One photo--I'm bushed.

I took this photo on the Hawthorne Bridge, looking back at downtown Portland, about 7:20 a.m.

Here's why I'm tired.

Today at work I was at the front desk so I couldn't see outside, but both Mama and Lamont told me that it had snowed a little bit, off and on, all day. It was 25 when I left this morning at 6:15 a.m. to catch the first bus. I don't know what it was when I left the building with Lamont about 3 p.m., but it wasn't biting cold, nor was the wind blowing very much.

Lamont came to meet me so that he could go with me to REI to get another set of Yak Trax. One of mine came off somewhere this morning, either on one of the two buses or on the walk between them and the building. I just bet it was when I got off the last bus on the Hawthorne Bridge. The snow plows have pushed so much snow up against the sidewalks that when I stepped off the bus, my left foot went down to my knee in soft snow! Maybe that's where it came off. Who knows? But I called Lamont and asked him to call around about the Yak Trax--thank goodness he found them for me and had them held at the Customer Service desk at the REI in the Pearl. And he said he'd walk with me in case I needed to hold onto someone! I made it pretty good, but I was sure glad he was with me. I guess we walked about 6 or 7 blocks getting to the bus and then to the store. Then we walked about 11 blocks from the store to Burnside where I waited for a 20 bus. He started walking home after making sure I was OK, which I was. But a bus still hadn't come after 30 minutes, so I started walking the 23 blocks home.

At any time of the year 23 blocks would be quite a walk for a 61-year-old who's not in tip-top shape, but with the snow it was some kind of walk. And 4/5 of it was uphill, getting steeper by the block! And guess what? When I got to the Fred Meyer stop, two 20 buses came. The first one, the driver opened the door and hollered, "The 20 doesn't go beyond here." Then he turned left and headed up Morrison. He turned right where I saw that first stuck bus yesterday morning. But he didn't get stuck. I didn't stick around to see if the second one did--I just started walking again. At the corner of Burnside and NW 22nd, I stopped to take the photo of the sidewalk, which I'll post on Christmas Day.

I really never got cold on that long walk, just sweaty inside all of my outerwear! To tell you the truth, when I walked by Elephant's Deli, I almost went in, sat down at the bar and had a drink and a hamburger and fries! The only thing that stopped me was that outerwear, unzipping two raincoats and a fleece vest! Whew. And I might have gotten a chill when I went back out to walk the half block to our building, all zipped up in-damp-inside-outerwearof course. I've managed to stay well and I intend to stay well, but to do that I have to stay smart, right?

I came into the apartment, went straight into the dressing room attached to the bathroom, peeled off both coats, my hat and scarf, and my fleece vest before toddling into the living room and sitting down in my chair, asking Mama to please come take off my boots for me. I'd had them for 3 hours and 15 minutes by then. I was stiff, too, from the effort, not the cold. Sweet thing that she is, she got them off and gave me my shoes, then made me a grilled cheese sandwich. Now I've enjoyed it and we shared the last of our pecan pie.

We are open tomorrow, as far as I know right now--I have to call the inclement weather number in the early morning. It's supposed to snow again, maybe 3-8 inches on the valley floor, which is where we are, by tomorrow night. It might be snow, then freezing rain, the snow again. I just looked out the kitchen window! It's already snowing!

One final story, then I'll go take Duncan outside before we hit the hay. Y'all know how short his legs are and how deep this snow is. So yesterday morning before I left for work, when I went out to walk him, I had decided to take him into the middle of the street where the cars and plows had made the snow at least level. Poor guy. I don't know if it was the cold air or the fact that it was later than usual, but just as I started to put him down, I felt something on my hand. When I looked, you know what I saw, right? Little golden drops! Yep, he'd peed on me, on my coat and my pants leg. Let me tell you, I set that little dog down real fast, he finished, I picked him up again when a car approached, put him back down to finish his business which I picked up with the plastic bag. As quick as possible, I got us back into the apartment. "Mama!" I said, "I need help." I explained what had happened. She wet a cloth for me which we used to wipe/wash the water-repellent coat and my pants leg. Then I asked, "Could you please had me the Febreze?" Which she did. I saturated all of the wiped/washed fabric and left for the walk to work. Between Mama and the Febreze, I didn't attract any untoward attention, even in the packed MAX and/or buses. Yea!