Storm Stuff

"The blizzard arrived on trash day and nobody could get their bins out this week," I said to the maintenance man as he wheeled the dumpsters out to the curb. I asked him if I could add my neighbors overflowing garbage bags. He said sure, there's plenty of room. "I know what will happen if we don't intervene," I said. "The stray cats and skunks and raccoons will come and eat holes in the bags and we'll have a huge mess."

The mohawk boys were tossing snowballs at passing cars and ducking behind the trash-bins. One was tugging at the aluminum gutters on the house next door. My first thought was will I be bailing these boys out of jail someday.

I get cabin-fever on normal days so I was desperate to walk and swim after the storm. I was thrilled to discover that the Woonsocket highway department plowed the sidewalks downtown. Romeo and I finally had a real walk.

The sub zero weather caused the YMCA furnace to conk out. There was no hot water in the showers and the pool temps dropped to a cool 74 degrees. After my swim I desperately needed to warm up. Luckily by then the furnace was repaired and hot water restored.

The lifeguard told me he used to work on a psych ward as a counselor. He watched me swim countless laps. When I was done he asked me if I was a perfectionist or had little bit of OCD. "Nobody has ever called me a perfectionist," I said laughing. "I just swim to save my life. For me it's sink or swim, so I swim."