Musings on a Small Life

We've had freezing rain all weekend. There were/are lots of power outages around the city, but we have been lucky in the immediate neighbourhood and kept power. I went out for a walk a bit earlier, as I could see that the road was clear. I meant to just walk around the complex, but ended up doing an hour and a half around the larger neighbourhood. It didn't feel like it was that long, though! There are lots of small tree limbs down, but nothing major.  It's pretty to look at, but....  We're supposed to have a warm up tomorrow, with lots of rain, so hopefully that takes care of the ice. It's hard to believe that parts of southwestern Ontario had 20C weather, while we got this! 

"Slip slidin' away Slip slidin' away You know the nearer your destination The more you're slip slidin' away...." Winter in this part of Ontario isn't quite what the song means, but hey, I'm just going with it. And the words are appropriate! Below: The view from my bedroom when I got home yesterday afternoon. Our director let us go early, and a co-worker drove me (carefully and slowly) home. It got worse from there, but we were lucky in that most of it fell as ice pellets, which are granular. So while everything has a coating of ice, it's not the sheer skating rink it could have become. Getting into work this morning was pretty straightforward, actually, no delays. I was smart enough to wear my ice grippers on my boots, though!   The trees looked pretty, their berries with a light coating of ice. Still, you can see how messy things are, below.  Anyone else other than me ready for Spring? If you're dealing with si...

Worst. April. Weather. Ever. The ice pellets and freezing rain continue. We're hunkered down inside for the second consecutive day, which is almost unprecedented for me.  Weather aside, Mr. Brat (Nicki) had quite the adventure early yesterday AM.  Juncos in the back space yesterday afternoon. Just before 6 AM I heard a faint, plaintive meow, the kind that means someone's in trouble, trapped in a bureau drawer or some such. I went hunting for Nicki, and it turned out that he had gotten behind the old bedspread I had tucked around the box spring propped up in the spare room (I'd thought to keep it and just get another mattress, use it for a guest bed, now that I have my new platform bed). Not only behind the bedspread, but he'd gotten himself inside the box spring itself (the underside) and was wedged up in the springs. He was NOT happy! With some help from me he did manage to extricate himself, and while he was fine, he just about gave me heart fail...

Dad and his wife flew from Vancouver at 6AM PST today, heading to Mexico for ten days. Warmth, sunshine, beaches.... This is how things look in my part of the world today:           Did I mention that temps will be plunging tonight into the minus 20s Celsius, for the upcoming week? Nice . Tomorrow's commute to work (and school for the kids) should be "fun"! I hope that wherever you are, your weather is better!  Peace .

Yes, the University, it its infinite "wisdom," decided we should be open today. No comment from me, I'm sure you can guess what I'm thinking. So here are some (grainy) snaps from early this AM, on my way in. I walked only part way in our neighbourhood, then was too freaked out by having to duck under limbs heavy with ice, so waited at the next bus stop.                                 I'm still a bit concerned, as it's too cold to melt the ice and we'll be plunging into a deep freeze tonight. If or when the winds come up, it could get far worse. Fingers crossed for everyone's safety, and for power to stay on! Purrs from the boys and peace from me.

I had to go for groceries, food that I could eat without cooking, and snapped some pics along the way.  It's far, far worse now, after another entire day and night of rain, freezing rain and ice pellets. (Ice pellets as I'm typing this at 5:30AM EST.) The power flickered numerous times yesterday afternoon and evening, and the TV shut off and then on again right away three times, and I lost cable/internet/phone for a very short time. But so far things have been okay. Knock on wood. Given that power has been off all around us (I've been checking our City's utilities site), I'm amazed mine didn't go out overnight. (I've probably just jinxed it now.) I've not seen the like of this since 1998, it's crazy out there. Waiting for a west-heading bus around 7:45AM on Saturday. Pouring rain at that point, no plows or sanders yet.   (Looking at a private business driveway/lot.)   For sale at the grocery store.   Obviously inside the...