out of bed. After two days of it hurting so much that I couldn’t walk without my cane and even at that it would take me very literally eleven minutes to get to the bathroom, which is only less than fifteen feet away from my couch, I took to the Internet to see if I could diagnose my problem. I did. By then, the pain was not along my entire back. It was just on my left side and it was way low and radiating down my leg. I discovered that it is, most likely, sciatica. Since then I have been applying heat, taking leftover pain pills a couple of times a day (long enough so that I can get a little sleep which I can’t do without the pain pills) and trying to get through the pain. It is quite literally a pain in the butt! I’ve tried to write this post since Friday but haven’t been able to get in a position where I could open the laptop and type without severe pain. Today, however, I woke up with a little less pain! There is still a lot of weakness so I’m still having to rely on my cane to get around inside the house…both for walking and for grabbing things closer to me. I still cannot bend over or reach up without pain but I am not going to complain because, for now, it’s so much better! I’m hoping it will continue to be better so that I can walk around, inside because there is still seven inches of snow outside! Walking is supposed to help work the muscle that is causing the pain.
Now we are looking forward to a warm up in temperature AND heavy rain. That means the snow will melt and we will, most likely, have flooding. We haven’t flooded here where I live in the past and I am hoping that we don’t flood here now. The last time we had this much (and even more) snow was in 2008 and we didn’t flood, although the mobile home park just a quarter of a mile away from here did flood. Crossing fingers. Cross your for me, too, pleas.
I haven’t been able to read this week. I have watched TV, well DVDs. I pulled out my DVD copies of an old show that I really used to love. It’s called Once And Again. It’s a late 90’s ABC show about two divorced parents who meet at school while dropping off their kids and end up in a relationship, with all the problems caused by life, kids, and exes. I’m hoping to maybe read today, after reading blogs. If the pain stays away, I can. If I don’t come around and read your blog, I apologize in advance. That probably will mean that the pain has returned.
What about you? What have you done this week? Has the weather effected you? What has been on your TV? Reading list? Please tell.
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Wasted Days And Wasted Nights 