Tag: ice

Winter Never Ends

Yesterday was April 9, 2025. It was 7:30am or so and I was packing up to leave for work. I asked Siri how the weather was and she told me it was 26 degrees out. 26… in the second week of April. I looked out the window at the car and said out loud, “at least there’s no ice on the car.”

Fast forward to this morning, April 10, 2025. I don’t have to drive to work today but when I got up at a little after 6:00am I did happen to look out the window at the driveway. Sure enough, this time there was ice on the car. It was 29 degrees out though so it’s practically a heatwave.

Winter never ends around these parts. It starts around the last week of August and it hangs on for dear life until sometime in late May or early June.

Southern California is calling me. Hell, at this point maybe it’s Mexico calling me. Should I start learning Spanish? You know, just in case?

Frost

I am working from home this morning, but my wife Jen is not. She left the house at about 8:00am. I walked her to the door and watched her go. When we first looked outside we saw it.

There was ice on the car.

October 15, 2024… the first instance of winter frost.

Damn it.

I hate winter.

Curling

I just asked the wordpress.com A.I. Assistant this question: Why is curling a thing?

Curling has a rich history dating back to the 16th century in Scotland, where it originated as a popular pastime during the long winter months. The sport involves players sliding stones on a sheet of ice towards a target area, while teammates use brooms to sweep the ice in front of the stone to control its speed and direction. Over time, curling has evolved into a highly strategic and competitive sport, with a dedicated global following. Its appeal lies in the skillful combination of precision, strategy, teamwork, and the unique dynamic of the game being played on ice. Additionally, the social aspects of the sport, including camaraderie and sportsmanship, contribute to its enduring popularity.

This whole post is an inside joke kinda thing, but apparently there are people who play the sport of Curling in Georgia… a place that doesn’t have ice. Who knew? Atlanta has twice had an NHL team. The first one booked it out of town and ended up in Calgary, where there is a lot of ice. The other booked it out of town and ended up in Winnipeg, where there is also a lot of ice.

So yeah… curling… in Georgia. Who knew?

This isn’t meant to bad mouth Curling. During every Winter Olympics, whenever I stumble across Curling I find myself completely fascinated with it, even though I have zero knowledge of anything that’s happening. It’s kinda weird and almost creepy. Still, come February 2026, when we have the next Winter Olympics, you can bet your bottom (Canadian) dollar that I’ll find myself glued to the TV.

Speaking of the NHL, the Bruins got spanked by the Blues last night. It made me sad. I need the Bruins to go on a nice win streak. Granted, I’d rather they play crappy for a while now than have them do it in the playoffs like they did last year.

Nothing is Impossible

We had an ice storm on Friday followed by two days of seriously cold weather. Everything outside is frozen solid. Unfortunately we are also in lock down like a couple of lab rats. What does that mean?

That means that I didn’t scrape off the cars when the ice storm hit. We’re supposed to get a few days of warm and rainy weather this week so I was going to let mother nature take care of the cars for us. I knew that was a bad move from a safety point of view but I was going to let it slide. Every time I looked out the window I saw the Mazda at the end of the driveway and a little voice in the back of my head whispered, “stop being a moron, go scrape the car.”

We’re supposed to have our furnace inspected today and there is still that layer of frozen snowy mix on the driveway as well as the cars, so I was already planning on spreading a little rock salt on the driveway to help with the footing. I figured I’d stop being a moron and scrape the windows on the car at the end of the driveway while I was there.

Now if you live in a cold, snowy, icy place like New England you are probably aware that clearing a quarter inch of ice off of a car’s windows after three days of settlin’ in is generally considered to be impossible.

Well I just proved that nothing is impossible. I cleared the ice off of the windows like a boss, and it only cost me one broken ice scraper and about 30 minutes of my life.

In other words… don’t wait three days after an ice storm like this moron I know did.

Happy Ice Storm Day

Snow is bad enough, but when little chunks of ice fall from the sky? That’s just mother nature being a jerk. We’re supposed to be getting a full day of this crap. Yippee. I just put ice melt all over the driveway. Our new furnace is supposed to get a check up today so I want to decrease the danger of a slip. The guy is supposed to be on his way so I am sitting here with a mask hanging off one ear. I am so* sick of having to wear a mask, but unlike 50% of America, I am willing to deal with the difficulty in order to keep other people healthy.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, ice. The first sand truck just went past. Here’s hoping this doesn’t turn into a big deal today. I hate winter. I hate ice. Blah.

I failed to do anything with the RPM Challenge yesterday. I’m optimistic today will be more productive, but who knows. We are up to date on The Book of Boba Fett, I am up to date on Peacemaker, and Jen and I watched the first episode of Pam and Tommy. I wonder how historically accurate it is. I remember hearing about a contractor and I remember hearing about a safe, but is this how it happened? Not that it matters. Also, is Sebastian Stan (sp?) a method actor? I kinda hope not, because that would require him to take a lot of cocaine. Yikes!

Sigh… It’s Friday. I really want to get through this work day with as little stress as possible. I also want to have my next batch of appointments booked. The weekend is so close I can smell it, and it smells like freedom. Or something like that.

*I am trying to set the world record for the most uses of the word “so” in a blog paragraph. Thanks for cheering me on!

Icy

I took out the trash a few minutes ago and saw this:

Cool, I thought. I’ll take a picture. When I moved closer to get the pic I saw this:

Well now that’s too bad. Ouch.

I hate winter. I’m thankful that we have a power grid that can handle our winters and we’re not saddled with the disaster that folks in Texas are dealing with right now. Hang in there, people. Forecast for Austin calls for sunny with temps in the 40’s tomorrow. Bundle up, don’t run your gas grill in the house and don’t run your car in the garage. The end is hopefully in sight. Wishing everyone the best.

Snow

We didn’t get a lot of snow yesterday. It fell all day and started sticking as soon as it started, but all combined there wasn’t very much.

Unfortunately, it rained buckets before the snow, and then it rained again after the snow. The result of that is heavy, frozen solid, blocks of ice. I just finished shoveling and it was no fun at all. We’re good to go as far as walking from the house to the street goes. Obviously, thanks to Covid-19, we aren’t driving anywhere, or going anywhere, or anything.

Snow: I’m not a fan.

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.

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