GET ME BACK TO ... "NORMAL"

I am a decent, law abiding person. I've never done anything against the law.

Wait a minute !! Maybe it would be more truthful to change that last sentence in the paragraph above to: "I've broken the law a few times, but THE MAN has never caught me".

No, no, that's way too dramatic.

Let me try: "I've bent the law a few times -- nothing to cause anyone any physical or financial harm -- but I've never been accused with doing anything which was against the law".

That's a bit better, at least as a stretched ... "confession".

I wrote that because I have to state, for a fact ... I WOULDN'T LAST A DAY IN PRISON !!

I am going stir-crazy just being in the house as much as I am right now. I couldn't make it in a jail cell. I can not wait for the snow to melt & warmer temperatures to return.

I want the temperature to be back in the 90's. I want to be outdoors, wearing flip-flops & shorts, with a nice bronze glow of a tan.

I'd even like wasps & mosquitoes to be buzzing around my head.

I miss Summer time.

I hate Winter.

I hate wearing layers of clothes, even while in the house. It's a necessary form of dress when it is 17 degrees outside -- as it was when I went walking at 9 A.M. today -- but I've got sweaters & shirts on, INSIDE the house, just trying to stay ... "comfortable".

I'm "stuck" here at home. It's cold, there is snow all over the ground & the roads are just now becoming free & clear of ice.

I learned back in the Winter of 1967/68 -- when I first arrived in Memphis, Tennessee -- that the cities of the South have no means of removing snow & ice from roads.

The cities & it's people are dependent on two things -- not necessarily working in tandem -- to "remove" the frozen precipitation: the sun, &/or, warmer temperatures.

It snowed Sunday. Today is Wednesday & FINALLY the roads are clearing off. Even my driveway above -- where I shoveled a "path" on Monday -- is almost devoid of snow, thanks to the sun.

When it comes to Mother Earth, however, the actual melting of the snow/ice on the ground takes a bit longer -- meaning, days -- to melt off, especially when the air temperatures are as cold as they have been; below freezing since Monday.

Wherever the sun can shine on the road, the snow has melted away. Still, areas when the trees cast shadows on the roads, can remain slick & treacherous from ice/snow. I've learned that in the past ... the hard way.

I last drove my truck Saturday morning. I ran the engine yesterday for awhile as it remained parked next to the house. I don't plan on driving again until tomorrow at the earliest. By then, most all the roads should be clear & drivable without worries.

For now, I'll stay "locked up" in my "prison", waiting for the weather to warm, UPS to make it's delivery [due this past Monday. (Woops. Just arrived)], reading newspapers two-days old [delivery issues - weather related] & trying not to eat too much, all the while combined with a lack of excerise & activity outdoors.

I just want to get back to ... "normal".