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GiftsDecember 22, 2009 Halcyon Way, the dirt road I live on, was plowed but not sanded. This morning I managed to skid off the road and into a snow-covered rut. Determined rocking gained me a few inches, but this was not enough. With Travvy I walked back to the apartment, gathered my shovel, a piece of cardboard, and a container of rock salt left over from last winter, and returned to the truck. I made good headway by shoveling and using the cardboard under the most stuck rear wheel, then rock-rock-rocking, but it wasn't enough. Problem was I was hesitant about really gunning it because almost seven years ago, after the Presidents' Day snowstorm, a heroic struggle to get Tesah Toyota down the Road to Great Neck from Crow Hollow Farm to New Lane led to a blown head gasket and Tesah's untimely death. I so cannot afford a new vehicle right now that the straining of Uhura's engine was sapping my nerve. So Barney appeared, shovel in hand, from the nearest house. I've met his wife and know their beagle, Ellie, but he's always been in the deep background, coming or going in his white van or on a motorcycle. He asked if he could take the wheel. I said sure. Travvy agreed. Along came the Baileys. We were blocking their way; self-interest and neighborliness coincided, they and I pushed while Barney drove, and in a couple of minutes Uhura was free. The Baileys went on their way. I told Barney I owed him a big one and continued on my way, which led to the laundromat. Earlier this fall I overhauled my underwear collection, adding 14 pair in assorted bright colors and patterns and discarding one by one the old dingy ones with shot elastic. This led to a net increase in underwear, but the supply was not infinite and this morning I put on my last clean pair. More serious, all my jeans were in the hamper. This time of year good laundry days are hard to come by: even if the sun's out and the temperature is above freezing (which it hasn't been much lately), the drying day is very short. I much prefer to use the clothesline, partly for ecological reasons and partly because the laundromat dryers cost a quarter for three minutes, which I think is a ripoff. It takes nine or ten three-minute cycles to dry a load of heavy jeans, and I also had the underwear, long underwear, bras, socks, and at least half a dozen turtlenecks. Today was the most promising laundry day in over a week. The sun was out, and though the temp was just below freezing, a steady breeze was blowing and snow and ice were melting in the direct sunlight. To give my clothes a head start, I bought 75 cents' worth of drying time for the heavy stuff and 50 cents' worth for the light. By a little after 11, the jeans and turtlenecks were on the line, the underwear was on the drying rack on the deck, my tea was brewing, and oatmeal was cooking in the double boiler. I bought the drying rack at Shirley's soon after I moved into this apartment. It's cheaply made and not sturdy enough for outdoor use, but of course I used it mostly outside on the deck. Within a few months it had been blown over enough that the top rail broke off the frame. It could no longer stand up on its own, but it was still usable if I tied that side of the frame to the deck railing. This I've been doing for almost two years. Since it couldn't stand without help, I couldn't use it inside, but it did serve its purpose, after a fashion, and because I am (did I say this already?) cheap, I made do. Yesterday, however, it being gift-giving season 'n' all, I asked myself what gifts I could give me that would greatly improve the quality of my day-to-day life. #1 was a new drying rack. #2 was a new lid for my 3-quart saucepan and double boiler. Several months ago the handle broke off, leaving a protruding screw less than a quarter inch long. The screw gets very hot when the pot is on the stove, and even when it's not hot, it's impossible to manipulate with wet fingers. A PITA, in other words. While the laundry was drying on the line and the broken rack, I went back to Shirley's and bought a new rack. It's the same cheapo model as the old one, but maybe I'll figure out how to rig it so it doesn't blow over as often. Most of the laundry on the line dried before I brought it. The underwear on the deck didn't benefit from the breeze or as much direct sunlight, so it's now drying on the new rack, which is standing sturdily on the kitchen rug. My new underwear is very impressive. Peach, pink, dark blue, aqua, red print, white, black, gray . . . Amazing how not having to look at dingy underwear on a broken rack improves my spirits. I'm going to take Barney and Cibel a loaf of bread the next time I bake. Soon.
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