Day 4787

It's hard to believe, but today was even worse than yesterday. The temperature is still below freezing and we got more freezing rain overnight, adding another layer of ice to the ice that was already there. Dawn was smart enough to poop in the back yard this morning. I think she knew how treacherous it would be to go down to the park. Unfortunately Janet and I weren't as smart as Dawn. We tried to duplicate the walk we took yesterday and failed miserably. The roads were so slick that it was impossible to even walk up the street that led to the park. Neither of us wanted to fall, so we came back home.

It didn't take long for the roof to start leaking. As I predicted, heat from the house caused the bottom layer of ice on the roof to melt and eventually the trapped water found its way inside. The pumps are useless in this type of weather. They are metal and are the first things to freeze. It will have to warm up quite a bit before the pumps are functional again. Needless to say, I can't go up on the roof and remove the ice. I have a hard time even walking on our front porch. It would be insane to attempt to climb up on the roof.

I ate my breakfast, puttered around the house for a while, and paid some bills online. I kept thinking about my steps though. I hated to give up. I eventually decided that if I walked through the neighbor's back yard, I could avoid the slick roads and driveways and make it to the park where I could walk through the wooded areas. The meadows and wooded areas were covered with ice too, but it wasn't as slick as the roads and bike paths because my boots could crunch through the surface ice and provide the traction I need. That was the plan anyway.

I dressed as warmly as I could without hampering my mobility and set out on my 10,000 step quest. This was one of the most difficult walks I have taken in a long while. I couldn't shuffle along like I often do. I had to consciously lift each leg and plant my foot firmly to crack through the ice and keep from slipping. It was extremely cold outside, but I felt my body heating up just from the amount of effort involved. I did pretty well until I came to a road. It was just a small internal park road, but I knew almost immediately that I couldn't make it across. I retraced my steps through the woods in the other direction until I eventually came to another road. By the time I gave up and decide to come back home, I had walked over two miles.

Believe it or not, I did get my 10,000 steps today as well as closing all three rings on my Apple watch. It might be hard to do this again tomorrow. According to the weather forecast, we are going to get even more freezing rain tonight. So far, the precipitation has been mostly sleet and it hasn't been sticking to the tree limbs or power lines. We've still got power, which is more than a lot of people in Austin can say. The only good news is that it is supposed to get above freezing by tomorrow afternoon. Maybe by Friday afternoon we can finally get our cars out of the driveway.

It's driving me crazy listening to the water drip from the roof. So far, all the leaks are in the office. I've got three buckets placed and I hope I won't need any more later tonight. My worry is always that a new leak will crop up while I'm sleeping and that there will be a big mess in the morning. By Sunday most of this will probably just be a bad memory, but right now I'd give this day a 1 on a scale of 1 to 10. We've had worse ice storms in the past, but this one is pretty bad. Janet and I are getting too old for this. Dawn probably is too. It would be much nicer to be sitting on a warm beach somewhere.

Myles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4786

I wasn't expecting this. We woke up to find a lot of sleet on the ground. From a distance it looked and felt like snow, but it was definitely sleet. There were no flakes. Just tiny little balls of ice. Dawn didn't get a walk this morning. The ground was so slick that we had trouble taking her 200 feet behind the house to poop in her favorite place. The stubborn dog just won't go in the yard.

We made no attempt to get out on the roads today. The streets in our neighborhood just looked like big blocks of ice. At some point this morning I started my car to warm up the engine, but never left the driveway. Did it get this cold last year? I can't even remember. I know we have had a lot more snow and ice in the past, but it seems like it's been a while.

I have even more junk in my office than I thought. The headphones that Janet uses to watch movies on her iPad broke and she asked me where the ones she used to take on trips were. I had no idea what she was talking about. She insisted that there were a pair of earphones she used to use and that I would always tell her not to break them. I started looking and turned up five pairs of headphones, including one very professional pair that looked like it belonged in a recording studio. I hadn't used any of these things in years. It's been a long time since music was a part of my life. Janet eventually found the headphones she was looking for herself. They were quite nice and I have no recollection of ever buying or using them. In the process of looking for the headphones, I found a lot of things with batteries that needed to be recharged and a fair amount of stuff I never knew I owned. Sometimes I think the office isn't very different from the storage warehouse. Both are just time machines housing relics of a former life.

Janet and I are both active people, so eventually we started getting cabin fever just sitting around the house. We dressed warmly and decided to take a walk through the neighborhood. We avoided any areas with steep hills since the ground was so slick, but we were able to walk several miles. I'm glad I bought the Hoka boots a while ago. The boots provided good traction, were waterproof, and very warm. I remember that it was quite an effort to find these boots. How long ago was that? At any rate, the walk wasn't as difficult as I anticipated. We tried to stick to the grass on the side of the roads because the roads themselves were pretty icy. I still haven't got my 10,000 steps for the day, but I think I'll make it. According to my Fitbit I have only 200 steps to go.

I got a weird phone message today. The guy told me his name and said he was from Turkey where he had sold me a carpet "some long time ago." Janet and I actually did buy a carpet in Turkey ages ago when we traveled a lot. How could this guy have saved my name and number for all this time? How could my phone number even still be the same? At any rate, the guy had moved to Texas and wanted to sell me another carpet. Sorry. The rug we bought was very nice and to this day remains the only perfectly square Turkish carpet I have ever seen. It looks nice in our living room. We don't need any more rugs though. I'll have to give the guy kuddos for his initiative. If I saved the number of every person I have ever run into in my life, it might be easier to find a carpenter, or even some new website business for my company.

I think there is more freezing rain on the way. The forecast doesn't look good for the next several days. The roof hasn't leaked yet, but that probably only because everything is frozen. I'm definitely ready for Spring. I can't handle cold weather anymore. It's kind of amazing that I went to high school in Alaska and spent my first working years in Idaho. Not my cup of tea anymore. I've definitely become a Southern boy.

Cooper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4424

We got ice and a little snow, but our heavily hyped winter storm wasn't nearly as bad as I anticipated. We never lost power, so the house stayed nice and warm. This was important because it was very cold today. I hope our good luck continues because it is supposed to be even colder tomorrow. It's probably good that last night's freezing rain turned to sleet fairly quickly because the trees never got coated with a lot of ice. I didn't see any downed trees in our neighborhood.

Janet and I had planned to just stay in the house all day. That was certainly Dawn's plan as well because it was hard to even get her to go out in the backyard and pee. Some dogs love snow. She isn't one of them. After several hours of doing absolutely nothing Janet and I got bored and decided to go on a walk. It probably wasn't the wisest thing to go walking on ice when the temperature was 20 degrees but we both had cabin fever. I knew I couldn't wear my Hoka shoes on a day like this so I dug out my Dad's old Pivetta hiking boots. These boots are almost 60 years old and they are still better than anything you can buy today. A pair of`Pivetta boots was the gold standard for serious hikers for many years. It's too bad this fine Italian company is no longer in business. Lord knows what a pair of hand made boots like this would cost in today's market. You just can't get things like this anymore.

The sleet and snow made the ground crunchy instead of slippery. Even going downhill felt fairly safe. We stayed away from roads wherever possible and stuck to dirt trails. For the most part there wasn't a wind. That helped a lot. When the wind did pick up near the lake, it was brutal. We didn't set any records today, but we did walk almost four miles. Even though we were both very cold when we returned to the house, the walk was much better than sitting around the house staring out the window. I think we have both become addicted to movement.

I don't know why it is going to be so cold tomorrow. The storm has already moved well beyond us. I'll be glad when it is above freezing again. There's a lot of ice on the roof right now and I hope the pumps still work when the ice starts melting. If memory serves, these type of conditions frequently cause roof leaks. Heat from the house melts the ice from the bottom while the layer on the top is still frozen. the water can't escape and it typically finds a way inside. The pumps froze up fairly quickly last night, so they won't be much help until things get a lot warmer.

We both started our cars this afternoon and kept them running until the engines reached operating temperature. This is a habit we got into during last winter's extended freezing spell. There's nothing worse than the sound of an engine that won't turn over on a really cold morning. I won't drive on ice unless it's absolutely necessary, but I do want a reliable car in the winter. I learned how to drive on ice when I was going to high school in Fairbanks, Alaska. On an empty road I'm generally OK. It's the other cars you have to worry about. Very few Dallas drivers have any idea how to drive on ice and snow.

I feel bad for my friends out at McDonald Observatory. It's five degrees and snowing out there. I think they are essentially trapped until conditions improve. Everyone is well prepared though. They stock up on food ahead of time and if things get really bad they can all move temporarily into the Astronomers Lodge which has a large emergency generator. It's only when gasoline for the generator starts to run low that things start to get dicy. I miss my time out at the observatory. Not in the winter though. Being trapped on a mountain in a snowstorm is not for me.

Dawn is such a lazy dog. She had a good time just lounging on the bed today. She had no interest in going outside whatsoever. Janet finally got her to go outside and poop, but she had to put Dawn on a lash to get her out the back door. Needless to say, Dawn did not join us on our walk today. 

Tomorrow will probably be more of the same. I hope a lot of the sleet and ice blows away or evaporates. I don't think it is going to melt. The temperature tomorrow morning will be nineteen degrees.

Casey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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