Day 4075

It's still cold, but the snow is melting rapidly. ERCOT says that operations have returned to normal and that the crisis is over. Plumbers, on the other hand, say the worst is yet to come. I'm surprised at how many people have had their pipes burst. Even brand new buildings have had frozen pipes. I don't know if we did everything right or just got lucky, but our water is still flowing. 

It finally got above freezing today, but only for a little while. That was enough to get a lot of the ice off the roads though. The road in front of our house is almost clear. I don't think we'll have any problem going grocery shopping tomorrow. The problem will be finding food. A lot of the grocery stores in town have been emptied out and I'm not sure how quickly they can be restocked.

It got warm enough today that we were able to do a load of laundry and take showers. The blame game will go on for months, but I think the worst is over for this storm. With the temperature expected to reach fifty degrees this weekend, I think everyone can finally begin to relax. It's ironic that this is the time of year when retailers have their big winter sales. There were some great bargains on gloves and coats, but it was almost impossible to get to the stores.

We're going to try to give Dawn a walk tomorrow. During the cold spell she had become increasingly reluctant to leave the bedroom. This is not a good sign. Hopefully with warmer temperatures she will enjoy being outdoors again. Dawn needs some variety in her life and she could certainly use a little exercise.

Janet and I are definitely getting our exercise. It's surprising how much more strenuous it is to walk in the snow. We've been pretty tired after our walks this week. Oddly, Fitbit doesn't give me any extra credit for these cold Winter walks. I feel tired, but my heart rate is actually lower for some reason.

I've always thought the slogan of the Post Office was "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." Apparently this isn't true anymore because we haven't gotten any mail all week. I can understand curtailing deliveries during the worst of the storm, but there was no reason that mail couldn't be delivered today. As far as I could tell, the roads were clear. The trash folks seemed to have mixed feelings about picking things up today.  The recycling folks emptied all the blue cans, but the regular trash pick up trucks were nowhere to be seen. I put out the trash anyway last night because I knew that if I didn't it would almost guarantee that the trucks would arrive on schedule.

I don't think it was really necessary to start the car today but I did it anyway out of habit. Sitting in the car this week while waiting for it to warm up has reminded me of the Groundhog Day movie. It was the same thing over and over again twice every day. I've never claimed to get good gas mileage, but I was surprised that I used up an 1/8th of a tank of gas just sitting in the driveway.

It's been a long week, but we really didn't suffer much. We had electricity. We had water. We had WiFi. And we had food. What more do you need? I do think we've had enough of winter though. Let's move on to Spring.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2404

Dot walked down to the end of our alley and back this morning. It was a very short walk, but it was a big step. We're making progress. She can support her weight on both front legs now and is able to walk slowly without an obvious limp. I know that Dot would like to walk further than the 300 hundred yard journey she took today, but she doesn't know her own limits. We're going to have to take this very slowly.

I finished my last writing assignment this morning and sent it off to the client. At least I think I sent it to the client. I'm still having e-mail problems. You'd think it would be easy for my hosting company to track down the spammer who is causing all the problems, but apparently not. It seems like they could just flag the high volume mail coming from the suspect IP address and see who was sending it. What do I know though. Maybe in today's politically correct environment, making an effort to track down the spammer  who is getting me blocked violates someone's privacy.

I continue to read articles about bee colonies disappearing around the world, along with an absence of birdsong in many forests. I'm sure this is true, but you'd never know it here. When I take Dash on his early morning walks, I am surrounded by a symphony of chirping birds and am amazed at all the bees I see busily pollinating flowers. Lake levels are high, ducks are having ducklings, and the tall prairie grass provides a home for tons of small animals. The world may be falling apart, but it is comforting to know that my little corner of it appears to be doing just fine.

Maybe this is why I stick close to home these days. Many of the places I used to visit seem like they belong in a horror movie now. I've been to Nice. It's a lovely city. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that a terrorist attack would someday turn this picturesque French Riviera town into a kill zone tonight. This is only going to get worse unless we can acknowledge what is really happening. There is a war going on between Western Civilization and a medieval religion. Only one side can win. It's not just a few bad apples who are causing all these problems, it's an ideology.

I'm glad this week is almost over. It's been stressful dealing with Dot's latest mishap. I understand how frail Dot has become and worry that if I let her fall or do something wrong, she might never walk again. So far, we're making progress, but it isn't easy. I hope my e-mail problems get resolved soon. Clients typically aren't very patient and if it isn't easy to communicate with them, they just might go somewhere else. I'm not a spammer. I don't think it's fair that I suffer the consequences when someone using the same IP address is. When I asked my hosting company how many of their customers might currently be using the suspect IP address, they said it could be in the thousands. Hey, that's not my problem. They still should fix this. If I had a larger audience I would call them out, but I don't think they're very scared of my ten readers.

I've got to have a fasting blood test before I can go to breakfast tomorrow. I should have done this two months ago, but it hasn't been a priority. I've had so much blood work done over the years that I don't think I'm going to learn anything new. My doctor still likes to do these tests at least once a year, so I guess tomorrow is as good a day as any.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day