It is still very cold here.
Yesterday was a short day at work for me, so that I could come home early enough to do a second firing in the masonry heater during the afternoon. We needed it! Tonight the temperature is predicted to drop to -30C, so I hope we can burn three fires again today!!!
The drive to work yesterday was horrendous. The roads were solid white ice where the snow had packed, with an overcoat of brown slush, which consisted of sand and more recent snow. Slippery. I drove to and from work at a crawl, and no one passed me on the highway, which says a lot about the road condition. Someone in a big pickup truck or expensive SUV usually passes me when I am driving according to the road condition. I guess the road condition yesterday was just too obvious to be ignored. Perhaps Sunday’s snow squalls alerted the non-resident drivers to the hazards of the road. Harriet said that they passed many, many people who ended up in the ditch. They were heading south towards the city, where the roads are predominantly clear of ice and snow. It is my fervent hope that the road surfaces will be ploughed more effectively this morning, as I am dreading the drive to and from work, even though the scenery is breathtakingly beautiful.
Attila fell on the ice yesterday and is a bit stiff, so I have been helping out by carrying some of the firewood into the house.
January is a very long month! We have driven out for supplies once in the month of January, and have not managed a visit to the little house in the city at all. Other than that the only contact we have had face-to-face is with the people we work with. This is a problem for me. when I am working in a challenging location, as I find myself counting the number of scheduled hours that are left to work at the place. Still, better to spend my time counting the hours that are passing than sitting out the winter with my old friend cabin fever.
I hope to be able to find some time to work on my genealogy project again, and eventually to refocus on some of my web sites, which are languishing from neglect.
Standing at the computer just now, there came a loud richocheting crack from the deck outside. It is so cold that the exterior of the house is contracting and snapping. I imagine the trees are snapping as well, but cannot be heard from indoors.
It occurs to me that society has become much like a television series. Characters are in the picture when something interesting is going on, and then they are consigned to absence and cease to exist when their dramatic role is no longer of interest. Pragmatically this plays out thus: when your doing something dramatic you have company and attention. When you are balanced and relatively qualm you cease to exist in a social sense. Was it always so? I can’t tell because television was around when I was a kid. I would need to consult with the age cohort that lived in times before the rise of television, to get any sense of what came before. How quickly the human species forgets the tangible past, except for the huge impositions of the rich and powerful which linger, midden like, across the landscape.
Worldly Distractions
Weather
-23 °C
Condition: Clear
Pressure: 101.5 kPa
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: -23.4°C
Dewpoint: -25.9°C
Humidity: 81 %
Wind: NW 13 km/h
Wind Chill: -33
Quote
“Personally I’m always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.”
Sir Winston Churchill
1874 – 1965