Black Ice

What, exactly, is the definition of "black ice?"

Yesterday it warmed to enough above freezing to dry my front porch off, so I was surprised, this morning, to see that it was wet. Got ready, then, to go run some errands in town, and started across the porch and found myself on the ground before I even knew I was falling. I did that in Cooperstown a couple times, and it's an odd sensation - you're walking along, and then you're on the ground, your things scattered around you. What th- how did this happen? No time to try to catch yourself, no time to fear, nothing to dread, which is nice in a way, because the dread always makes it feel like forever - just BOOM, on the ground, just like that. Sore elbow, sore knee. Sore hip.

Whenever I fall, I pause, sort of take stock of the situation. How bad is it? Can I get up? Do I need help? Can I GET help?  Today I was able to sort of roll over and pull myself up. It didn't even look like ice at all - no glaze whatsoever - it just looked wet. I thought, maybe I'd better go get my walking stick, help me stay upright if I encounter any more ice.

I came back in the house and got my walking stick and tried again. Sticking close to the house, where there was a margin of dry porch, I moved cautiously out toward the car. But at about the place I'd fallen, even the rubber tip on my cane couldn't get a firm hold on the pavement. I don't bounce like I did when I was five or six. I could see this was just too slippery and I came back in the house.

Looks like it might creep just above freezing about mid-afternoon for a couple hours. Now I'm weighing how much I need to go to town against personal safety. Hm, personal safety is winning right now.

Ah, Life is what happens when you've made other plans.