100 Feet From The Door

Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow. Delay may give clearer light as to what is best to be done.

Aaron Burr
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Hello Kate
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One Spring evening in New Hampshire I was attacked by a piece of ice. I lived in a nice A frame house in the forest, I had a dirt driveway that led up to the house about 1/5 of a mile long. Driving home one evening I got to within about 100 feet from the house and stopped. My left rear tire was spinning and the car wouldn't go any further.

I took it nice and slow as you are supposed to do when driving on ice. But the wheel kept spinning. I rocked back and forth to get some traction, but it was useless. I was beginning to get irritated. It was ridiculous that I couldn't finish driving the car up to my front door.

I had a shovel in the back of the car so I got it and shoveled all around the tire, making sure that the lip of the shovel tucked under the tire on both sides. I also noted that there was no other ice around. It was a North Country Spring, April, and a lot of melting had happened everywhere except under my tire.

I went into the house and got a large piece of cardboard. I shoved it under the tire as best as I could. No good. The tire spewed the cardboard out the back and kept spinning.

I remembered that in the house I had a rough piece of metal with links that was designed to give a spinning tire some purchase on the ice. I got that and placed it under the tire. The tire didn't even grab hold of it but kept on spinning. Now I was really angry.

I got a large spoon from the house and dug all around the tire hoping to dislodge the ice, but each time I tried to go forward the tire spun.

I tried lifting the rear end of the car and pushing it beyond whatever was holding it, but each time I did that it rolled right back to where it was stuck.

By this time I was raging. I had a jack in the car and I thought of raising the wheel and driving forward but I soon realized I would run over the jack and probably damage it.

Could I have called the wrecker to come and charge me $25 to push me to my front door? Don't think I didn't think of it.

I even considered jacking the car up, taking off the tire, driving to my door on the wheel rim and then reattaching the tire, but I didn't even know that would work.

It seemed that all the leftover ice in New England had congealed into a small, ornery, critical mass under my left rear tire, and that was that.

It got dark and cold. The car was not blocking anything, no one would be driving down my driveway and it wasn't in plain sight of any would be thieves. So, in a fury, I quit. I gathered up all the tools, put them away and went into my house in a state of utter rage and disgust.

When I awoke the next morning the sun was up and some more melting had gone on. I went out, started the car and drove it easily to my front door with no trouble.

The question is why did I put myself through that misery when I could have done what I eventually did, go inside and wait for the ice to melt? The answer is willfulness. I gotta do it now. I gotta have it now. It's gotta be done NOW !! When it doesn't, there's always tomorrow. It will get done.

DB - The Vagabond
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AUTUMN QUESTION

What event over the past year changed your life, a lot or a little?

3 answers so far.

dbdacoba@aol.com

I await your answers.
DB
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