Washing Away Winter

So, today was a bit different. It's time for my annual checkup on my knee replacement (I forget what they call that, the second time around... Oh yeah, revision). Instead of heading to work, I'm heading to Mt. Clemens and Doctor Hanlon's office. Now, according to the news this morning, they did get freezing rain up north of me (nothing here to speak of) and the Van Dyke Expressway is closed because of ice between 23-Mile and 30-Mile. To give you some perspective, I live about a mile south of Five-Mile, BTW, and I am going to, like, 17-Mile Road).

I did get a call from B___ alerting me to the fact that he had ice all over his car this morning (he would live, say, west and a bit south of where I am going) and telling me to be careful walking in the parking lot.

Not wanting to join the madness of the Detroit morning commute, I stayed off the expressways and took Inkster to 8-Mile to Groesbeck to Harrington and the doctor's office. I got there in just over an hour, 20 minutes early for my appointment. BTW, the parking lot was already salted when I got there, so, no problemo!

Sidebar: I'd bought some new pants on sale for work the other day and today I am wearing a black pair of one of them. I was, oh, so proud of the fit and feel of them until I sat down in the doctor's waiting room and noticed both pant legs were COVERED with Caley's yellow hair! Damn! Brushing them with my hands didn't help much, so, since there was nobody in the waiting room yet, and the girl in the window kept coming and going, I walked around and whenever she was gone, I kept rubbing each pant leg on the cloth furniture. It was a little better, but still noticeable. I apologize now to anyone who sat in a chair later and then got yellow cat hair all over themselves, but, what's a poor boy to do?

The exam went well. The x-rays showed that the glue had separated on one side of the upper plastic part, but the bone implant was still healthy and, since the metal rods jammed into my bones are extra long, it doesn't appear to be a problem. I am having a bit of a problem with my (good) right knee when I get up from a sitting position, so he also x-rayed that. No obvious problem, so if it doesn't get worse I just need to go back in a year. Otherwise it's an MRI or arthroscopy surgery to see what might be the problem. Hmmm... Trust me, I think I'd rather just wait and see..

The morning commute over, I took the E-ways back and got to work about 10:10 AM. Before I got on the expressway, I stopped at a Rite-Aid Drug store and bought two of those rollers that have masking tape on them to get off cat hair. I'll leave one at work, and take one home to clean off my couches, chairs and new pants!

So, I'm on the way home after work and its sunny and over 40 degrees F. I know it's supposed to (maybe) snow and rain again tonight, but I am sick of peering out of salt-crusted windows. So, I stopped and used the quarter carwash near my house to clean up my Volvo. I drove back to the house (carefully, its a dirt road) and used a towel to dry off the windows and sheet metal. Since I was thinking "car," I turned on the air compressor and made sure all the tire's air pressures were up to snuff (one was a little low, BTW), refilled the windshield washer fluid and checked the oil (I am overdue for an oil change) and found it almost 1/2 quart low, so I refilled that, too.)

Then, inside and the cat's treats passed out, I was looking out my kitchen window to see how much standing water I had (not bad, really and there's a lot more brown grass than white snow!) But, it occurred to me just how dirty the windows had gotten over the winter. So, I took down Jake's bike (Damn, I wish that bike would go home) to get to the step ladder and took it outside. I washed the kitchen and bathroom windows (outside) and then moved inside. I washed the insides and then tilted in the bottom windows and washed them as well (you can't do the bottom windows outside because there is a screen in your way, but they are made to release and tilt inwards). I saw a few spots I'd missed outside (this is where having a wife or live-in girlfriend would come in handy), but its almost 7:00 PM, I've put away the step ladder (and Jake's bike) and I don't really give a sh*t any more.

I am warming up more leftovers. I reheated the herb-noodles (from the Belgian Beef Stew) and the last two pork chops. Both were still tasty. I went in and watched TV until 10:00 PM and then went to sleep.