Thunder Toe for Thunder Snow

Well, the blizzard of 2011 has arrived and although it is a doozy, I am a wee bit disappointed--where's the 20+ inches of snow they promised us?  All this talk of having more snow than 1967.  Pshaw!  I suppose I should hold my tongue until it's over, as it's still snowing and blowing and howling and....well, blizzarding. I remember the snowstorms of 1967 and 1979, each delicious in their own way.  The Blizzard of 2011 isn't half as exciting.  Maybe that's because I am not a kid and am in no mood to make a snow fort. Maybe it's my disappointment in the volume of snow....

.....maybe it's because I didn't go out and buy bread and milk once I heard the storm was coming.  What IS up with that? Why is it the first thing I think of when I hear there is going to be a blizzard is, "I better go out and buy some bread and milk?"  (For the record, I picture a gallon of whole milk and Wonder White bread.)  I don't even drink milk milk--I drink soy milk--so why the heck am I thinking I should go buy a gallon of milk from a cow? I certainly don't eat Wonder white bread anymore.  I guess it's just a childhood flashback kind of thing.  I do know that I stayed far away from Wal-mart yesterday, despite this thought.  I'm no fool.  The first of the month is bad enough--add a pending blizzard to the first day of the month, forget it.  The only way it could have been worse is had it been a Saturday on the first the day before a blizzard.  Poke.eyes.out.now!

The dogs are not entertained by all this blizzarding, but that howling wind with the snow that hurts really seems to encourage a quick taking care of business.  I think they started pooping before they even got out the garage door, in an attempt to be as efficient as possible.

The street has not been plowed. With drifts at least four feet high, I'm not sure plowing would anything but a waste of time.  I need to go to the doctor (for a mysterious toe ailment), but certainly will not be going any time soon. It's not like my toe is going to fall off or anything.....well, at least I don't think so.  I've kinda freaked out some people on Book de la Face with my foot-photo-postings and thus I'm not sure if or if not my toe is going to spontaneously combust.  The injury has aptly been named "Thunder-toe" by a FB friend.  So, I guess we can say I am completely in the blizzard spirit with my "Thunder-toe for Thunder-snow!"

I've NEVER missed a day of work do to weather--or, a toe injury, for that matter.  (Of course, I wasn't working in 1979 or 1967, so I would have missed work on those days but I was just a child, so no missed work.)  Had I no toe injury (of which I shall speak in a moment), I would try to go.  This mentality makes the wife incensed.  But, what does she know--teachers LIVE for snow days.  They don't have that built in stupidity--er, I mean stamina that says one should go to work when it is snowing.  They PRAY for snow.  (Side note: If you would like to read about "Hell Hath No Fury Like a Teacher Waiting for a Snow Day," please refer to my blog entry from 2006 at http://addiwp.blogspot.com/2006/12/snow-day-hell-hath-no-fury-like-teacher.html ) 

About the toe....I was sitting at the kitchen table Monday night, eating my rice and beans (which were quite delicious, I might add), when I suddenly felt this very weird sensation in my left foot.  It was enough that I mentioned it immediately to the wife.  I pulled off my sock and quite to my amazement, the side of my foot was swelling right before my eyes!  I called the wife over and showed her the "event."  It was swelling so much that the skin was visibly stretching a bit.  It hadn't hurt but then it hurt in a dull, aching, stretching way.  I was so enthralled that I took a photo of the foot as it swelled.  Had I been thinking, I would have taken a video.

This perplexed me.  I mean, I was sitting at the table doing nothing more than chewing. I wasn't moving, I didn't kick anything, nothing kicked me, nothing bit me.  I hadn't dropped anything on my foot, I hadn't gone walking or running, I didn't wear a pair of tight shoes (in fact, I had been wearing my very comfortable, very generously-sized Doc Martens all day--which are like pillows on my feet).  I hadn't done much of anything.  I went to work, came home from work, ate rice and beans.  So, why my foot was spontaneously swelling was beyond me.

So, in true FB form, I posted the photo on Book de la Face and finished my rice and beans.

The Book de la Face people started to freak out.  I had to end the madness by assuring them I was posting the photos to be a weirdo smarty-pants and because I knew people would have some hilarious diagnoses.  I had to stop posting photos and instead promise them I would go to the doctor.  The problem at the time of this promise? I wasn't going anywhere in that weather.  Disappointing blizzard or not, there was no traveling to get medical attention during the evening's weather.


And so, I am sitting here this morning, drinking coffee, typing a blog and waiting to go to the doctor.  I'll have plenty of time to shave my legs and paint my toenails before I can get out of the driveway.  So my record remains perfect, I want to make it perfectly clear: I am calling off of work because of my toe, not the weather.  As soon as the roads are at least clear enough to make it out of the subdivision, I'll be on my way.

And, you know I will post photos of whatever the outcome may be.  Perhaps I'll stop and get some milk and bread on the way home......