Here We Go Again, Trapped by Weather

Val is not getting out in teen temperatures with a windchill in single digits. Nope. Not even scratchers are worth that level of discomfort. A younger Val, who walked faster, might layer up and venture out. Not this old Val. I made that decision when I saw the forecast. Saturday was my last outing, and it was 28 degrees with a chilly wind. 

Most of our ice/snow has melted. Most. Not the thick layer on the upper gravel road and the lower gravel road. The hills have been plowed by some kind denizen of our enclave with a tractor. I slid a lot in T-Hoe on the lower road by the creek and Mailbox Row. Not a big deal. No traffic, and trees to stop me if I went off the level road. It's being cold that I am avoiding.

Our porch is clear, mostly, because it's under roof. The steps to the garage are clear, and the concrete sidewalk to it, because Hick sweeps and sprinkles salt. The brick sidewalk that branches off, and goes to the carport where Hick parks SilverRedO, is NOT clear! It's a 4-inch slab of ice!

I worry about Hick walking across it in the morning and evening. I suggested that he go in the garage, get the garage door opener out of A-Cad, and exit and enter through the garage. There's only a small section of solid ice behind where he parks SilverRedO. The A-Cad side of the garage concrete is mostly clear. Hick declined that suggestion. 

When I got home Saturday, I was still worried about Hick. I spied a rake leaning against the wall of the garage in front of T-Hoe. Not a fan-shaped flimsy rake, but the long kind, like people step on and the handle whacks them in the face. I took that rake out the people-door, to see if I could clear away some of that ice slab so Hick didn't have to risk a fall when he got home.

I first tried raking the ice. Nothing. No furrows, no marks. It was quite solid. Then I tried to chop it with the rake. Nothing. Not even any holes to roughen up the surface. I wielded that rake like a hoe. The ice wasn't having it.

Hick made it into the house just fine. I kept cautioning him for the next morning.

"I'm afraid you might fall and crack your head open, and I won't know, and you'll freeze to death lying there all day."

"I'll be fine. I'll walk in the rocks by the house. Or by the garage."

Let the record show that there is just a sliver of the lava rocks that line the brick sidewalk. Hick might get one foot on those rocks, but the other would have to be on the ice. Hick is not a vehicle! It's not like he can have two wheels on the ice, and two wheels with traction, rolling along at the same time. Hick will have to put his weight on an ice foot to move the rock foot forward.

There's no telling Hick anything. I still worry about him. He has strict orders to text me when he gets to town. He does. Sort of. Sunday he left at 6:00, and sent me a text at 9:00 that he was at his SUS2.5 (Storage Unit Store 2.5), but had customers and forgot. I'm pretty sure he could have been unconscious on the sidewalk after those three hours. I'm also sure I don't want to walk outside in the wind during the single-digit morning hours to check on him.