Tag: Cold

Edits to the To-Do List

I didn’t go out for car music today. Nope. I was going to. I woke up at 6:45am (on a Saturday, you savage!) and my watch told me it was 2 degrees out. Yikes. Well… we’ll see how things look after my shower and stuff. When I was all dressed and ready to go my watch told me it was 1 degree out. Welp, maybe next time.

That’s one thing dropped from the to-do list. We are hoping to add one thing too. There will, hopefully, be a FaceTime call with Bellana today! All the way from The Netherlands where she is quarantining and probably super bored. I still haven’t decided if I want to share their YouTube video or not. I’m hoping they post things regularly so we can feel like we’re a distant part of their adventure. Fingers crossed. I probably won’t post the videos here. I don’t know. Maybe, but probably not.

In closing, yesterday I listened to a podcast that broke down the Grace Under Pressure Tour video that Rush released in 1984 or so. It brought this little masterpiece back to the front of my brain and it doesn’t show any signs of leaving any time soon.

Fear. A sort of suite. Sort of. In 1984 when Rush released the Grace Under Pressure album, the song The Enemy Within was subtitled Part One of Fear. Well what the hell did that mean? They eventually explained it to us. One of my friends in Junior High said he had figured it out, but I don’t believe him.

Fear is a three song suite-ish that includes one song each from three albums… in reverse.

Part One is The Enemy Within from Grace Under Pressure, released in 1984.
Part Two is The Weapon from Signals, released in 1982.
Part Three is Witch Hunt from Moving Pictures, released in 1981.

Simple, right? If I remember correctly, Neil said he numbered them in order of the hardest to write to the easiest… or was it the other way around. Damn it. I don’t remember for sure. It doesn’t matter, they were numbered based on the writing process, that’s all you need to know. I don’t recall if The Weapon and Witch Hunt were ever officially given a Fear subtitle on any subsequent release, but they might have. There was also a fourth song, Freeze from Vapor Trails, released in 2002, but they never played all four of them together. In fact, they never played Freeze live at all. They were never supposed to play Witch Hunt either. That was written and recorded as a studio only thing as there were little things that couldn’t be pulled off live with just three people at the time. As a result, this arrangement is a little different than the Moving Pictures album and that was something that Rush just didn’t do, making this version extra special. Years later, as sampling and triggering technology caught up with the band, they did do Witch Hunt as it was originally arranged. I really like this one though. It lacks the cowbell in the beginning, well most of it at least, but it adds that killer guitar solo at the end. Awesome.

Gee, I hope these videos actually play though… seems like a lot of people have posted this with the sharing options off. Yikes.

Whatever.

We’re going to hear from Bellana today. Happy.

Cold

I just stepped outside for two seconds. I wanted to bring in the mail.

It’s so cold out, how cold is it? It’s so cold out that I instantly froze solid from head to toe. Imagine if the Greek myth of Medusa was real but instead of her glance turning you to stone it turned you to ice. That’s what it’s like outside right now. It’s like locking eyes with Medusa.

Luckily I got better.

I just thought you should know.

Signs Point to a Rough Day

Last night, just before I was about to turn in for the night, I had a muscle spasm, or a cramp, or something in my gut that hurt like it hurts when a meteor crashes into your face. Oh my goodness, did that little sucker (whatever it was) hurt like 10 shades of hellish suck.

I’ve had this happen 2-3 times over the past 10-15 years and each time it is about 5-10 minutes of nightmare*. I don’t know what to do to relieve the pain so I get up and try to walk it off. That doesn’t help at all, but at least I am doing something. After a few minutes the pain calms down but whatever muscle is being the asshole is still twitching. Just as I start thinking I might be okay it fires up again and the whole thing starts over. After that it’s done. Last night the whole thing lasted less than 10 minutes and then I was able to lie down and sleep.

So that’s the first sign that today might suck. Here’s the second.

Last night I wrote a post saying that it was going to be horribly cold out this morning. The forecast was right. It is currently six degrees out. I should be happy that I put the barrels out last night and don’t need to go outside today, right?

We got a dusting of snow overnight. We have a grocery delivery coming this morning. I need to put ice melt down so the instacart person doesn’t slip. After all that shit last night, I still have to go outside this morning.

Here’s hoping that’s the last bad thing and that the rest of the day goes smoothly. Pretty please with sugar on top.

*That sentence is my attempt to use the most “-” characters in a single sentence ever. Did I set a new world record? Do we need to call the Guinness folks?

I Don’t Like Winter

It’s cold out tonight. I need to take the trash barrels out to the street for pick up tomorrow. I can do it tonight before bed, or I can get up a few minutes early tomorrow and do it then. I looked at the weather complication on my watch and it told me it was 24 degrees out. Damn, that’s cold. I hate cold. I looked up the forecast for the morning and… took the barrels out tonight.

It’s going down to single digits tonight. The forecast is calling for seven degrees at 8:00am tomorrow.

Hot damn, that’s cold.

Having a Day

I am having a day, my readers and only friends. I am having a day.

It’s 47 degrees outside. I don’t know what the temperature is inside, but it’s not too bad. I’m still in Harry’s room and expect to be here through the rest of the work day. It’s not exactly chilly in here. It’s basically kind of pleasant, but it’s not what you would call warm. I’ve walked to the bedroom once or twice just to experience a little more warmth, but it hasn’t been a necessity or anything. The temperature is more than comfortable.

That didn’t stop me from shaking for about two hours this morning. Work got crazy for a while there. Crazy. It’s 2:51 and I am on my lunch. That implies that the morning was busy enough for me to push off food for an hour. Me. Pushed off eating. Yeah. Crazy.

Okay. Lunch break over. Quick check in with the universe over too. I’m heading back in again. Cover me, Porkins!

Forecast

We’ve had a string of scorchers around here. I’ve mentally blocked out some of it. Has it been four straight days above 90 degrees, or was it five? I’ve been thinking about weather tonight. Specifically Friday’s weather.

Yeah I know, it’s too soon to start thinking about the forecast for Friday. It’s the day after tomorrow, but it may as well be 10 years away. Harry’s graduation is Friday evening and it’s going to be outside on the football field.

The good news is that the forecast for the next couple of days won’t come anywhere near the 90’s. The bad news is the high for Friday in Windham is 68 and the low is 56. Yikes!

Two years ago, when Bellana graduated, it was oppressively hot at the start of the ceremony and frosty cold at the end. I had a suit jacket that day but ended up giving it to someone who was a lot colder than I was. It didn’t take long for me to regret the chivalry. I was freezing my ass off.

This time, I’m bringing a real coat with me. I don’t care if I have to carry it around all day. If we’re still on that field when the sun gets low it’s going to feel like the north freakin’ pole.

The boy scout motto is “be prepared.” The cliche quote* is if you don’t like the weather in New England, wait a minute. I will take both of those to heart on Friday. I am going to love the whole experience so much that I ain’t letting a little frigid air stop me.

The Bruins are getting smoked. 6-2, though two of those Islander goals were empty nets. I can’t believe I have to say this, but here’s hoping Tampa Bay kicks the living shit out of New York in the third round.

*I’ve always heard that quote attributed to Mark Twain. Is that true? Did he actually say that? Is that a true story or just some silly myth. I have no idea. If you live in New England you know it’s a really accurate statement though. We live it every day. I’ve lived in New England for 50 years and for pretty much all of those years I did not have any interest in living anywhere else. Today? Today I am thinking that maybe it’s time.

The Bruins have been eliminated from the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Crap.

I’m Pretty Smart, I think

I’m pretty smart… I think.  At least I always thought I was.  My grades in school were always good.  In college I blew a curve on a test in Calculus II, and I got an A- for the semester in Calculus III.  I’m not saying I’m some kind of rocket scientist or anything.  Don’t expect me to do anything Earth shattering like building the better mouse trap, okay?  I’m not dumb though.  I have a decent brain and it usually gets the job done.

Taking that as truth… why the hell do I still live in a place where it snows?  I mean… I thought I would be smart enough to know better.  My wife, now she’s super smart.  She’s gotta be the smartest person any of us have ever met and yet she still lives here too.  My step kids?  Smarter still!  If anyone is going to build that better mouse trap it’s absolutely going to be one of them.  Yet… the four of us all still live in a place where it snows.

I just think that maybe after all this time we would have done something to fix this little snow falling problem.  Something like… move to Southern California.  You know, something like that.

Holy Shiznits!

This post will cross post onto twitter and my step son is now following me on twitter… so I need to cut down on the swearing. I need to try to stop saying shit, you know? Oh…. whoops.

So twice in less than a week we have been given the wintry gift* of a snow fall that piled up over a foot deep. I shoveled the first storm on Thursday night in about an hour. It was deep but very light. It was also super cold and superer windy.

Tonight, after work, I went outside to shovel storm #2 which finished early this morning. The second time… well, there was more of it… it is significantly heavier… it’s not as cold, but it’s almost as windy and the wind chill is downright oppressive.

I had to stop part way through to give my back a rest. I just took 1231246 extra strength Tylenols** so hopefully I will have some degree of movement when I go back out in a couple of minutes.

I think I read today that it’s 48 days until Major League Baseball’s opening day. It can’t get here fast enough.

*When I say “gift” what I really mean is “kick in the balls”.

**When I say 1231246 I really mean three. I’m 6’5″ tall and way (REDACTED) pounds. I once had a doctor tell me that it was safe for me to go a tad above the average over the counter medication’s recommended dose. I usually don’t, but when my back hurts like this I will hold that doctor’s statement in front of me like a shield, and I will also wield it like a sword.

Winter Officially Returns

It was cold and rainy last night. Then suddenly it was cold and icy. This morning the winter wonderland fun continues. The yard is completely covered in snow as the snow continues to fall lightly.

This is punishment for me having said something about Spring finally arriving. As if mother nature (that bitch) would ever do something nice for me.

2015: The Year Winter Never Ended

Winter Bites Back

Winter is not going away without a fight.

I walked out my front door this morning at about 7:30.

My car was covered in ice.  The temperature was 31 degrees.  The forecast for today has a high temp of 41.  It’s April 8th and we can barely get to the 40’s.  So what if the Red Sox are 1-0 on the season.  Spring is never coming.  Never.  NEVER.