Cabin Fever

Like millions of other Americans, I am snowed in. I don't know how much snow we received here, but there are drifts two to three feet deep around my house, and I've seen reports here in town of drifts up to five feet deep.

This is a good opportunity to practice that solitude about which I speak so frequently, but after just one day, I'm getting cabin fever.

I tried getting out yesterday. I went to a breakfast place just about a mile from the house. It was closed – the first time I've ever seen it closed by winter weather.

I got stuck in the parking lot. Two guys were kind enough to help push me out. We have a large enclave of Moroccan immigrants here, and they appeared to be part of that group.

The VW beetle, I learned, is not very good in snow. It sits much closer to the ground than the minivan. I might not have gotten stuck if I had taken the van out instead of the beetle.

Coming home from the restaurant, I decided not to take the snow-packed street I had come on. Instead, I went out of my way north to take a main thoroughfare that I thought would be plowed and clear. It wasn't. The city used to plow what it calls 'designated snow routes,' but it appears they have stopped that practice and now just close the city when it snows.

So, I got stuck twice more. Once I had to stop when a person just walked off a curb in front of me. The second time, a police car made a U-turn from the oncoming lane and pulled diagonally across the street with lights flashing. As soon as I came to a full stop – and was bogged down – the officer drove off again.

I came close to abandoning the car at that point, but fortunately, someone in a big pickup came along and pushed me out of the snow.

So, I will stay in today. The dog refuses to go out at all, but is getting tired of being cooped up. She's barking in her crate right now, in fact. Rollo the cat is in. But Gastón wandered off Saturday and I haven't seen him since. He is much less prone to wandering off than Rollo is, which is why I didn't worry too much when he didn't come in Saturday night. My next door neighbor told me she saw him Sunday afternoon. I have to say I doubt he will survive this, unless someone has let him in a house. The temperature as I write this is 7 degrees, and it has been in the single digits for almost 24 hours. We don't have above-freezing temps in the forecast until Friday, and then for only a short while.

I've seen one trail of dog tracks in the snow since the storm hit. All the other strays and neighborhood pets appear to be hiding out. I wonder how many will survive this.

On the plus side, the house is warm, I have food and the electricity has stayed on. I still have Internet connectivity. I haven't been out to the garage to check the pipes, but the water in the house is flowing freely.

I had decided to do Tricycle Magazine's 28-Day Meditation Challenge, which began yesterday. But I was so frayed by the experience of getting back home I didn't sit. I guess I should have looked at that as an opportunity to meditate on the experience, but I didn't. I also have a touch of head cold, and meditation doesn't go too well when you're sniffling and coughing the whole time.

But I imagine I'll sit today. I've nothing else to do.