About a half an hour ago, just before I cleared snow for the first time. There was about 5 inches so far, about 7 hours in and over 12 hours to go yet. I'll have to clear at least once more today, maybe twice, then again in the morning. But we'll see.
Tomorrow is due to snow all day long for a total of 8-13 more inches. Local school districts already announced closures or virtual-only classes, just like they did on Monday afternoon. My work goes by the Madison school district, so we will have our second snow day this week tomorrow. It's nice to at least have the time off to deal with all that snow and not worry about driving anywhere (even the state police are saying to stay off the roads tomorrow), but we either have to use a vacation day or take it unpaid. As I'm starting over in a new job I don't have much vacation time so I'm taking these days unpaid.
Then, to top it all off, on Sunday we begin a stretch of very cold temperatures with highs Sunday and Monday right around 0ºF (about -18ºC) and staying in the single digits for at least a week.
Sure, we've seen these kinds of snows and temperatures before, but that doesn't make it any easier. I'll try to post another pic on Saturday. My guess is the fire pit and outlines of anything else in the back yard will be pretty much totally obscured. I should have brought in the gnome and solar lights last weekend. Oh well...
For Tuesday's snow day I made homemade cinnamon rolls.
However you chose to ring in 2024, I hope you enjoy the holiday today and all my best wishes for a wonderful new year.
If you know me then you'll know I've not been happy with my job in a pretty long time. New management came in after the beginning of the pandemic and there were many changes, not all for the better but square pegs were pounded into round holes anyway. It wasn't the best employer to begin with (rated low on all job sites I've seen), and I had a hard time playing along with the new, ruthless management style. I wasn't the only one; I watched as others in our department retired, found new jobs, got fired, or just rolled over and fumed in silence.
I got myself in trouble standing up to management in late 2022, which basically put me back on probation for a year. I looked for another job on and off, but was unwilling to give up the benefits I earned over several years to start all over somewhere else. But on October 16 that decision was made for me. Rather than allow me to come off that probation, I was fired. It was my own fault for staying too long when I could not get along with the management.
My health insurance would run through the end of that month, then my wife and I would be without (she is considered part time as she works less than 40 hours to allow her days to take care of her dad, so is not offered health insurance). Since health insurance is very important in this country and is tied to employment, I needed a job ASAP. I knew some people who needed help where they worked, so the day after I got fired I went there to apply and wound up getting the job. I started work on November 1, but it would be at least a month until my new insurance started so I got an expensive policy through the government's marketplace (Obamacare). Thankfully I was eligible for my new insurance to start on December 1 so only had to pay for one month of that expensive policy. And while there were several issues with the new insurance they all got straightened out as of yesterday, so that is finally settled.
Meanwhile, I was working a new job unlike anything I had ever done before. I'm not going to say where it is, I'll just say it is basically a daycare for adults with developmental disabilities. I spend a lot of time playing as you would with kids, and also taking some to their jobs and coaching them throughout the week. Overall, it's pretty easy and I'm growing to like it more and more, but it doesn't pay the best. Still, I'm so much happier not working where I was, so it has advantages and disadvantages.
And nothing says I have to keep this job forever, but for now I will continue and see where this path leads me in the new year.
Merry Christmas, everyone. I hope you had a great weekend and are having a good day today doing what you wish with those you want to be with. Or anything close to that is still pretty dang good.
We spent some time on Saturday with my wife's family and some time yesterday with mine. Gifts were exchanged and holiday greetings and catching up were shared. It's so much less about the giving and getting stuff than it is about the time spent, or should be. It was nice to see everyone, including the nieces and nephews that we don't get to see too often. And a shame we couldn't see the others, which seems to happen too often.
It's certainly not a white Christmas here this year with temperatures yesterday and today in the 50's with 100% humidity. Outside has been overcast and very foggy for a few days now, but that's still lots better than if it was snow and frost. We've had less than two inches of snow here this month when 12 inches is normal for December, and will get no more though we return to highs around the freezing mark over the next week. But January is next, and January is, well, January. Until it becomes February, normally another very cold and snowy month.
Warm bread helps.
I've not had that many fires this year, but I do like to have a fire on the winter solstice when I can. This year, today was fully cloudy and damp but a few degrees above freezing so I made myself get out there for likely the last time until Spring. We're in for a mild winter, they say, but we'll see.
Happy Solstice, everyone.
Apparently, this checklist has been trending on social media of some sort, I read about it on a website. Similar to the '50 Bands I've Seen Live' trend that I posted back in the first year of this blog, I felt the urge to give my two cents on this one.
There have been changes around here and I'm still not too sure exactly how I feel about it so I'm going to continue taking a break from blogging through the end of the year, I think. Nothing for anyone to worry about, though. I'll write more in due time.
Thank you.
Was a good night for it, but got colder soon after dark. Here you can also see some of the work on neighbor Dave's house, where the inside is gutted and now a new re-pitched roof. Lots of happenings around here, not sure how much I want to talk about it yet, though. Real life needs doing, not writing.
Happy post-Halloween, everyone. It was mostly a quiet night around here, so thankfully I got only about a third of the candy we had last year. We got just 9 trick-or-treaters this year, but were only one of 3 houses on the block that I noticed had their lights on. The last two kids were growing mustaches and it was pretty cold so I shut it down about 7:00. It barely got above freezing yesterday with occasional light snow flurries off and on all day for our first snow of the year, though it didn't stick.
I carved a pumpkin again to display on the front steps last night, and today it is on the stump in back waiting to be ravaged by the squirrels and rabbits. I have the trail camera aimed in that direction but I got a pretty good video of it getting eaten bit by bit last year. The mummy in the windows was showing wear on the fold seams, and I was getting tired of it so this was the last year for that. I also pulled out the mask with the moving mouth LED lights to wear again but that wasn't working right so is also in the trash now.
We had a good run, but I'm not sure I'll do so much next year. It doesn't seem worth it for just a handful of kids so maybe just candy next year, and maybe the flickering flame light bulb again, too, since I have it just for this holiday. Hope you had fun if you chose to celebrate.
