So there I was, yesterday afternoon, tooling down icy, twisty, hilly, Gail Drive at 99.105 miles per hour, listening to All Things Considered and sipping at the Metro Americano that I had just bought from Carmen when I glanced down a side road and saw this limousine, stuck in the snow just beyond the Ethan Berkowitz sign.
I instantly slowed down to 2 miles per hour and shot this image through the open window of the red Ford Escape as I zoomed by.
Three posts ago, I dedicated my entry to the signs being waved at motorists passing through "downtown" Wasilla on election eve and election morning. Most of those signs were for Joe Miller, some for Lisa Murkowski, a few for Sean Parnell, and a couple for Don Young - all Republicans. On the eve, I did see one sign for Young's opponent, democrat Harry Crawford, who went down to defeat. Crawford's sign was dark, was not held up by hands but by a platform, Joe Miller people were in front of it and it could hardly be seen at all.
The next morning, I did find one Scott McAdams sign, standing by itself at the roadside.
Other than that, I saw no Democratic signs in downtown Wasilla, and I saw not one individual holding a Democrat sign.
Subsequently, a few readers left comments to assure me that there were Democrat signs bravely planted in yards and alongside driveways here and there in Wasilla and that two individuals had been "downtown," waving their McAdams signs, apparently about half an hour before I passed by.
Now, here is proof that Democrat signs could be found in Wasilla.
It is too late, of course. The election is over, Sean Parnell remains governor. I have no idea what Berkowitz will do next, or what Diane Benson will do, or Scott McAdams. I believe they all want time to think about it.
Closer crop of the stuck limo.
As I drove on, I found myself facing a dilemma. When I see people get stuck, it has been my life-long practice to stop and try to help out. After I lost my right shoulder and got a new one, I could no longer help if it meant that I had to push, because my shoulder was just too fragile for that.
My shoulder is much stronger now, but still weak. Two nights ago, I filled a five gallon bucket with water that I had removed from one of my fish tanks so that I could replace it with fresh water. I absent-mindedly grabbed the bucket handle with my right hand, lifted it up and began to walk toward my office door.
I didn't get very far, because I suddenly felt the pain and stress in my shoulder and had to put the bucket down.
That was two nights ago.
I still feel the pain in my shoulder - not terribly, but it is there.
"Yes," I told myself, "but if I need to push, I can do it with my left."
And then I noticed the Americano that Carmen had prepared for me, sitting in the cup holder. I picked it up and took a sip. It was good, and hot. If I turned around, went back to the limo and got involved in something, it might be cold when I got back to it. It was nice, cozy and warm in the car, with All Things Considered playing on the radio.
Plus, that limo looked to be really stuck. It was going to take a lot more than me to get it unstuck. And it looked like all efforts to unstick it had come to halt for awhile, anyway. Maybe a big truck was coming to yank it out.
I decided something like that must be the case. I took another sip and drove on.