BLUES AND BLAHS!

I am praying hard that we have a decent Summer because this
past Winter has been the worst I've been through in years.
Any more Winters like that and I may not be long for this
world.

It didn't help at all that I had an accident that cracked
open my head, giving me a shiner to beat all shiners. I passed
out cold and on the way down hit my head against the edge of
the small desk in the hallway and shattered my eyeglasses as
they flew off my face, suffered a concussion that took me a
week to figure out what in hang happened. If it weren't for
Laddie, my dog, I may well have been lying there on the floor
for a lot longer, but he was all over me like a bad rash. He
saved my sorry asp and woke me up and helped me to stand up
so I could go see in the mirror what was hurting so badly.
From the top of my forehead all the way down to my cheek bone,
it was not a pretty sight.

Worse was that I do not have a second pair of prescription
glasses and had not exactly budgeted for a new pair which ended
up costing me five hundred and twenty-five dollars cold hard cash,
which took an entire month and then some before I could get new
ones.

For a month I kept seeing everything in threes, feeling totally
helpless and swooning without any memory at all as to why I
fainted dead away. I'm not the fainting kind. When I was finally
able to safely make my way to the local Clinic, without losing
my balance in the process, as I negotiated piles upon piles of
snowbanks like some kind of mountain goat, the doctor was
properly concerned but could do nothing about concussions other
than to tell me to put ice packs on my face. For this they get
paid?

I figured that as long as I was not pooning, I hadn't had a
stroke, so as much as my brain was rattled, I was at least in
one piece.

I finally figured out all by myself why I passed out but not
what I could do about it. I spent most of the winter passing
out several times and hurting myself. Not fun.

What caused it? Heat! Yes, heat! The inside temperature, which
is entirely out of my control, rises to 85-90 degrees Farenheit.
I can't take the heat in the Summer, let alone that kind of
temperature in the middle of Winter. It's dangerous! My homeostasis
can no longer make quick adjustments when the temperature rises
and falls from 70F to 85F within hours. It fluctuates that badly.

I'm either freezing or boiling, or both at the same time. It's crazy,
I know, but I don't control the furnace and there are no thermostats
in here. To complicate things, I broke out into a severe allergic
reaction to the heat that has left me with sores all over my body.
Itches like crazy and, even with a prescription from the doctor, the
sores have still not healed. Even the dog pants and drinks so much
water that he has to go pee every half hour. It's ridiculous.

Not looking foward to Summer at all. Just praying that it will be
a kind one.

Time to move. Easier said than done. And that's the short of it.

"QUEBEC'S ICE STORM OF THE CENTURY"

Jest to get this morning's ball rolling...

MARCH 4, 1971

Today marks the anniversary of

"QUEBEC'S ICE STORM OF THE CENTURY".

Well at least that's what all the Newspaper headlines screamed.

No ordinary North of the 49th Parallel storm that was: 50cm (1.6 ft) of snow,
combined with gale force winds leaving Quebeckers in the dark without
either heat or electricity for weeks in some areas.
That's when you find out who your friends are.

Not everyone owns a home size power generator, and those that were
lucky enough not to have one to mushed their Huskies and sleds to
their local Home Depot, raided every generator they could find.

I said: There's nothing like candlelight to warm the cockles of
one's heart. Creates a nice warm glow and maybe even some foolin'
around time under mounds of blankies and duvets.

I don't know anything about heart-less-ness, so I got in touch with
just about every organization that was calling for help for people
who needed a warm place to stay and maybe a cuppa. Turned the
house into an army-style barracks with a bunch of strangers
wandering around amidst the antiques. Translate: me, antique.
Yes, yes, obviously we own a generator.

Those of us who remember March 4, 1971 have not only wonderful
memories and stories to tell, but fondly recall how our American
neighbours just to the south of the Border sent a small army of
their own firefighters, telephone linesmen, emergency technicians
in all sorts of fields and generally behaved as good neighbours do.
It's what's refered to as "paying it forward". Canadians and Americans
on border Provinces and States often work together on disasters
of all kinds.

International Cooperation is alive and well.

Those were the day's my friends.

WHERE'S THE CHICKEN?

This isn't about chickens at all.
It's about finding my own weblog.

Or maybe it's about --

WINTER!

Too much of it. It's fweezing cold here.
The ole' bod is caving in under it all.

"Snow mixing with sleet and rain" = "snice".
36F, feels like 17F! SE wind: 22mph.

If the cold doesn't get you, the snow will,
if the snow doesn't get you, the shoveling will.

Wish I were in Nice.