When I came into the cabin last week, stressed from driving in the snow and not being able to get up (either side of) the driveway, I looked around for my laptop, and realized I didn't have it. I swore pretty darn professionally, and thought about what kinds of things I could do to pass the time without my laptop. I could read, I could sleep, I could record podcasts (unless, of course, the memory was full, in which case, I wouldn't be able to delete anything off of it), but the activities I usually depended on my laptop for (audio editing, writing, watching movies, reading articles I'd saved from the internet) were right out.*
Maybe I could grab a notebook and write that way (I'd have to, if I wanted to not break my daily writing streak), but that had always been a pain, and it has been over a year since I wrote anything in there.
But then I remembered putting something behind the seat in the truck, and I went back out there and found the laptop there, as well as a loaf of week-old bread.
Well, today, the drive was in the rain, but it was warmer out, and it wasn't until I got to the top of the canyon that I saw snow everywhere. Instead of snow-covered, the dirt road that leads to the lake was mud-covered, and I had zero problem driving through . . . until I got to the little road that leads to the cabin, and at that point, I think my little Toyota would've gotten stuck. But I was driving the truck once again (my nephews wanted to go fishing this morning, so I told them to go, and I'd leave as soon as they'd brought the truck back, but they left the darn thing smelling like dead fish), and made it to the driveway, where it promptly got stuck in pretty much exactly the same spot the truck stalled out the first time last week, except I just left it there, choosing not to get it deep embedded like last Saturday.
Sit-ups Today: 111
Sit-ups In October: 2394
But here I am, sitting around in the cold (I built a fire, but it promptly went out), too stupid to put a coat on, but typing away.
I tried to drive up to the dam again, as I have every trip this year . . . except for last week, when I got the truck stuck in the driveway.
Well, today was a little worse.
I backed down the driveway (all ten feet or so) and then started up the road, which was half snow and half mud, and when I got to the turn at the end of the road, it became just snow (I guess it's too shady to melt or something) and went uphill. And wouldn't you know it, the truck wouldn't make it up the hill, and I figured I'd have to back down and find a place to turn around. But I couldn't see the road behind me . . . and I backed right off the road and onto the soft shoulder. And there, the truck got stuck.
I couldn't go forward, I couldn't go back, I tried giving it all the gas I could, but stopped when I could smell smoke. I got out of the truck, and the tires had just been spinning in muddy divots, and there was lots of smoke coming off the tires.
I thought maybe someone would come along and help push the truck out of the hole, but I haven't seen anybody else since I got up here (guess they're a lot smarter than me). Well, I didn't waste any time, I walked back to the cabin (actually breaking into a run when I got to the driveway) and grabbed the shovel I'd used to dig myself out last week. Then I walked back to the truck, which I'd left running, half-in half-out of the road.
I dug a trench in front of the tires, tossing heavy chunks of half-frozen mud behind me (getting my pantlegs good and dirty in the process), and then tried the truck again. I got it moving forward a bit, and tried to back it onto the road, but it got stuck again--it's a mystery how I ended up so far off the road, except that the truck must've slipped considerably in the mud when I was sliding.
I got out again and this time dug both in front and behind the tires, and tossed the shovel in the back. I got into the truck again . . . and saw, for the first time, the switch to change to 4 Wheel Drive. A little voice inside my head asked if my mother had any children that lived, and I flipped the switch. The truck moved forward easily, getting out of the mud and back onto the road, then up the hill where I had done nothing but slide earlier.
I was rather disgusted with myself, but hey, what else is new? At least I didn't have to worry about getting stuck again today, tomorrow, or in the future. Just don't tell anyone about my stupidity, alright?
Push-ups Today: 100
Push-ups In Octobre: 2724
To end out the night, I watched a 1974 movie, THE FRONT PAGE, with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, which I had picked up because it was a remake of Howard Hawks' HIS GIRL FRIDAY, which I quite enjoyed (the original starred Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant, and while most of the film was beat-for-beat the same, the main character's gender had been switched). It was modernized (ie, there was more profanity than an HBO stand-up special populated entirely by sailors), but set in 1929.
Late, late at night, I was watching a second movie, when a warning came on the screen that the battery was low. I ignored it for thirty seconds or so, too lazy to move, then grabbed the laptop and took it over to the table to plug it in (better safe than sorry, you know?).
And while I was reaching on the floor for the plug, the laptop shut down. I counted to about four before I got it plugged in again, but it was too late. The system wouldn't just start up again, but insisted on restarting, and sure enough, the stuff I had been working on (including this blog), was gone. If I had only gotten up to plug it in ten (or even five) seconds earlier, it would've all been safe. Or, seeing it another way, if the laptop had only warned me when the battery was at ten percent (or even five), I would've gotten it electricity in time. Great.
Words Today: 1333
Words In Octubre: 14,678
*Two years ago, I didn't come up to the cabin for three weeks because I didn't have a laptop (and it occurred to me later I could've checked one out from the library, if I was only using it to write)--not just one missed opportunity, but three!
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