TMI Thursday: Recess

It's TMI Thursday my friends. For more stories that will entertain and disgust you at the same time go to LiLu's joint for this week's full list. And now, on to the fun!

In the past week two, count ‘em, two of my colleagues have ended up on crutches after slipping on some of the lovely frozen precipitation covering our fair city and it’s environs. Turns out, according to my friend’s X-ray, a broken ankle isn’t really a broken ankle.

It’s actually a broken leg. At least hers is. She said she actually heard the bone “CRACK” when her fibula let go.

Ouch.

That, and seeing all the giant piles of snow everywhere, brought me back. Back to yesteryear. Back to recess at Briar Glen Elementary school one January 18, 19(year redacted to protect the old and decrepit).

It’d snowed a lot that winter. Yes, a whole bunch more than we’ve gotten here in the past couple of weeks. According to the National Weather Service, we got 89.7 inches of snow that winter (that’s just about 7.5 feet for those without a calculator), the most snow the city ever had before or since, although this year is shaping up as a doozie.

My school, and everywhere else for that matter, faced the same problem we here in the D.C. area face – what the Hell do you do with all that snow? The solution, then as now, plow it up into towering 7 or 8 or 10-foot tall piles. Well, they looked towering to me as I was then only 4 or so feet tall having only completed about two-thirds of my growth.

Probably not the smartest idea, ya know, putting great, big piles of snow around the playground. It took us about 17 seconds to figure out these were great things to play on and even, dare I say it, to jump from.

You just follow the kid in front of you up one side iceberg and then: Wheeee! You jump from the precipice into the soft, pillowy embrace of the snow below. I should point out, the teachers were watching us do this. I can’t even imagine kids being allowed to do this kind of thing today. The whole thing just screams out in capital letters LAWSUIT!!

Where was I, oh yes, at the precipice. For once, I decided to look before I leapt. The snow in the landing area was looking a little thin so I decided to aim a little to the left.

Like Joe Theismann taking the snap from center on Nov. 19, 1985, and having no idea it was his last as L.T. came rushing around the end, I still didn’t know I’d never play baseball again. Not that I was any good at it, but still, all my friends played baseball and only the strange weird kids played that sissified foreign soccer-type game. Ha, who ever thought of that whole “can’t use your hands” crap? Tweren’t no ‘Merican I can guaran-damn-tee you that my friend. (If you want, here’s some coverage of the sack, you get a really good view of Joe's leg at about the :52 second mark. Prepare to cringe.)

That fresh patch of snow I was heading for at what seemed like terminal velocity was crisp, clean and just waiting for someone to break its virginal surface. I breached that barrier and made a shocking, shocking I say, discovery.

Did you know when 3 feet of snow falls it effectively hides a fire hydrant that stands just 2-foot-6?

If I’d know how to swear at that tender age (a shocking oversight on the part of our educational system, my parents and big sisters I say), you can be sure I would have as I snapped not just the little fibula in my right leg, but its big brother the tibia as well. Same as Joe when he was crushed by a coked-out Lawrence Taylor (Go Tar Heels!).

All my 8-year-old lungs, larynx and mouth could come up with was a primal scream of pain that may or may not have shattered the double-paned windows nearby as I suffered pain similar to the ultimate suffering Wesley did in the Pit of Despair.

Long story short, I spent the next three glorious, snowy months of winter on crutches, inside, wearing plaster up to my hip - first six weeks - then up to my knee - next six weeks - before missing the start of Little League and being forced by my mother to play soccer (“Just to get you some exercise, hon.”).* Yeah, thanks Mom for making me play a girls’ game and for making my brothers play too. (Thankfully neither one of them was that good at baseball either.)

To this day I can still feel the spot on my leg where the bones knitted together.
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* For those of you who are wondering, I played soccer all the way through high school and only switched rugby, a more dignified game, once I was in the Marines. All told I probably played about 18 or so seasons of soccer.

Snow, snow and what, oh yeah, more freakin' snow

A day off here and there is nice, but this is getting ridiculous. And now there's another storm heading our way getting ready to deliver another foot or so of snow.

I actually found myself wondering whether or not I could make it into my office tomorrow, just for a change in scenery. It actually wouldn't be that difficult, if I hadn't switched jobs last week (contractor -> government, yep, I'm a fed now) and in the process lost my parking space. Seems my former company (about which I have nothing but good things to say, they were really good to me) leased a bunch of spots in our complex and then assigned them to employees.

The government, on the other hand, which is the largest tenant in the complex, doesn't bother (and it makes you pay for the spot to boot). This means I now take the bus to work. Not that that's a bad thing, but the bus isn't running to my office and I don't feel like paying to park so I won't be going to my office tomorrow.

Anyway, on Saturday I took a walk down my street to see what I could see. What I saw were a lot of idiots driving on the streets while the very hardworking crews were trying to clear snow while it was still snowing. My hat is off to the crews who've been working overtime to clear our roads. If you see they as you're out and about, give them a thank you, they deserve it.

That said, the snow's still pretty and here's what Columbia Pike looked like on Saturday afternoon. First up is the iconic Bob & Edith's. It was open and packed and doing land office business.

Snow, icicles and neon make for an interesting combination, don't you think?

This was around...oh, noonish. You can see the snow was still gracing us with its presence. A lot of its presence. Also, take a close look at the window in the middle with the "Diner Open 24 Hours" sign. See that?

Well, if you can't, here's a close-up. A wave and a thumbs-up. Guess I wasn't the only one taking their picture during lunch.

A little bit down the road I came across these guys. Don't get me wrong, I love riding my bike, but even I wouldn't have taken this chance.

Snow + light (heat) = icicles!

Another joint doing its best to save us from our own cooking was the South Arlington location of the Lost Dog Cafe. I didn't get it in the picture, but just to the left they'd cut a path through the snow bank to make sure folks who saw the signs could make it in the door. The turkey ruben was egg-cell-ent!

Speaking of the crews clearing the roads, this is Columbia Pike around 2 p.m. on Saturday. Not too shabby.

Of course, this is one of the side streets. It still looked pretty much like this on Monday. You know, minus the mom and kid.

Finally, proof the snow did, indeed, stop. This is about 6:30 or so Saturday evening. That was the first clear sky I'd seen in about three days.

Hopefully one of these days the snow will finally stop. I really do want to get back to work. But until then I'll be ready with the camera.

I predict...

No, no, not a snow total, but accumulation nonetheless.

Mark my words, starting between the second and third week of November our area will experience a little baby boom.

Seriously, there's only so much TV you can watch and naps you can take. I've seen it after long troop deployments, hurricanes, blackouts and all the rest. People are trapped inside and nature will take it's course.

In short, there's a lot of sex going on this weekend. More than usual.

We'll check back on this in November and see if the area's birth stats show a little spike.

That said, I'm heading out in the weather. I'd thought about trying to get downtown, but the weather sucks a bit too much for that. So I'm going to take a walk around the 'hood and see what I can see.

Pictures at 11 (so to speak).