Snow - and it's annoying

I still haven't figured out how to make my iPod nano to play the stuff I want it to play.  I'm giving the two of us a time out.

The house's pipes are flowing nicely.  Last night I made sure to leave a couple of faucets running slightly.  I sure don't want to go through the whole frozen pipes scenario a second time.  Nope, nope, nope.

As if I wasn't already feeling annoyed, today's weather helped things along nicely.  It started snowing early in the afternoon.  Mucked things up a bit and then stopped.  Fortunately things cleared up enough to make it relatively easy to get to my car.  However, as I headed home, I could see clouds headed my way.  Sure enough, about halfway home it started to snow.  NOOOOOOO!

At one point I was sitting at a stoplight and you could see the snow beginning to accumulate on the road.  Oh, no!  Fortunately, at about 3/4 of the way home, the snow tapered off and things went fairly well the rest of the way.

After I got home I took a few minutes to sweep the snow off the sidewalk.  Otherwise, tomorrow it would most likely melt enough to change into ice before I got home.

It's supposed to be COLD again tomorrow and then start warming up to normal temperatures by the end of the week.  Sooner rather than later would be nice.

Papillon

Even though this was my 9/80 Friday off and therefore a 3-day weekend, it has not been the best of weekends.

Friday was cold and WINDY.  In spite of that, I got a number of errands run.

Yesterday I did battle with an iPod nano that I had bought.  I've got some mp3 files I want to listen to while preparing for a writing retreat that I signed up for.  (The retreat is in February.)  For starters, the iPod didn't want to converse with my older computer.  I got things started with my laptop, but that has got to be one of the more annoying sign-up processes.  I thought I got things working, however, the iPod doesn't want to recognize the mp3 files, let alone play them.  It took everything I had to restrain myself from flinging the damned thing across the room.

This morning I woke up and found that I have NO water.  None.  Zero.  Zip.  Now, it was supposed to be the coldest night of the year last night.  We were forecast to get down to around around zero.  I had my house re-piped a couple of years ago and they said they put all sorts of insulation around my pipes.

I called the city to see if the meter might have frozen.  The young woman I talked to said they had crews out dealing with a main line break.  I'm wondering if that could be the problem.  I think I shall wind this up and call a couple of neighbors to see if they're experiencing problems.

It's entirely possible that it's a water main problem.  I hopped in my car to go use Walmart's bathrooms and pick up some bottled water to use to fill my toilet tank.  The thermometer said it was 14 to 15 degrees.  We've had colder mornings without a problem.

I just heard from the plumber.  They're so busy, it may be late this afternoon before they can get someone freed up to come by my house.  Yikes!

Oh, when I went out to get the newspaper, what should I see but two hot air balloons.  If it's 14 degrees on the ground, it must be below freezing up where they're at.  Are these people insane?

Papillon

Snow...

The last day of a very dry year, we got a small amount of moisture in the form of snow.

The weather forecasters had been saying we had a 30 percent chance of snow.  I went to bed and there was no snow.  This morning I got up and voila!

It must have started shortly before 5 AM because the newspaper gets delivered around then and there was snow under the paper.

We have a fairly active rabbit population in my neighborhood and they are obviously more active than I'd originally suspected.

You can't see it in this shot, but I did spot one line of tracks that I think belongs to one of the neighborhood cats.  It must have strolled through either pre or post bunnies because I don't see any evidence that bunnies were chased (or caught).

Have a great 2013!
Papillon

Xmas in Colonial Williamsburg

At first I was worried I wouldn't be able to make it to Christmas this year.  For whatever reason, my sinuses went into overdrive late last week.  I felt fine through Wednesday and then felt progressively miserable on Thursday and Friday.  Lots of pressure and tightness.  I started taking OTC sinus medication and eventually started to feel better.  Not great but better.

I felt well enough to fly out on the 24th to Norfolk, VA.  I woke up to a shock on the 25th.  I had pink blotches all over my body.  I hadn't felt anything overnight, so I didn't REALLY think it was bedbugs, but I didn't know for sure.  Perhaps it was a reaction to the detergent the hotel used to wash their sheets and towels??  In any case, I looked like a Dalmation - just with pink spots instead of black.  I was only slightly itching so things weren't TOO bad.  I did notify the hotel and they said they would check things out.  (Note:  they did get a professional in who did confirm that there were NO bugs in my room.)

I went ahead and drove to Williamsburg.  It was a lovely drive with lots of scenery to be seen - including a stretch of first bridge and then tunnel, over and under the Chesapeake Bay.  I haven't seen that much water in one place in quite some time.

After getting to Williamsburg, my younger sister and I went to the local emergency room.  (Oddly, all the urgent care places were closed.)  Fortunately there were only a few people there.  None were hacking up lungs and nobody had any unfortunate gaping holes and oozing body fluids.  In slightly over an hour, I had been checked out and told I had a case of hives (and therefore NOT contagious, which the hotel wanted to make sure of).  The culprit was decided to be an OTC herbal supplement that was supposed to help ease my sinus pressure.  It did that, but one or more of the ingredients also cause the hives reaction.  On the plus side, I didn't have bedbugs!!!!

It was good getting together with my sisters and BIL.  Thanks to Pace for taking this photo!

Xmas day we had chilly but sunny weather.  The 26th it rained for most of the day.  Sure made it tough to hold the umbrella against the wind and take photos at the same time.  I changed clothes halfway through the day after the first set got wet.  The 27th was chilly but at least partly sunny.  Much easier to take photos!

I love these three little side-by-side houses.  They're so cute!

Here's a colonial reenactor.  He really seemed to get into his role.  It was a hoot watching him in action.  Here he was in the process of teaching some young men how to bow to the ladies and the ladies how to curtsy in response. 

Here are some decorations.  (In colonial times, they decorated inside the houses but not outside.  These are technically not historically accuate.)  Because we now like to see outside decorations, they do this to make the tourists happy.  All materials are 100% natural materials.  (The guide said the squirrels love this 'buffet' of food.)

These are a couple more reenactors.  You can tell it's a chilly day.

I don't remember which, but this reenactor told one of my sisters that he's worked at Colonial Williamsburg for something like 30+ years.  He was working on a rabbit stew - in an open pot over an open fire.  Later he was going to make cabbage cakes.  (He said these are sort of like potato cakes except using cabbage.)  His wife works down the street at the apothecary's office.  (I asked if she had anything for my hives.  She recommended calamine lotion.)

I am glad we decided to do this.  We had a yummy dinner on Xmas night at the hotel.  On the 26th we went to the Trellis restaurant.  I had the pork loin.  OMG - that was some yummy meat!   It makes my taste buds smile just thinking about it!

There were a few hiccups along the way.  Hives, followed by being out and about on a rainy day that would have had New Mexicans building arks.  But - according to G.K. Chesterton, an inconvenience rightly considered is an adventure.  We definitely had an adventure.  (And the hotel staff at the Williamsburg Lodge felt so sorry for my Dalmation-spotted self, they upgraded my room.  It was lovely!)  When the sun finally came out late in the afternoon on the 26th, there was a gorgeous rainbow to be seen from my window.

I hope all of you had a great Xmas as well.
Papillon

A Weird and Annoying Week

The week started to get weird and annoying on Tuesday morning.  It was a cold morning, around 17 degrees. So when the low tire pressure indicator came on, I figured things would be OK once the tires got warmed up.

Things weren't OK.  The indicator stayed on.  I stopped at a gas station on the way to work and pumped some air into all the tires.  That helped and the indicator went off.  On the way home, I stopped at another gas station and made sure all the tires were up to the correct pressure.

On Wednesday the weather went to hell in a hand basket.  A nasty cold front blew through, literally.  All day it was cold and VERY windy.  Normally I would stay inside as much as possible, but work required me to be out and about.

Then, on Thursday, I noticed my sinuses were acting up.  Tight and some drainage (TMI?) causing some sporadic coughing.  I took some OTC sinus medication and things seemed to get better.

That is until Friday rolled around.  My sinuses were really tight and lots more coughing.  The OTC medication helped a little.  I was worried that I might be too sick to take part in Xmas activities.

Saturday morning I woke up to a headache and a whole lot of coughing.  However, after a while, things calmed down and the OTC medicine was helping.  At that point I thought I'd head to Target, get some additional OTC stuff and head home.

Imagine my annoyance when the low tire pressure indicator popped up.  WTH?  I drove to Target, but when I got out of the car, I noticed the left front tire was not flat, but it was rather low.  I got back in the car and drove to Firestone.  I've had the car for 4 years and the tires are originals, so I just went ahead and bought a new set.

They initially told me it'd be about an hour and a half or two hours before they could get me in and get things done.  I strolled over to a nearby Dollar Tree and got a bag of nuts.  Then on to the Goodwill next door.  There I found an Agatha Christie I hadn't read in a while.  I headed back to Firestone to wait things out.  Surprisingly, I was feeling better than I had in about 48 hours.  Not 100%, but at least around 75%.

The Firestone folks got me out in about an hour and I headed on home where I spent most of the rest of the day on the couch.  This helped and I did feel better - at about 80-85%.  It's been kinda up and down today, but the coughing has subsided a bit.  That's always good.

I'm hoping things continue to get better, but I'm going to continue to keep the OTC medication and Kleenex handy for the foreseeable future.

Joyeux Noel.
Papillon

Tiny Snowfall

We did get a tiny bit of snow last night.

The sun came out shortly after this photo was taken and most of the snow is now history.  For a while it looked like it was going to be a pretty nice day.

However, some clouds blew through around noon.  It's now sunny, windy and cold.

Papillon

Snow!

OK, I was a bit precipitate (pun intended).

I looked out the window and there is snow!

I'm glad it's the weekend.  There's no need to deal with both snow and commuting.

To change the subject, I watched the Glenn Close move, Albert Nobb.
It's a fascinating movie.  It's also rather depressing.  Just letting you know.

Papillon