Wednesday, January 15, 2025
This made me smile
A co-worker who has worked for our company several years longer than I have (and I'm coming up on 28 years!) brought me a photo she'd uncovered from back in the day at the old building at work. It's from Halloween 2006, so nearly 20 years ago, can you believe that? I honestly do not remember dressing up as the Tin Man, but looking at it from the distance of time, I did a pretty darn good job. 🙂
Saturday, January 11, 2025
#3: Re-reading a book I adored as a child
And it didn't disappoint.
3. The Forgotten Door by Alexander Key. Scholastic Books, 1965, 140 pp. ISBN: 978-0590085342.
Friday, January 10, 2025
I can usually deal with snow, but I hate ice storms
Monday we had a major storm which brought us about 6 inches of snow and about half an inch of ice. I couldn't go into work, because I was afraid of falling on the ice. The next day they were using sheriff's deputies to get healthcare workers to and from work, so I used my hiking poles to get down to the street to him (and back, once I was taken home). I used the snow tips and punched throught the ice so I could get to the snow underneath and get traction with my snow boots. I then went back outside and spent one and a half hours clearing the car, as they were ending the programme at midnight, so I'd need to go into work. I was soaked to the skin before I came back, but I had success. I was able to drive in Wednesday morning and used the poles just in case, slipping just once because the shutttle stop was clear but the sidewalk was icy.
Yesterday, waking up to absolutely frigid temperatures in the teens, I went to leave the driveway to drive to work and promptly got stuck in the street, unable to go forward, but only reverse. The slush had completely frozen. I managed to make it to the curb, but had a light pole behind me, so that hampered the effort of getting it out, waited for a tow, and they had to cancel the AAA call because my street was so impassable that the tow driver got to my street and couldn't get down, and he was afraid he'd crash or get stuck, too. A Kentucky Eagle beer truck also got stuck right next to my car and had to have a pickup truck come and help get it out, which took almost an hour. Everything was glazed with about two inches of ice in the area of our house. About noon, hoping the temperatures and sun had at least done something, even though our high was 24 degrees and it hadn't hit that yet, I went back out to try again, nearly fell three times trying to get across the road (I'd brought my cane rather than hiking poles because I was going to try to go to the store, and I'd be needing to put it in the cart), and there was absolutely no snow to walk in, just ice. Someone came down the street right as I was about 10 feet from my car and scared me to death because they couldn't really stop and I was afraid I would fall in front of them. But I finally got to the car, grocery list in hand just in case. It took awhile, and some direction from my roommate, who realised my tyres were just spinning and gave some advice on getting out since he could see from the window, I finally got out, and once I was there, I skidded a little down the 30 or so yards to the ploughed road, went down to the next connector road to the snow route (I hoped it had been ploughed--it's on the bus route), went to the bank, the grocery, another bank to pay my rent the pharmacy, another grocery (the first didn't have half-and-half), and finally home again. The main roads were fine. There was a car stuck on Rosemont Garden, which was clear itself, but they got stuck turning onto a smaller road and blocked across our lane. I am so glad that when I got stuck, I'd at least managed to reverse to the curb. Eventually, I came in and tried to mindlessly scroll on Facebook, but I was so tired I went to bed and slept another two hours.
So my sleep, like my days of the week, is terribly messed up and I'm up a full hour than usual on my day off. I have to wake up my roommate in three hours so he can have coffee and wake up before class. The only thing I might be doing today is taking him to get a haircut, but that may not happen because we're supposed to get another three or more inches of snow today. At least we have food in the house and any medicine we need for the next few days.
With everything that happened, plus the frustration of it all and the concern of getting an occurrence at work, I was just exhausted. Once I got up, I fed the animals, had cereal for dinner, watched an episode of 'Midsomer Murders', and went to bed.
Here's to a better day today.
Yesterday, waking up to absolutely frigid temperatures in the teens, I went to leave the driveway to drive to work and promptly got stuck in the street, unable to go forward, but only reverse. The slush had completely frozen. I managed to make it to the curb, but had a light pole behind me, so that hampered the effort of getting it out, waited for a tow, and they had to cancel the AAA call because my street was so impassable that the tow driver got to my street and couldn't get down, and he was afraid he'd crash or get stuck, too. A Kentucky Eagle beer truck also got stuck right next to my car and had to have a pickup truck come and help get it out, which took almost an hour. Everything was glazed with about two inches of ice in the area of our house. About noon, hoping the temperatures and sun had at least done something, even though our high was 24 degrees and it hadn't hit that yet, I went back out to try again, nearly fell three times trying to get across the road (I'd brought my cane rather than hiking poles because I was going to try to go to the store, and I'd be needing to put it in the cart), and there was absolutely no snow to walk in, just ice. Someone came down the street right as I was about 10 feet from my car and scared me to death because they couldn't really stop and I was afraid I would fall in front of them. But I finally got to the car, grocery list in hand just in case. It took awhile, and some direction from my roommate, who realised my tyres were just spinning and gave some advice on getting out since he could see from the window, I finally got out, and once I was there, I skidded a little down the 30 or so yards to the ploughed road, went down to the next connector road to the snow route (I hoped it had been ploughed--it's on the bus route), went to the bank, the grocery, another bank to pay my rent the pharmacy, another grocery (the first didn't have half-and-half), and finally home again. The main roads were fine. There was a car stuck on Rosemont Garden, which was clear itself, but they got stuck turning onto a smaller road and blocked across our lane. I am so glad that when I got stuck, I'd at least managed to reverse to the curb. Eventually, I came in and tried to mindlessly scroll on Facebook, but I was so tired I went to bed and slept another two hours.
So my sleep, like my days of the week, is terribly messed up and I'm up a full hour than usual on my day off. I have to wake up my roommate in three hours so he can have coffee and wake up before class. The only thing I might be doing today is taking him to get a haircut, but that may not happen because we're supposed to get another three or more inches of snow today. At least we have food in the house and any medicine we need for the next few days.
With everything that happened, plus the frustration of it all and the concern of getting an occurrence at work, I was just exhausted. Once I got up, I fed the animals, had cereal for dinner, watched an episode of 'Midsomer Murders', and went to bed.
Here's to a better day today.
Monday, January 06, 2025
Getting to work tomorrow, hopefully
The Fayette County Sheriff's Winter Care programme will still be in effect tomorrow, January 7th. I called a little while ago and they're going to pick me up at 7:30 AM from my house and take me to work since I work in healthcare. I thought about taking the bus but I think the stop, which is relatively close, is still too far to safely go there. If you need help as well, call 859-252-1771 and ask about Winter Care. So I just need to get to the street. I've got my hiking poles with the snow tips ready and snow boots with good treads. There's some snow on top of the ice now, which can be good or bad. Wish me luck!
January 2025 ice/snowstorm
Thankfully the branch did not come down on my car. I can't walk with all this ice. I called into work. They were urging people to stay off the roads anyway. There's a few more inches of snow coming today, then a polar vortex hitting us tonight and tomorrow. Oh, and another system at the end of the week. Lovely. It does look pretty, though. Yesterday I let the dogs out and they frolicked, even the one who hates the wet yard and the cold yard. Apparently both together are fun. This morning it was almost painful watching them slowly crunch through the ice and snow so they could go do their business. They were certainly not happy then.
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| Before |
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| 2 hours in |
#2
I just read The Art of Living by ThÃch Nhất Hạnh, a revered Buddhist monk and spiritual teacher. I'm really intrigued by it, and a lot of it makes sense to both head and heart. In chapter five, he writes:
True happiness depends on our capacity to cultivate compassion and understanding and bring nourishment and healing to ourselves and our loved ones.
I have highlighted a lot of his words in my Kindle book. I borrowed it from Kindle Unlimited but decided to go ahead and use my gift balance to buy it so that I could read and re-read it, as I suspect each time gives further insight.
I highly recommend it.
Wednesday, January 01, 2025
Chag Sameach
The last night of Chanukah...
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| Eighth night |
It's also the eighth day of Christmas, so here's to eight lords a-leaping. Which, speaking of that...
Well, I didn't quite make 36 books in 2024, but I read 27
I'm going to go for 36 again this year, and really work on making it.
I've already started and completed the first book for 2025:
1. The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene. Grossett & Dunlap, 1930 [2014 edition], 192 pp. ISBN: 978-0448479699
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