Like Icicles

I will tell you now, that I like a routine as well as the next guy. I like things that occur on a regular, and therefore expected, rotation. I find that it helps make some sense out of what could very well be considered utter and absolute chaos. Not that I have any formal charges to make (at this time your Honor) against utter and absolute chaos, but it helps to know that some things besides death and taxes are going to take place at a given hour, in a certain place and with an acceptable degree of challenge. Take snow for an example. 

I love snow. I have lived through winters where it was considered a heat wave to reach freezing. The ATA, American Tubing Association, was born one frigid Thanksgiving night after a robust dinner when it seemed like fun to tie a truck inner tube to my ’67 Jeep and rip through the snow covered alfalfa fields at 40 mph. I used to ski regularly, until New Years Day in 1992 when I ducked into the lodge to check on the Rose Bowl (Huskies vs Wolverines) game only to return to find my planks stolen like a Pick 6. There was a time when that poetic freshly fallen silent shroud of snow added more romance to the blazing fire in my cabin than a hot toddy and and a dozen french kisses ever could. If I didn’t like the show, or winters in general, I would have moved back to Southern California many years ago. I will take a blanket of occasional snow over stacked Chevy’s on the freeway any day of the commuting week. 

But the last three days have put that philosophy to the test. As I mentioned to the propane driver, who backed his 12-wheeler into our drainage ditch two nights ago, this is the deepest accumulation I have seen in my forty years here. The power has been off as well as cable and phone service. Unless one has access to 4WD, AWD, chains, or a helicopter, what you have in the bodega is what you’re having for dinner. There have been cancellations, delays, accidents, SOS’s and more cautionary warnings issued than the Coast Guard sends out in most years. 

This is not a complaint. While my cabin has been without power for several days I have been house and dog sitting for my neighbors whose beautiful home has weathered the storm without significant damage. The fire has been ready to light for three days, it almost calls out to me for a light. Yo dude, got a match? The house also comes with the use of an incredible piece of technology known as the Subaru. Naturally with Symmetrical All Wheel Drive. This was my first taste of this delicious driving nectar. In two words: It rocks. 

It is raining now, having heated all the way to almost 36 degrees. The slush created will most likely freeze overnight. I have a 0530 spin class. It is my routine. I will be up at 0430 in preparation. As I have many times in the past I will get up even earlier, 0400, just in case the black ice demands that I improvise and hike. 

The real nice thing about routines - is that every once in a while one needs to get out of them in order to more deeply appreciate their value. 

Very much like snow. Or icicles.