Yet another ice storm. Sigh.
Yet another day off school. Don’t get me wrong, I like a “snow day” as much as the next teacher, but we’ve had so many lately things feel disjointed. The educational flow has been interrupted.
Ice presents particular difficulties that snow does not. Taking Lucy out for a potty break suddenly becomes treacherous. One of my condominium neighbors diligently shovels the sidewalk and spreads de-icer, but Lucy sometimes likes to venture into uncleared territory. During the last two storms, I just went outside with my cane. There was enough snow under the ice that I could get a firm foothold. But this weekend’s storm was different: more ice than snow. As I looked at the glassy surface out my back door, I worried.
Sometime last week, though, I’d read a knitting blog post in which the knitter talked about her two-towel strategy for walking on ice.
- Lay a towel
- Step on it.
- Lay another towel in the direction you want to go.
- Step on the second towel.
- Pick up the first towel.
- Repeat.
What did I have to lose? So, I tried it.
Although progress was slow, it worked.
After coming in, I wondered how to speed up the process and walk more efficiently. Could I tie tea towels to my feet and walk? I gave it a try.
With tea towels on my feet, I could walk faster, but ice accumulated on the soles of my feet.
Neither option is perfect, but they certainly gave me the opportunity to learn a little something as I worked through the engineering design process. And I am now wondering if I could adapt this to icy conditions…
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