Winky—The Obese, Guatemalan Snowman

One thing and another, I haven't been on the bike like I should be. There was that whole distraction of coronary bypass surgery last summer, of course. And right when I started to get back in the groove, I went in for a vasectomy because the heart surgery had put me to the max out of pocket on my insurance (or I'd have gotten fixed years ago—I have two nearly-grown children and zero business running around with a loaded gun). Get a free vasectomy with any double bypass, you know.

I have been out on the bike more than this blog would indicate—I'm still processing Christmas Eve photos in the middle of January, and that's unlike me. But after I was clear on the vasectomy front I caught a nasty cold, one of those that just sucks your will to live, constant sneezing and drippy nose—during which I learned that the only reliable daytime remedy I've ever found, pseudoephedrine, is off menu for me. I was still going to cardiac rehab, and they monitor your heart rate and blood pressure throughout the workout there. She checked my blood pressure twice while I was on the stationary bike and said, 'I'm going to shut you down, I don't want you having a stroke on me.'

Coricidin HBP was what they suggested for my symptoms, and I tried it. I don't recall how well it worked for the nasal congestion, but I spent that day feeling psychotically on edge, so that's not going to work for me. So when my nose was running so bad I had to take the Sudafed stuff or else drip on my shirt at work, I knew it was likely pushing my blood pressure up to where I shouldn't be exerting. And the way things go, I seemed to get a second cold right on the tail of the first one, and with holiday events and my last scheduled visits to cardiac rehab, I found myself driving far more often than I would have otherwise.

Which is a long ways to go to tell you why I took this picture (see Julie, I'm trying to put text that's relevant to the photography). On my ride home tonight I spotted this snowman in front of the Guatemalan market/restaurant around the corner from my house. I've never seen an obese, Guatemalan snowman before, and I named him Winky because as far as I can tell he only has one eye. Or maybe he should be Guiño (that's a Google translation, forgive me if that's a bizarrely inappropriate name for a fat, one-eyed snowman).