Good Mornthing!

[blissmorgan]

And now: THE  W E A T H E R

....we got hit with the same weirdy NorthEast storm that hit everyone else on Saturday night. I expected to be walking through snow to/from visiting Arisia to hold BarCon and see my folks, but it was more slushy than anything else. Wet snow and slush. Then the temperature plumeted, and Sunday/Monday everything was glazed with ice.

When I say glazed, I mean that I went out to my car a half-hour early, managed to pry open the door, and set it running while chipping away at the 1/4"+ thick ice on my windshield. I got it chipped away enough that I felt comfortable driving to the local Dunks and grabbed breakfast, then stood in their parking lot for another 5 minutes chipping at ice. Another minute or two once I got into work.

My new ice scraper works well, y'all. 

At one point on the way home from work I had to brake hard, and the ice-coated layer of snow I couldn't even chip away at finally released its hold on my roof and slid down my windshield, shattering across the hood and making a bit of a mess in the street. It's the kind of thing I normal struggle with my height restriction over, to get my vehicle clear so that doesn't happen. I just couldn't do it this time - the ice was too thick, and it took my vehicle warming up underneath and the hard power of inertia to clear things off.

Aside from the precipitation, life continues apace. The lads finally had their wellness visits. They were supposed to have them in August, but I bumped it to help cover a shift. Now I actually get, like, personal time from work and shit, which is pretty great. Flu shots were had, plus three others for Youngest. We talked about the possibility of shots beforehand, so he was able to be prepared. He told me he thought he was going to be able to be brave this year, like last year (not like the previous year where he had panic attacks for an hour and I literally had to put him in a full-body hold). He was SO BRAVE. He got a little squirrely when she first started prepping his arm, and I gave him my hands to squeeze. Nurse Linda offered to bring in a second nurse to do the shots two at a time in each arm, but he fierced up and so she went. She's very experienced, and the first shot flashed in and out of his arm he was barely even aware of it. The flue shot was the worst, and therefore the last, and he had an evening and morning of sore arms.

He also had a migraine. I need to go yell at CVS after work today to get his damn meds filled.

Argh, I can no longer ignore the blipping of the Go The Fuck To Work alarm on my phone, because I really do need to get moving. Wish me luck getting out of my driveway, which is a sheet of ice on a tilt away from the street.... :-/

Hello, Blisstopia. <3

Comments

[rokenford]

GL with the travels.

And yay youngest! Boo migraine!

[blissmorgan]

Travels have been successful! The trick seems to be to NOT do what I used to:

I used to run right out to the driveway in my bathrobe and boots when the plow guy showed up, wait until he plowed out most of the drive, then move my car to the other side so he could plow out my spot. This time I made with the lazy, and SALM did Just Enough Shoveling to get the snow in front of and around our cars down below bumping-the-undercarriage level. That meant that even when all the top 1/4" went to ice, there was enough for my weighty vehicle to break through the rime and find purchase on, and then I was able to use careful inertia to turn on the ice and get out of the driveway.

Now it is 50 degrees F, instead of the 6 it was two days ago. I no longer worry about getting out.

[johncomic]

shovel strategy FTW

[blissmorgan]

It was less a deliberate strategy and more a He Had Shoveled All The Way Down The Steps And Was Done(tm) With Shoveling.

[johncomic]

Please tell me you have navigated the ice okay.

[blissmorgan]

I did! ::points upthread at the comment made just now on rokenford's comment::

[slipjig3]

Agreement with a capital "oy" on the ice situation. I got back from Arisia, nearly threw out a few choice joints walking across the driveway, and then a few others chipping out my poor car shortly after. Thank the gods that New England is doing its usual "well, that was a nightmare, now back to premature spring!" thing it likes to do.

Also: go, Youngest! *fist-bump*

[blissmorgan]

6 degrees to 50 degrees in two days flat! No wonder I've got a proto-migraine going this morning.

CURSE THIS WATER-BASED MEATSUIT!

[serpentrose]

Fun fact: the second most important criteria (after fit) for my winter footwear is traction, as the sidewalks around here often imitate skating rinks in winter. No matter what a person's stated weather preferences everyone agrees that icy weather sucks.

Also: I need to make a point of doing breathing relaxation techniques whenever they want to poke me with needles, whether for withdrawals or injections. It's also great when the nurse tries to make things easier.

Also Also: I read that first line in Cecil's voice, as I've recently started binge listening to "Welcome to Nightvale"

[blissmorgan]

One of the ladies at work and I had an extended discussion of shoe attachments like YakTrax and such that strap on over the shoe and provide traction. I love the idea of them, but all my standard shoes are such that I would still be lacking the requisite waterproof-ness and warmth that winter boots provide.

I do need to swap in my winter boots for a new pair, though. They are still warm, and still waterproof - EXCELLENT for a pair that are over a decade old, at this point - but the waffle structure of plastic underfoot in the sole is crumbling, and sharp pokey parts are poking me in the foot, and that makes me sad.

I wonder if I could write a letter to the bootmakers singing the praises of the boots but pointing out the sadness of this loss of structural integrity and get pointed toward the modern version of the same.

Re: Needlestuff: I am awfully fascinated, and insist on torquing myself in such a way as to be able to watch. This also reminds me that I am well overdue for going to donate blood.

Also also: GOOD, that is exactly how it was in my head while I was writing it. How far into Nightvale are you? I petered out after a time Because Of Reasons, but would be delighted to pick it back up to be in step and fangirl over it with you.

[serpentrose]

I'm currently on episode 40 of Welcome to Night Vale, and kinda wished I'd checked it out sooner because it's the sort of weird that I love.

[blissmorgan]

It is SUCH a marvelous flavor of weird. I need to go look at the episodes and figure out where I stopped. It was after the Company Picnic, I know that.

[wa_bob]

When I was 4, I hated shots so much that it took the doctor, one of his nurses, my mom (also a nurse IRL) to hold me down while a 3rd nurse tried to vaccinate me. I managed to break the needle so required a second shot. By then I had worn myself down so it went better. These days, I can donate blood without too much issue, but my heart rate still goes up......

No ice here fortunately, but 30's and raining hard is not really good either. I dislike thick ice and I'm happy that it didn't take you out in it's glories!

Oh, and as of yesterday morning it is done. I have now gone through the big D. Still trying to figure out how to feel.

[blissmorgan]

Oh my Zod, poor tiny you! I was raised with the imprecation to be strong, tough as nails, grit and bear it, etc. And I think I got shocked out of any shot-fear I might have had the one time I was sitting there and the nurse stuck the needle in my upper arm, then let go and let it hang there while she turned away to check or write something on the paperwork. All I could do was stare.

Oh! Oh. Wow. Congratulations isn't the right thing to say, but neither is I'm So Sorry. Weirdly, a little envy, because I still have not managed to make myself go through The Process which involves paperwork and authoritative people and therefore kinda freaks me out.

I guess the way to feel is just...however you feel. Your feels aren't wrong, whatever they are. They just are.

You know how to reach me if you need an ear, right? I have the long workday today, but I'll be around tonight and am off tomorrow.

[joseph_teller]

It's always been an Arisia Tradition that it falls on a Blizzard, an Ice Storm or a Deep Freeze.

I remember the last time I went, more than a decade ago, had to meet a friend that was coming in by train before hand, it was 60F+ and we were in T-shirts... and by the Monday it was a blizzard.

[blissmorgan]

I am woefully familiar with that tradition, since mine for almost the last decade has been to take the train in and walk to it from South Station. It was a much easier walk this year than years past, when I had to navigate those Summer Street bridges by foot!