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Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Looking out and not down.

I find this piece of advice to work in almost every circumstance - in the mirror, one can zero in on a single eye.  And ignore the rest.  Say, not looking down to discover one cannot see their shoes.  Driving - over high bridges.  Nuff said.  Outside - trying desperately to find beauty in the endless frost/snow/ice.  Of course, the not-looking-down part could also be a little dicey vis a vis patches of ice.

I could have used that last piece of advice last night.  I had left work early to donate blood - I used to donate on a regular basis, way back, many lives ago.  I even was a regular platelet donor, a process that would take almost 2 hours.  Then the new hires at the Red Cross had less than stellar phlebotomy skills and I would leave looking like a black and blue pincushion.   A very interesting church (architecturally speaking - it's round) that I pass twice a day on my way to/from work, hosts regular blood drives.  One of the types they need is mine, so I always mean to leave early and stop on my way home, but - since it is more than 5 minutes from there to work - I always forget.  This time I remembered and made an appointment online.  Once there, I discovered a few things about myself:  I am chatty, as in yadda, yadda, yadda, when I am the slightest bit nervous.  I don't mind the needle in the arm, but the prick on my finger tip makes me woozy.  And I had to get pricked twice, since they couldn't find any iron in my blood the first time - due to the fact that my hands were so cold, the blood really hadn't made it up to my fingertips.  I was allowed to warm them up and the second try garnered plenty of iron.  Ouch.  I am stubborn.  I wanted to leap off the gurney, grab my coat and head home with my bottle of free water.  I almost got away with it, having successfully cowed the young nurselet, but then I ran into the formidable nurse who had been in charge of me and could easily read my mind.  I meekly sat down for five minutes with a packet of raisins.

Anyhoo, short story too long, I headed home and was delighted to see that my neighbor had plowed around my mailbox - it rose in a snowy, icy island, clear enough for even my picky postal carrier to reach.  I then looked up and out to enjoy the fact that it wasn't pitch dark, my foot slipped on the gas pedal, I hit a patch of ice, and went plowing into the giant ice/snow berm at the side of the driveway.  Where I was firmly mired. 

I would like to say that I handled the situation with grace and aplomb.  I would like to, but I can't.  A blue cloud lifted over me and sailed down the street.  Even the dogs ceased barking frantically, and just let out little yips.  I stomped in, let them out and then called my farmer neighbor.  I knew he was still at the barn, since I drove past on my way home.  Yup, he would stop on his way home.  He had me pulled clear in three minutes. I couldn't even mollify my bruised ego with a glass of wine, having been given a long list of 'don'ts' by the Head Nurse.  I had to settle for a cup of herbal tea.  It just wasn't the same.

18 comments:

MrsDuncanMahogany said...

Bugger. That's a "day" in a nutshell. But thank you for donating blood! :)

2 Tramps said...

Sounds like the weather has gotten to you - dear Mother Nature likes to be a winner, always, doesn't she? And when she is dating Old Man Winter, things can get really interesting. I know that saying that this will soon pass and be a distant memory is rather cliché... The bright side? You can have wine tonight!! (And it is very good of you to donate blood in such awful weather!)

Sue said...

I wish I could wave my magic wand and make winter come to an end. But then --I would also be rich, beautiful, and living someplace tropical and wouldn't care about winter. How many more months of this crapola????????????????

Susan said...

Mrs DM - Yes, indeedy. It was a day. I was very pleasantly surprised to notice a regular stream of donors.

Susan said...

2T - Hurray! I can have a glass of wine tonight! I know that there is an end to this, but it always seems just out of reach. I wonder if I will have my usual winter amnesia in August and long for cold weather...if so, feel free to shoot me.

Susan said...

Sue - By February, winter appears to be stubbornly holding on with no intention of letting spring in. Bollocks! I can't believe how happy I was this morning to see that the temperature was on the plus side - 1 degree! It is so sad.

Gill - That British Woman said...

thank goodness for good neighbours like you have!!

True story this: as we lived in Great Britain prior to 1989, we are NOT allowed to donate blood, as we MAY be carriers of mad cow disease. I kid you not. This is in Canada. So as far as I am concerned, it's their loss!!

Mama Pea said...

I think I would have been tempted to take care of the necessities (putting the white wine in the refrigerator), put on my jammies and have the glass of wine anyway! If you had to slip on the ice and get stuck somewhere, glad it was where you did. (Gotta love a man with a big tractor!)

Susan said...

Gill - We had to sit and read a 'book' before even starting the vetting process. One of the questions was if we had lived in or resided in Great Britain for a certain period of time (3 yrs?) Also anywhere in Europe, never mind the diseases I have never heard of. Then you had to go over everything again. The easiest part of the whole process was the actual blood letting.

Susan said...

Mama Pea - I should have checked in with you. You always have such good advice! I mean, what's the worst that could happen? I would have passed out on the sofa and would have been covered with furry bodies. At least I wouldn't have frozen to death. This neighbor is such a lifesaver for me - houses my cow, gets and stacks my hay, plows my driveway, gets me unstuck.

Tyche's Minder said...

Um, wait, you have a cow?

Laurie said...

Yeah, what Tyche said...you have a cow? Isn't it wonderful how neighbors help each other? Sounds like you have a good one. Sorry your day was stinky, though.

Carolyn said...

Wait. Aren't raisins dried grapes? And isn't wine just fermented grapes? The Head Nurse gave you raisins, so she must know that raisins and wine are the same thing.....I would'a had a HUGE glass o'wine with the Nurse's apparent blessing.

Acorn to Oak said...

Sounds like quite a day!

I like Carolyn's comment about wine being the same as raisins. ;-)

Janice Grinyer said...

Im not sure if anyone verbally said Thank you to you for donating, But I will now -

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

Cat Eye Cottage said...

Thank goodness for good neighbors!

Fiona said...

ahh...I have to ask..do you cry when your supremely ticked off? The last time I got the dodge 4x4 stuck it was on the way to work in my field as the driveway was drifted in....it took the neighbor an hour to dig me out..then when I got to work the boss said I should have given myself more more time [I had left for work and hour early] That did it...cry etc. The sympathy of oh don't cry [shoulder pat] just mad me more angry! It was lucky there was a parking lot to shovel!
Thank you for giving blood! Plan on a weekend wine orgy!

Unknown said...

Well atleast you wren't hurt :) And your farmer pal was home!!!