When 2 inches Matters

 

 

Selam - Turkish

I slept well and woke for good around 545am. I vaguely recalled Mindy waking me in the middle of the night to tell me how lovely the snowfall was. Sure enough, snow covered everything, this I could see from the bedroom windows. I was downstairs a couple minutes later. The first thing I did was take a closer look at the weather. Looked like about 2” of snow. But what surprised me more was the type of snow and the coverage. It was mid-winter, fluffy snow, the kind that covers everything including tree branches, shrubs, road, lawn, and cars. Neat!

I whipped out Tuesday calisthenics then checked the current temperature. It was a chilly 23 degrees. I poured some coffee then headed back to my PC. Played around online for a while before finally heading upstairs to wake Mindy at 615am. She asked if it was still snowing. No, it wasn’t, but the coverage was amazing, especially for early November.

Back downstairs I played around online until 630am when I stopped for meditation and stretching. Even though I was working from home, I wanted to get my run in before Mindy left for school. Attire wise, I decided to try a different approach to battling the winter chill. I wore two looser fitting, lighter running shirts – the top layer being a ¼ zip in lieu of one thick compression wicking shirt. Of course I wore my light running jacket, too, as well as hand and ear covers. I got out the door shortly before Jacob. Must’ve been around 650am.

Definitely felt like winter and the roads and walks were slippery with a thin coating of ice. The snow began the evening before as rain, which was now completely frozen. Footing was precarious. I navigated with extra caution while still maintaining a decent pace. I ran the full 4.1 miles without any problems. Was actually a lot of fun running in the snow and cold. Fact is, it’s so much easier to run in cold weather.

Mindy had the Pilot warming in the driveway but hadn’t yet scraped her windows. Before heading inside, I found her scrapper in the rear storage hatch and cleared all of her windows of snow and ice. As it was, even the headlight lenses were covered. The snow was fluffy enough that it brushed away with ease, but underneath was a thin coating of ice. Mindy came out to depart just as I moved over to the Accord with her scraper. She waited a minute or so for me to scrape away the bulk of the snow. I planned to do the rest later with my own scraper.

Already 640am, I headed inside to leash up the pug. She was a little surprised by the snow, having not navigated in it since perhaps last March. After lots of sniffing around, she managed to find the perfect spots to pee and pooh. At home again, Bella excitedly shared that she alone fried Eiknarf’s egg. Mindy cooked mine, and they were waiting in the microwave. I nuked them for ten seconds then headed to the table. Oops – poured a fresh glass of OJ only to discover one already poured and waiting for me at the table.

I took a handful of snow pics – a couple from the front and a couple from the back. The snow hanging on the red maple that still is holding on to its canopy was beautiful. It made for a really nice pic with the bright sunshine coming up right behind it.

By the time I finished my breakfast and was done fooling around with my camera, it was already time to head out with Bella. She was excited to get out in the snow. In fact, all the kids at the bus stop were excited about the snow. Who wouldn’t be? Shux! From a kids’ point of view, this was probably the worst day for the bus to arrive early. She was there before 8am. So much for play time in the snow.

My endodontic appointment was set for 945am. I planned to do some work before getting a shower. I headed upstairs at 840am and was downstairs again just after 9am. My mouth was aching upper left just as it has for the past couple months. Per their request, I didn’t take Ibuprofen or Naproxen in order to have a better chance of isolating the cause. The bitter cold air I sucked in while running helped usher in the pain. I was happy that it ached. The last thing I wanted was have it miraculously disappear.

I was ready to go. I headed outside to warm and scrape the Accord then left the house near 910am. It was an easy drive up 270 one exit to Mill Run. I found Jennifer’s practice with little trouble. This was my first time in her new office. It’s been more than 10 years since I was in for a prior root canal. The new digs are nice & cozy. I’d barely taken a seat when Chris came to fetch me and pointed me to the first exam room on the left. I’m sure you can imagine how shocked I was when she insisted I depant. For a root canal? Just kidding! 

After sharing my reason for being there, Chris insisted on taking their own X-ray. I figured that would be the case even though Dr. March emailed the most recent pics he took just last week. Like Dr March’s office, the X-ray was immediately displayed on a large monitor just to my left. Having had so much dental work done over the years, I’ve become fairly adept at interpreting the results. Just like last week, nothing looked amiss, at least from my vantage point. Just a couple minutes passed before Jennifer came in speaking quietly. I’ve run into to her a time or two over the past decade - once at Target and another time at Straders - but we’ve never had much time to chat. We spent a few minutes catching up on what’s been going on. Not only was she my neighbor but she was also one of only a couple people I felt I could talk with about life's struggles with the girls after Kelly and I split.

So, about that tooth … In full detail (kind of like my dad would) I described the pain and the locale. Her observation of the X-ray was just as I expected – nothing peculiar or out of the ordinary, though she noted the size of a couple older fillings. Then, just as Dr March did the week prior, she tested the five top left teeth for sensitivity to cold using this ice thing. Without question my canine and furthest molar back were far more sensitive than the three in between, but she said my response was normal, and certainly not indicative of a problem. She poked, prodded, and pounded on each tooth too. But once again, nothing unusual.

She went on to explain that sometimes out teeth get sensitive for no apparent reason, and that as we age even the lightest recession of the gums – not necessarily visible to the eye – will cause a smidge of the tooth root to become exposed to air, cold, water, sweets, etc. She went on to share that she could or would do a root canal on one or both of the two teeth that I felt were hyper sensitive, but also shared that was not what she would do. She would tough it out and see if it gets worse or goes away. She offered to numb one of the two teeth to see if that cleared the pain on the entire upper side but then I’d have a numb lip for 2-3 hours. I opted not. She also shared the many other things that can cause tooth pain – sinus issues, jaw muscle problems, etc. I have the utmost respect for Jennifer’s opinion so I opted to tough it out and wait and see. It’s not necessarily what I wanted to hear but that’s life.

I left Jennifer’s office then headed across the street to Home Depot where I picked up some CFL bulbs. We needed one over the island and then another in the garage. Both are of the nonstandard variety. I was in route to home by 1025am.

Even though it was still below freezing, wherever the brilliant sunshine was shining, the snow stood little of surviving. Already most of our back yard’s coverage was melting away. Out front was a different story, where very little if any sunshine strikes, the snow cover out there will be around until sustained above freezing temps are in order.

I spent the rest of my day finalizing October’s monthly report. Lots of new metrics added this go around so it took a lot longer than usual. The kids were home from school at their usual times – Jacob near 245p and Bella 345p. Mindy was grocery shopping after school so she wasn’t home until almost 430pm. At the time, I was on a team conference call, so I couldn’t rush out to help carry in groceries. Neither kid came to her aid, either. Let’s just say that she wasn’t in the best of moods. I was just happy that her displeasure wasn’t aimed at me. She let Bella have an earful.

Bella did help her put away the groceries. After a few minutes, Mindy seemed to relax and started making our dinner, pesto pasta with chicken and tomatoes. She said we’d be eating before taking Bella to gymnastics. By then, it was already 515pm. Frankly, I was a little surprised given that we usually leave to take Bella by 530pm. But I guess with the 270 construction now completed, the drive goes a lot faster. Dinner was ready by 530pm. The pesto bowtie pasta was good. We woofed down dinner then Mindy, Bella and Jacob left. I stayed home. Bella made mention of wanting both Mindy & I to come for the pick-up. She wanted to show us her improved back handspring floor routine. Cute!

While they were gone, I cleaned up dinner and the kitchen. Had it in ship-shape by the time they were back at home. Over the next hour, I blogged a little and then scoped out flights to Tahoe. With a new Southwest sale, we can get round trip flights for $420, and more importantly at the times we most desire. Those fares include taxes, and also don’t forget, on SW, bags fly free! We want to arrive early enough in the afternoon to allow enough daylight to get our rental car, stop for groceries, and most importantly, find our way to Heavenly and our lodging accommodations. And then for the flight home, we don’t want to have to be up at the butt crack of dawn. The flight in arrives in Reno at 155pm, and the flight home departs at 220pm, which is ideal, really, save for getting home around midnight. I didn’t pull the trigger, however. Figured I should double check with Mindy and then contact Tommy to see if he’s 100% in.

It was after 7pm in a hurry. I asked Mindy if she was going with to get Bella. She was. She knocked on the wall to see if Jacob wanted to join us too. Frankly, I was more than a little surprised that he wanted to go along. We got to the gym around 725pm. Jacob asked if he could simply remain in the Pilot. It was cold, already below freezing. We left the engine running and the heat on.

Inside, we got to see Bella work on the double-mini and finally the floor, where she did two or three passes which included back handsprings. Honestly, not as good as the week before, but still better than last year. Mindy chatted it up with Kelly after practice. We didn’t walk out until 740pm. Arrived home just before 8pm. I wasn’t in the best frame of mind. For one, my teeth were bothering me with that ever-present dull ache. After getting into our PJs I did some reading from the living room recliner where I was eventually joined by Mindy. We chatted for a while and then she offered to massage my neck thinking that might help relieve that dull headache. It helped considerably. It must’ve been around 930pm when we headed up to bed. Bella asked if she could continue her reading from bed. Said she wasn’t tired. Mindy reluctantly agreed, I think believing that Bella would in reality just play. We were asleep by 10pm.