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When living thru New England winters there's always a price to be paid for odd, warmer weather days. Usually it's in the form of heavy rain...


But sometimes we sit inside the cloud here in this water surrounded village.

It was over 50F degrees here today, a welcome change from the freezing temps we've been enduring.

At least most of the ice melted from the the storm two days ago. The day began misty, then got drier with about 500 feet visibility, then soon went down to 50 feet or less.

These are pics of the same spot by the Boat Ramp Beach near my home, taken within the span of an hour, photos shown in reverse- time taken order.

Warm up to It

I've been dealing with some issues this week. I'd planned to spend this cold spell staying warm n resting as much as possible after chores were done. Instead I got extra chores, a boo-boo, n have been extra chilly.

My arm is screwed up this week. Last time at work before Day Off- 

I plowed through a piece of metal with part of my arm just below my elbow. 

 A small metal bracket piece was sticking out of a machine in a storage zone. I went to quickly throw something in (had to run back) n hit the piece with my arm because my glasses had a blind spot. I always walk around with reading glasses at work now...

After the bleeding stopped with pressing on my quickly applied bandage, I used a frozen bagel in a food-glove for an ice pack while I had to continue to work. Then I brought the melted dough ball home after work n made an awesome cheese-burger pizza with onion. It was even better than slicing the regular baked bagels for pizza.   

Then on Day Off-  I checked the hallway $1 thermometer on my way out for errands, n it only read 30F, below freezing. The heat downstairs was not functioning! 

My pipes go thru those walls, n were in danger of freezing up in these low teen temps here this week (or -10 C). So I made calls n waited for call-backs, then went crazy checking downstairs n the basement every hour. All the faucets got turned on, n I found a couple of little electric heaters I had packed away. I also turned the oven on for a few hours n got the temp up to 48F. 

Of course the separate electric heat upstairs was down more than usual about 50F.

After two days Of struggling not to sleep my normal time n go around what other folks wanted to do, (constant calls waking me every time I fell asleep), finally it was rigged with a fan to get some heat moving into the downstairs from the basement this afternoon. The landlord found a Heat Repair Van guy in line at a fast food drive thru, n got him to come over to assess the problem! All other calls made were busy elsewhere-

Repairs should be complete tomorrow, which means I miss yet another day of sleep needed just before my work-week begins. 

The dusty dirt in the basement got thrown all over me by the landlord n work guy, so I started an allergic reaction of swelling n had to take benedryl n change clothes again. I went to go online but passed out for a few hours.

Woops- I'd wanted to take a shower before it got late-night colder again! Now I have to freeze my butt off n try to sleep in 50 degrees with wet hair.

No time for it tomorrow because I have to get up in the morning again n stay up all night for work. Can't believe I lost another week of my time Off again without doing anything I'd wanted to- File it under "Things we have to do to survive"-

I'd now normally exclaim how burnt out I am, but I'm so tired, n I feel too cold except for freezer burnt out!  

Took this pic by the cove yesterday while wearing 2- layered winter coats, hoodie, scarf, gloves, hat, 2 hoods, 3 shirts, 3 pants, 3 socks... n prob will sleep in 2 layers after the shower!

I hope next Day Off is warmer in here...

sorry to whine so much-

MLK Day 2013

You lucky folks who get this holiday off rejoice-

I've not had the day off since I can remember, but firmly believe it should be. I always feel bummed out that the good man's Dream isin't revered more by employers of the nation that sought to honor him. 

Ellen, a blogger friend from way back once did an excellent write-up for this holiday that did Martin Luther King Jr. justice on his Day. 

She put up some great speech quotes also. 

Then of course we have the Public Presidential Inauguration taking place on tv today after yesterdays actual formality. 

If there were a holiday invented to commemorate you, what would the main theme be? 

I think mine would be about creativity... Everyone do a project for fun that day! Micheal's little one dollar kits come to mind. I give them out for Xmas n got one for me I haven't done yet... 

 

Lately I've been settling for these odd pics more often. At least I got out for a Post Office walk during a nice but windy day this week, n took this pic to play with. I'm so tired, but should have more rest time finally now that the other business is over- whew! 

Yup, I have a dream too... !But I have to work again

Chasin'

I don't remember the last time I went so long without trying to post! I've just been too busy chasing down dust-bunnies n moving piles to better organized piles in the past few weeks.

There's a reason they save this cleaning stuff for spring- it's difficult to stay motivated in the cold... but I caught a big break of warm thaw in the weather just in time to get thru all I could before the freezing air settles back in place. 

So many spots around the USA seemed to have been in an "opposite of normal" mode lately. It came in really handy here. Now I just have to stay awake between my two busiest shifts of the week-end again. 

I'm so exhausted! Bet I'll do nothing but sleep for weeks, especially as blanket-time temps will make it seem more like January again. 

I haven't taken any pics lately either. I found this one from the first year I got my cam, back in Jan 2007. It's a shot of the cobblestone pattern on a village sidewalk, n back then I put the twirl effect on it. Today I added some color n texture effects, then applied the rotating mirror at 180 degrees.

Feels just like what I've been doing here- I've been cleaning so long I'm dizzy... Never mind the dust allergy head-ache catching up to me-

Yo

I seem to be going thru Round III of a cold / flu bug this week. I can't take time off work with the limited hours available now- unless I'm non-functional. I can still stand up, but really haven't felt good the past few days. I've been taking benedryl n mucus relief. My poor nose is so dry it keeps bleeding when I try to blow open a path

The ice finally melted a bit so I could finish some shoveling out front. Still haven't been able to clear the outdoor side stairs tho. Finally got the outdoor extension cord un-trapped from the ice on the deck too, after locating the ice pick. It's been like the permafrost on the tundra around here this week...

Altho I really just want to sit down n relax, I can't afford to yet. I'm expecting an insurance guy to inspect the house in another week, n I'll be clearing out some old stuff. I really hate the old mail piles n ripping up old bills chore. Time consuming, I  wish I had a shredder...

Yesterday I finally got about six large broken limbs off the yard dropped from that icy storm.One more to go another day, n it must be chopped up, because it's too heavy to lift.

There's so much to do in the next few weeks, I doubt I'll get to a fraction of what I want to do. Tough feeling motivated in this cold too. I'm up for just watching tv under blankets with the hot water bottles today-

The water's been looking a bit icy- Here's a pic of the D-bridge up the snowy shore to the right side, where I take so many sunset over the cove pics seen on ESR.

Not Tropical

We're in the deepest of the Frozen Zone so far this season. Down to single digits at dawn on Day Off.

I went out n got more eggs so I could keep baking to keep the house warm. I wanted to get a gallon of milk too, but there were only a few half gallons left on the shelf. I wanted to make some custard pie.

News reported that all dairy stuff is about to steeply rise in price due to the Congress' failure to act on an agriculture bill about farm subsidies. It will affect alot of food prices due to the uses of corn too.

Since Xmas many inexpensive items I usually get weekly  have been cleared off of shelves here. Prices on almost everything at the store is already up from last week, I noticed. The payroll Social Security tax withholding increase is supposed to begin soon-

So my shopping budget is already messed up, even with the temporary Fiscal Cliff bill they passed on New Years.

I'd rather begin the year with a surplus...

The snow at the boat ramp came out really blue late this afternoon with the sun behind some clouds, but I like the pic anyways, n especially the warmer altered versions it produced. Back to staying warm...