The ice storm
I was working in Second Life today and disappeared for an hour. When I finally returned, both cold and wet, I had a bunch of instant messages waiting patiently for me to reply. One asked if I was away writing a story. Yes... yes I was. And here is that story. A completely made up story that has nothing to do with me. Because it would be far too embarrassing had it actually been me.
To preface the story, I should mention that the main character, lets call them BO, well Bo was
fostering an 8 month old black Labrador retriever dog named Willow. Willow had been living with Bo for a month and was quite energetic to say the least. Bo saw her at the animal shelter where she had been dropped off and felt Willow would do much better living in a warm house until she was adopted by a family, than in a cold shelter. Willow has medical issues going on with her back legs so the vet felt the bandages needed to stay dry.. so when BO takes Willow for walks around town some yellow plastic dish washing gloves must be pulled over the bandages and taped. Also to stop Willow from bothering her feet she needed a lamp shade thing over her head. Lets just say that when Bo takes Willow for walks she gets many strange stares from people wondering why someone would put dish washing gloves over a dogs feet. Why not those dog booties or something. In fact Bo is starting to become the odd person around the neighbourhood I think, judging by the amount of rubber necking and laughter.
So last night there was a big ice storm in this made up story. Kind of like the ice storm Toronto got last night, but not the same one obviously since its a made up story with made up characters. The ice storm covered everything in a very slippery layer making it treacherous to walk. Anyway Bo, not aware of this, lets Willow out into the back yard, after a while Bo hears Willow barking and looks to see her standing, in her rubber gloves, at the bottom of the porch steps unwilling to climb up. Bo opens the side door and calls down "Willow come on up! why are you waiting down there?" Willow just barks.. and barks.. and barks a bit more and Bo realizes it's very slippery and Willow is having nothing to do with climbing those slippery steps. Now Bo works from home and so admittedly doesn't always get dressed RIGHT away in the morning. Might actually be wearing pajamas at that particular time, which is not a crime! Anyway so Bo feels that Willow needs encouragement and steps down in slippers to the icy deck and immediately realizes it is far more slippery than anticipated. So slippery in fact that Bo must move at a snails pace to get along the deck and slowly down the steps, but fortunately Bo brought gloves so the ice on the handrails was not too hard to grasp. Reaching Willow, who was gleefully barking this whole time, they both look back up at the steps and realize its too slippery, and so they must take the side gate to the front door to get in.
Walking slowly to the wooden gate Bo discovers that it is frozen shut and impossible to push open. It's like a snowman sneezed all over it. Willow then takes Bo's gloves and runs away with them wanting to be chased. Slowly inching to the steps Bo hatches a plan and begins to climb the back up to the house. The steps are very slippery as I said and it was with no shame that Bo decided to crawl up the icy steps, perhaps looking a bit like a dying crab, while Willow barked at Bo's bum. Finally reaching the house our hero, Bo, boils a (sealed) pot of water and returns to the deck and then down the steps to the gate. Pouring the water around the bottom of the gate the ice melts freeing it from its icy prison. The ordeal is finally done! Thinks a shivering Bo. Holding willow's collar together they walk the path to the front door.. the path is very slippery so Bo decides to crawl beside Willow, seeing as there is nobody around to see. Well until the mailman arrives unexpectedly and sees someone in their pajamas with a dog wearing bright yellow dish washing gloves crawling to meet him. Bo makes it to their feet and says to the Mailman, who is looking at bit perplexed at the pair, "Oh I can take the mail, you don't need to put it in the box." Bo attempts a conversational tone thinking perhaps this might hide the rather ridiculous scene and make it seem a bit.. normal. The mailman leaves and Bo and Willow take the mail and go back into the house. Bo notices that Willow no longer has the gloves and that they are likely in the icy back yard still. Bo decides to buy new gloves.
In Canada many of us don't lock our front doors. I don't usually, and Americans think its because we have no crime and are very trusting. The truth is we don't lock our front doors in case there is an ice storm and we get stuck outside in our pajamas without keys. That's the real truth.
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| The fictional character named Willow |
fostering an 8 month old black Labrador retriever dog named Willow. Willow had been living with Bo for a month and was quite energetic to say the least. Bo saw her at the animal shelter where she had been dropped off and felt Willow would do much better living in a warm house until she was adopted by a family, than in a cold shelter. Willow has medical issues going on with her back legs so the vet felt the bandages needed to stay dry.. so when BO takes Willow for walks around town some yellow plastic dish washing gloves must be pulled over the bandages and taped. Also to stop Willow from bothering her feet she needed a lamp shade thing over her head. Lets just say that when Bo takes Willow for walks she gets many strange stares from people wondering why someone would put dish washing gloves over a dogs feet. Why not those dog booties or something. In fact Bo is starting to become the odd person around the neighbourhood I think, judging by the amount of rubber necking and laughter.
So last night there was a big ice storm in this made up story. Kind of like the ice storm Toronto got last night, but not the same one obviously since its a made up story with made up characters. The ice storm covered everything in a very slippery layer making it treacherous to walk. Anyway Bo, not aware of this, lets Willow out into the back yard, after a while Bo hears Willow barking and looks to see her standing, in her rubber gloves, at the bottom of the porch steps unwilling to climb up. Bo opens the side door and calls down "Willow come on up! why are you waiting down there?" Willow just barks.. and barks.. and barks a bit more and Bo realizes it's very slippery and Willow is having nothing to do with climbing those slippery steps. Now Bo works from home and so admittedly doesn't always get dressed RIGHT away in the morning. Might actually be wearing pajamas at that particular time, which is not a crime! Anyway so Bo feels that Willow needs encouragement and steps down in slippers to the icy deck and immediately realizes it is far more slippery than anticipated. So slippery in fact that Bo must move at a snails pace to get along the deck and slowly down the steps, but fortunately Bo brought gloves so the ice on the handrails was not too hard to grasp. Reaching Willow, who was gleefully barking this whole time, they both look back up at the steps and realize its too slippery, and so they must take the side gate to the front door to get in.
Walking slowly to the wooden gate Bo discovers that it is frozen shut and impossible to push open. It's like a snowman sneezed all over it. Willow then takes Bo's gloves and runs away with them wanting to be chased. Slowly inching to the steps Bo hatches a plan and begins to climb the back up to the house. The steps are very slippery as I said and it was with no shame that Bo decided to crawl up the icy steps, perhaps looking a bit like a dying crab, while Willow barked at Bo's bum. Finally reaching the house our hero, Bo, boils a (sealed) pot of water and returns to the deck and then down the steps to the gate. Pouring the water around the bottom of the gate the ice melts freeing it from its icy prison. The ordeal is finally done! Thinks a shivering Bo. Holding willow's collar together they walk the path to the front door.. the path is very slippery so Bo decides to crawl beside Willow, seeing as there is nobody around to see. Well until the mailman arrives unexpectedly and sees someone in their pajamas with a dog wearing bright yellow dish washing gloves crawling to meet him. Bo makes it to their feet and says to the Mailman, who is looking at bit perplexed at the pair, "Oh I can take the mail, you don't need to put it in the box." Bo attempts a conversational tone thinking perhaps this might hide the rather ridiculous scene and make it seem a bit.. normal. The mailman leaves and Bo and Willow take the mail and go back into the house. Bo notices that Willow no longer has the gloves and that they are likely in the icy back yard still. Bo decides to buy new gloves.
In Canada many of us don't lock our front doors. I don't usually, and Americans think its because we have no crime and are very trusting. The truth is we don't lock our front doors in case there is an ice storm and we get stuck outside in our pajamas without keys. That's the real truth.
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