Let's get Izzy!

So, the winter decided to dump on us at a really inconvenient time. Inconvenient for me, anyway, but not for school administrators who have to decide whether to close the schools and lose a day, and folks like that. But it was bad for me, and here's why. 

I believe I mentioned a while back that little baby dog Izzy needed joint surgery. He was born with a form of elbow dysplasia, and over time it would cause him more pain. Arthroscopic surgery was the answer, but that's not something our local vet can do. So, we had to take him in to the nearest good hospital for the job, 33 miles away. I dropped him off Friday morning. He was to have the surgery that day, stay overnight for observation, and go home Saturday.

The snow moved in on Friday night. 

And it snowed.

And it snowed.

Damn you, white crap!

The forecast had been all over the map, but I had been optimistic; the Weather Channel initially said it would stop by seven on Saturday morning, leaving plenty of time for the town to clean up the streets. By one in the afternoon it had not abated. And at this point, no plows had come by, including the guy who plows my rather steep driveway, and there was a real question as to whether we could leave if we even wanted to. I'd gotten stuck on that driveway once in a four-wheel-drive SUV, slipping off the snow and into the mud, and never made it to work that day. I didn't fancy trying my luck again. 

The snow finally did stop, around 2:30, and the dig-out began. By four p.m. everything was plowed, including my driveway. Let's get Izzy! 

The snow that had fallen was very powdery stuff, great for skiing I guess but impossible to clean off the streets entirely. I don't want to make it sound like I was white-knuckling the whole way there, but it was not ideal, shall we say. The temperature was plummeting and the wind was roaring and there was a scrim of snow on the best highways, and I could feel the wheels below me being very coy about their relationship with the road. Passing a semi was a test of nerve. But we made it. And it was all worth while when they brought out our little conehead, all smiles and wagging tail. 

It was a long day that ended with soup and sandwiches and large dog Tralfaz being a jealous weenie because of all the attention paid to the kid. But as I write this, I have toast crumbs on my sweatshirt and Izzy is under the table on my feet, and life is kinda okay today. Hope yours is too.