The View From Wisconsin
Just a random set of rants from a Sports Fan from Wisconsin.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
So Funny I Forgot To Laugh
This winter is starting to get to all of us, I think. Last night at work, the small warm-up that we had in southeastern Wisconsin led to a whole bunch of really slick patches on the roads.
Unfortunately, the institution's roads were no better. As I was being delivered up to my cottage, I was told that there'd been several accidents with patrol vehicles just trying to get from point A to point B in the institution. I just chalked that up to the joys of working on the side of a glorified "mountain" (1,233 feet, highest point in Waukesha).
The fun began when I got out of the van at the front porch of the cottage. To comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (and accommodate one of our social workers), they had to dig up part of the blacktop of the driveway to install a wheelchair ramp at the end of the porch. They filled in the crack, but constant wear, tear, freezing and thawing left a hole between old and new sections. With the water coming off the edge of the roof, it pooled up in the that hole and formed a nice little ice puddle.
Guess where I stepped when I opened the door to get out of the van. It was all ice, and if the door hadn't caught me, I would have fallen straight down - and probably would have slid all the way down the driveway to the road. After finally getting my footing (easier said than done) and doing "baby steps" to the porch, I immediately went over to the salt container and spread some salt down on the offending patch of ice. Like hell if I was going to let that happen to anyone else.
I have to laugh here, because with Sarah's problems of falling on the ice, she does the same "baby steps" thing that I did. I always teased her for that, but I'm not laughing anymore.
Now, here's the "forgot to laugh" part: I get inside, situated and everything; I log on to the computer system and check my e-mail. One of the e-mails is a memo to all staff requesting that we "not use salt on the porches and driveways," because we are running short on salt.
Like I said - so funny I forgot to laugh.
Unfortunately, the institution's roads were no better. As I was being delivered up to my cottage, I was told that there'd been several accidents with patrol vehicles just trying to get from point A to point B in the institution. I just chalked that up to the joys of working on the side of a glorified "mountain" (1,233 feet, highest point in Waukesha).
The fun began when I got out of the van at the front porch of the cottage. To comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (and accommodate one of our social workers), they had to dig up part of the blacktop of the driveway to install a wheelchair ramp at the end of the porch. They filled in the crack, but constant wear, tear, freezing and thawing left a hole between old and new sections. With the water coming off the edge of the roof, it pooled up in the that hole and formed a nice little ice puddle.
Guess where I stepped when I opened the door to get out of the van. It was all ice, and if the door hadn't caught me, I would have fallen straight down - and probably would have slid all the way down the driveway to the road. After finally getting my footing (easier said than done) and doing "baby steps" to the porch, I immediately went over to the salt container and spread some salt down on the offending patch of ice. Like hell if I was going to let that happen to anyone else.
I have to laugh here, because with Sarah's problems of falling on the ice, she does the same "baby steps" thing that I did. I always teased her for that, but I'm not laughing anymore.
Now, here's the "forgot to laugh" part: I get inside, situated and everything; I log on to the computer system and check my e-mail. One of the e-mails is a memo to all staff requesting that we "not use salt on the porches and driveways," because we are running short on salt.
Like I said - so funny I forgot to laugh.
- I guess I should mention something about Super Bowl XLII: the Patriots' loss couldn't have happened to a bunch of nicer people. I'm already suspecting the chants at Yankee Stadium this summer when the BoSox come to town will be "18 and 1! 18 and 1!"
Copyright © 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, Joseph Houk. All rights reserved.
