ice-bound, but blessed

These country roads are so slick, the mailman didn't even get here yesterday. What happened to that old oath they used to take... "neither rain, nor sleet..." something like that.

The temperature is around 10 degrees, and the granddaughters are already out playing on the ice. They have black-and-blue bruises on their knees from falling so much on Monday.

I hope I don't give folks the impression that the girls are difficult to have around; actually, they're great. Oh, they have the usual sibling tiffs, three or four times a day, but Cliff and I know how to nip that in the bud, so it doesn't last long.

Honestly, my main problem is I'm such a loner; I like my space, and I hate to share my computer (it's an only-child thing). Add to that the fact that I need to be outside every day for a while to keep from mentally and physically "rusting". And at my age, I don't want to take the risk of falling, so I'm getting pretty rusty.

Funny thing is, it's only about eighty yards from our house to a main highway that is very negotiable now. But our Mercury Grand Marquis is so helpless on ice, eighty yards may as well be five miles.

I'm thinking that if school is in session tomorrow (and Lord knows it had better be), Cliff and I will take the old four-wheel-drive pickup and get groceries. We're out of milk, Kleenex, paper towels, bananas, apples... well, you get the picture. We have plenty to eat, but we really do need a trip to the store.