Snow Day! (Even if we are off work already, anyway!)

It's a late blog today. It's rare, these days, that I actually get to blog on the day that the blog is intended to be read. However, since it's a holiday today- Happy Birthday Mr. Presidents- I can blog late.

It's probably a good thing it's a holiday today. It's really, really snowing out there. According to Mr. Weatherman, we, here, in Cincinnati, Ohio are located in the 'bullseye' of the winter storm. At the moment it's snowing heavily, the kind of snow that doesn't waste time with pretty, slow-falling fluffy flakes. No, it's the hard snow that looks like rain only it's snow.


All told, by the time it's done, we're supposed to have nine new inches of snow on the ground. They're already reporting that the airport has closed some of its runways. Since the storm is to continue through early tomorrow, we can only assume that not many flights are coming in and out.

Which leads me to be quite grateful that Saz could not come in for the weekend. As much fun as we would have had, I can safely say that as I had feared, she would have been stuck. I'm thinking Memorial Day is a much safer option for a future visit :)

In the meantime, I get to stay inside today. I have plans to cook, to write and to just enjoy the fact that this is a snow day, even if it is only a happy accident that I don't have to risk my life and my car to get to the office. I have no illusions that my company is likely to suddenly recognize the fact that it has human beings working for them and thus issue an email telling us that we should work at home if possible tomorrow. I mean, in an ideal world, that would be the right thing to do but my company doesn't do the right thing, it does the thing that will allow them to continue to try to make money. I suppose that is the purpose of a corporation.


Anyway, I'm not dwelling on work today. I'm enjoying the fact that I don't have to go. I've already had a pleasant two days off, this is a bonus. I ended up deciding that I was going to appreciate the fact that I was a singleton on Valentine's Day and I did exactly as I pleased. This involved eating butternut squash ravioli with sage butter sauce while watching "Across the Universe" on DVD in the comfort of my own home. I also went to the movies earlier in the day and saw, appropriately, "Valentine's Day." It was a good choice for, you know, Valentine's Day, although at any other time of year, it could be considered overly cheesy and predictable. Also, there's just some stuff in there that is so over-the-top in trying to hit the 'romantic' point home that everyone in the audience laughed instead of giving the 'AWWW!' response that I suspect the filmaker was going for.


But it was a good choice for Valentine's Day. It was a nice end to a 'normal' weekend but since I get to take today off, the weekend still continues. I think I shall celebrate the snow day by doing some projects I haven't had time to do lately. I have a sock monkey that I've been waiting to sew, courtesty of RadLinc Crafts. I also want to get my novel formatted and ready for the Nook and Kindle. Of course, at some point, I do have to work in shoveling my driveway. However, it's hard to know the right point at which to shovel because it's going to keep snowing and thus, I'll only have to dig again later.


For now though, I am going to continue to watch the snow fall and be very grateful that I do not have to go anywhere in it. As for tomorrow, well, that's another day and another blog.


Happy Monday!

Adventures in Ice-Scraping

This week's blog is turning out to be all about the snow. I'm going with it so hopefully you don't mind too much.

So, yesterday, we had our snow day. It was truly good. I got to exercise a little longer, be lazy a little longer, do part of a jigsaw puzzle, drink hot chocolate and....clean off my car.

"Oh", I can hear you saying. "Why did you have to do that, Captain Monkeypants? You weren't going out in that nasty weather were you?"

Well, no. However, I knew the next day I'd have to get up for work and would not feel like cleaning off my car. So I ambitiously thought that maybe I'll clean off my car, pull and and back into my space so that in the morning, I could just pull on out slowly and be on my merry way to work.

Have you ever noticed how life never turns out the way you plan?

So, I got dressed into my winter boots and coat and gloves and went to face my snowy car. I have this handy sheepskin ice-scraper mitt-thingy that I got as a Christmas gift so I naively thought that would clean the snow off nicely.

The only problem was that I'd forgotten about the sleet. You see, in between our first four inches of snow and our second 3 inches, we had about 3 inches of sleet. This means that my car was covered by an ice sandwich.

Instead of scraping nicely, I ended up having to use my ice-scraper as a chisel. After much whacking and hitting, some of the ice began to chip away. This may be because I had turned my car on and being the sweet creature it is, it was heating the inside so the windows warmed up thus making the ice slightly easier to scrape.

I ran into a slight problem with my ice-scraper though. The top kept flying off as I chiseled. And yes, I did hit myself in the head with the ice-scraper. After all, I am Captain Monkeypants, Mistress of the Calamity. I also got a little too excitedly vigourous in my chiseling and didn't think about ice flying up and hitting me. Of course it did but, thankfully, I was wearing my glasses and they protected me from my own enthusiasm.

Because of the ice-sandwich on my car, it was slightly easier to remove some of the snow. There was enough room under the ice to maneuver the scraper and, with a lot of energy, thusly lifting, allowing the frozen stuff to be lifted off in sheets. I frisbeed those off to the grassy space where few people dare to walk when it's icy.

Finally, my car was rather clean. I decided now would be the time to pull out and reverse back into my parking space. That was a lovely notion but, alas, I was stuck. I used my handy icescraper to try to free the wheels but that did not work. I was still stuck.

I needed a shovel. I live in an apartment building and recently moved from California. There is no reason I believed I needed a shovel. Well, that was until my car got stuck. I wasn't the only one. There seemed to be few shovels in my apartment complex. I saw a girl with one and was going to ask to borrow it but she disappeared before I could get a chance. I put my car in neutral and decided to give myself a push (yes, not the wisest idea ever but it seemed like a good idea at the time). That didn't work.

Deflated, I went upstairs and called my friend/coworker who lives in the same complex. Sadly, she did not own a shovel and was also stuck. We decided I'd head to her place and I would push while she tried to reverse. Yeah, that didn't work. We pushed quite hard too.

Fortunately, someone had a shovel and helped us dig. Freedom! We borrowed the shovel and drove down to my car. After much digging and pushing and pushing on the gas, I, too, was free. I managed to neatly back my car in and dig a little more to ensure I wouldn't get stuck in the snow in the morning.

All of this took about three hours. I used two ice-scrapers, both had flying heads on them. My muscles are sore from the pushing and digging and vigourous scraping. It was actually sort of fun. Then again, as I've been told many times before, I have a strange sense of fun.

This morning, I managed to pull out of my parking spot whith no problem whatsoever. The roads are a little vile and there are many idiots out there driving, one of whom cut me off as I was going through a green light today. I'm glad I could stop without skidding. I honked my horn loudly at him. It's those people that cause the problems, not the ice and snow.

I know I'll be called crazy again for this but I can safely say I love winter. It's a challenge and it makes life much more interesting. The layers of snow and ice add a layer of complication and puzzle solving that summer does not. I do, however, think I might need another ice-scraper. I'm also going to buy my very own shovel. I think I'll name it Digger.

Happy Thursday.

The Gift of a Snow Day

Snow and I are happy again today. It's currently coming down so fast that it looks like a fog hanging over the world. It's been snowing all night, we have about 7 inches on the ground and a couple of inches of ice in between.

And, best of all, I have my long-desired gift of a snow day from work.

Yes, blog readers, one of the advantages of working for a university is that they cancel school for both students and staff. Granted, it's more likely they'll cancel classes and make us minions, um, I mean staff, go in anyway but when it's really bad out, it seems they do think of us. Thus, after waking up at my normal time and finding out I had a two hour delay then, slowly, getting out of bed to discover if I really had to go in because, frankly, it looks like the North Pole out there, I finally discovered I have a snow day.

I'm so glad. I hadn't even started to get ready for work yet which is a huge bonus. Usually, these things happen as I'm about to walk out the door and then I wonder why I bothered getting myself all nice-d up, just to stay home. Not today, however. Today is all about the snow day.

I'm going to have a real snow day. I'm going to have my hot chocolate, edit my novel, watch movies and probably head over to my coworkers for "Lost" tonight since she lives in the same apartment complex and a walk through the snow might be fun. That's it.

Yes, I should probably do other things like cleaning. I might do some of that. The nice thing is though is I don't have to. This is a bonus day, one that is spontaneous and unscheduled. These days are meant for doing exactly what I want.

Have I mentioned how happy I am?

Ok, so I know there are people who don't get it, who see the snow as an inconvenience and a cold, wet blanket of winter overkill but I'm not one of them. If I was in California right now, I'd probably be hoping it rained, just to add variety. Yet it would never snow. That's why I love being back in the Midwest.

Now, as I sit here from the corner of my spare bedroom, glancing out the window at the pouring snow, let me once more proclain my love for the fluffy white stuff that makes life so much more interesting.

I'm still in my pajamas, something that wouldn't be happening if it wasn't a snow day. I am actually wondering why this Crest toothpaste does have the aftertaste of marijuana every time I use it. Not that I am a marijuana user but if you've been to as many rock concerts as I have, you learn how it smells. Ok, so when I was in college and constantly exposed to the aroma, I didn't know it and just thought it was chinese food but I'm older and wiser now. I know what it smells like. I'm just wondering why my toothpaste makes me feel like I'm back at a Green Day concert for a split second after I've brushed.

You're probably wondering where that randomness came from. Never ask. It's safer that way. Just know that the snow makes my random thoughts randomer because I don't have to be anywhere else today. I just get to stay home and enjoy the winter weather.

Have I mentioned that I love snow?

Happy Wednesday.