The icy rain we got last night has already caused some chaos, and it’s already bruised me up pretty bad, too.
I woke up this morning and went outside to get some firewood. Our woodstove is our primary source of heat this time of year (our furnace just sucks up too much electricity for how effective it is), so I went outside to get some firewood. I generally load a bunch of wood into a back storage hallway that’s just off our backyard patio into our house. The icy rain made our concrete patio pretty dangerous, so I walked carefully as I went across it to get to our wood pile. I grabbed a few rounds to put in the hallway, and made the attempt to walk gingerly across the patio. I took two steps, with an armload of wood, slipped, and went flying. I flew down forward, onto my knees, with the firewood coming down on top of me. I bruised the living bejeebers out of both knees, scraped up one of them, and bruise my elbow as well.
I couldn’t walk for a few minutes, so as I’m laying there in pain on the patio, my six year old daughter — who’s the only one up with me at this time of the morning — is looking out the window with a look like “Oh my is he dead?” I looked back at her to make sure she knew I was OK, and would come back in the house when I could get up again.
The problem was we still needed firewood as it was dang cold outside, so I had to get some more wood chopped and into the hallway. Needless to say, once I got back on my feet, I didn’t cross the patio unless I had to — I threw the wood into the hallway from a distance. I got the wood inside, got a fire started, and then just plopped down on the floor with some ice on my knees.
I eventually made it to work this morning (and was greeted with four inches of snow) after trying to loosen up my knee. It still hurts like a bugger (not like it did this morning). Once my Advil kicks in I’ll be OK.
In the grand scheme of things, however, I’m just glad I’m not in Colorado right now. My brother’s in Fort Collins right now, and getting beat up as well.
Comments
Still, it makes for a pretty amusing read. 🙂
Electric furnace, eh? I never understood why central water heating never became popular in the U.S., since it is a whole lot more energy efficient than electric heating. I suppose it has to do with combining the heating unit with the air conditioning.
Nothing like an old fashioned wood furnace for the holidays, though! Merry Christmas, Jake!
I’m glad you’re not injured too seriously. Have you tried those Yaktrax things you slip over your shoes? When my walkway is really icy I use those. They’re easy to slip on and off, you hardly notice you’re wearing them and they work really well. Take care.
Paul: Ideally, I’d have radiant water heat, as I’ve heard that works great, but retro-fitting that to my house would be a pain.
Dave: Yes, I’ve actually seen those things before, and I’m seriously considering getting a pair now — or stealing a co-worker’s.