Mama said there'd be days like this; there'd be days like this . . .

The end of the Alaska slide show.

It's disheartening. Thursday Kiddo and I were about ready to go to his hamburger heaven and the Saturn wouldn't start. Not a squeak, not a shudder; nothing, rien du tout, nada, nyet. So son-in-law rolled it out of the driveway to the front of his house and there it sits. He couldn't work on it Friday because that's his "kitchen at Richoni's day." Hopefully he'll tow it to the garage Monday and get it fixed. His diagnosis: needs a starter. With over 210,000 miles on it I can't complain but I do hope he gets it fixed soon. I've had to drive the Dodge Ram and it's so hard to drive standard if you have to literally hug the steering wheel so you can put the clutch in! On top of that problem some nitwit telephoned at 5:20am Friday morning. I thought it could be something wrong with one of the kids so I popped out of bed, grabbed the phone and for some reason walked into the kitchen, stepped the wrong way on my right foot and figured I had broken my little toe.The idiot that called had already hung up. My foot hurt like mad but I went back to bed, not to sleep. Realized that the toe wasn't broken, I think, and drove the Dodge on tippytoes to Groton for duty. After lunch duty I took Kiddo's brother out for a driving lesson. Only one near miss and one overshooting a red light before we returned about an hour later. Brought the Kiddo home after school, packed his bags, got him a haircut and headed for Moosup. By the time I went to bed my right foot was half black and blue, very swollen and throbbed in terrific waves of real, hot pain. Couldn't sleep. Iced it for most of the night. It looked better this morning. But after bringing Kiddo home today we went SUV shopping and the foot is again swollen and burning. It is being iced as I write. We're going out this evening for a Valentine's dinner with friends at the VFW. I think I'll just drink myself out of misery. I have to wear my Birkenstocks with thick wool socks as they are the only slightly comfortable shoes I can wear. Oh well it's already 32 degrees, still many feet of snow, ice. It'll be fun. Then tomorrow daughter and I are taking Kiddo to PPAC to see The Lion King. He's already picked out our dinner spot, Ruby Tuesdays because they serve the best chicken. Hope I can hobble through the next couple of days. Trying to keep your foot elevated isn't always easy. That's enough entertainment for today.

Quote: Youth is beautiful. Its friendship is precious. The intercourse with it is a purifying release from the worn and stained hardness of older life. __N. P. Willis