A Cold Texas Morning

Years ago Larry & I woke up to discover a very frozen Texas morning. After the excitement of nature’s little surprise, we began the chore of getting Larry off to work. My job was to stand on the front porch as cheerleader while he attempted to move his jeep from the frozen solid parking place in front of our house. Our 14 year old cocker spaniel Angel followed me out to offer her support as well. In addition she was delighted at the opportunity to go poop in her favorite place...my front yard.  She made it only a very short distance though before she started to slide down the ice covered sidewalk toward the street. In universal dog body language, her dismay at the situation was clearly communicated by bulging eyes and ears that lay straight back as she hung on for dear life and tried to regain her footing. Each time she tried to make her way back to the porch she would slide down the hill even more! Poor thing she was an old dog that was deaf, blind and had arthritis in her hips and she definitely was not happy at the lack of dignity in her precarious position. I had to rescue her! Larry could not help, as he had to focus on slowly making his way to work in his 4 wheel drive jeep which he did backwards. He had his own hill to climb and could only do it in reverse! (don’t ask…I do not understand it either)

It was up to me to save our sweet Angel. It was not an easy task because the front walk was all down hill and covered with a solid sheet of ice! The only sensible solution was to slide down the hill, which I did, at breakneck speed! Finally when I came to a stop I managed to crawl over and comfort her. She was lying on the ice totally defeated. I tried to have her follow me and I admit my reclining position could have confused her. At a loss for what else to do, and rather than negotiate the sure defeat of that hill, I decided to take her with me to the side of the house that was on more level ground even if it was frozen. Our journey was perilous and I had to drag her along with me as we crawled over the front lawn, slipping, sliding and falling a zillion times until we made our way to the side of the house and side door. Our happiness with having made it was quickly dampened by a 3 foot frozen solid hill that lay between us and the comfort we envisioned just beyond the entrance to the house. It was a freak buildup on the side porch and was ice solid and slippery! My mission impossible was to try and crawl over it to get to the door. I finally accomplished that much like a mountain climber using a garden tool as my ice pick!! (are you laughing yet?) Somehow I managed to drag and haul Angel over the icy hill too!

Since I did not plan my icy adventure I was of course without coat or gloves. We were freezing!!! Finally when we were just seconds from warmth and safety we discovered to our dismay that the side door was locked!  Groan! Not feeling as if I had the energy to haul and drag Angel back through the Mt. Everest that was once my lovely yard, I did the only thing possible with my expended energy and left her there where she lay. It had nothing to do of course with the fact that a herd of elephants could not have dislodged her. She instinctively knew to trust my judgment. 

I carefully made my way back around the house...slipping and sliding all the way. At one point in my return trek I lost my balance and fell and slid to a perilous stop in an upside down position on the hill in the middle of my front yard. I was so exhausted and defeated that I actually lay there on my back, in broad daylight, and laughed hysterically out loud! Anyone who might happen to come by or peek out their window would think I had lost my mind!

Once sanity returned, I crawled, scooted and wiggled my body to maneuver myself to the top of the frozen grassy hill to reach the bushes. Holding on to the icy bushes with no gloves on, slipping and sliding on the frozen ground that was 3 inches in some places, I worked my way across the front of the house. By now I had been out a good while and I still had to get to the front sidewalk and onto the frozen slippery porch to even reach the door!! When I finally achieved that I was so numb I could hardly open it and make my way through the house. At last, I was able to rescue my poor distraught Angel! Once we were inside the house, she collapsed in a heap on her little bed and refused to even discuss moving. She was totally traumatized.

Hours later, warmed, thawed and toasty by a fire, I could laugh and reflect on my icy Texas morning adventure.