5 posts tagged “cold”

It's 5:00 a.m. and it's MINUS 21 degrees.  That's not the wind chill....that's the actual temperature.  The wind chill is MINUS 50 degrees!  The weather guy on tv says you'll get frostbite on unexposed skin in 5 minutes. 

I'm afraid to go outside this morning to drive to work.  At last notice, our schools were only on  two hour delay.  They really ought to close because we have so many kids who don't have bus service and it's just too cold to walk.

(must keep repeating...."I love Iowa"...."I love Iowa"..............)

A little frigid Iowa humor (funny but not so far from the truth) -  

You know it's cold when - 

you have to chisel the dog off a lamp-post

your shadow freezes to the sidewalk

you have to break the smoke off your chimney

you have to open the fridge to heat the house 

your false teeth chatter, and they are still in the glass

the fire department advises you to set your house on fire

the snowman begs you to take him inside at night

 

I'm not one of those bloggers who gets online every day and shares every minute detail of every day.  My life are pretty mundane and I doubt anyone would really care about my usual daily routine.  So I write when I think I have something to say, which apparently isn't very often.

We're in  the doldrums of winter.  It's not as bad as last year when the snow started in late November and didn't stop until March, but it's winter nonetheless.  Cold, very cold.  I heard someone say that when the windchill was minus 35 a few weeks ago, it felt like the skin was being ripped from her face.  That about sums it up.  I don't mind the snow so much when all my activities are in town.  But we had plans to go to Cedar Rapids today to visit the bookstore and Menards (our mega home center).  Nope, that isn't going to happen - I woke up to see 7 inches of drifting snow.  Did I ever say how much I hate Iowa???  (Which I really don't.  I just hate cabin fever.)

I finally joined the ranks of the gainfully employed and I wish I could be a little more upbeat about it.  Jobs are so hard to come by here, especially the Admin Assistant/Paralegal/Office Goddess sort so after months of nothing, I applied for and was hired to be a cook at a daycare center.  I guess I should be grateful to have the paycheck since we're in such a financial mess. 

It's really not so bad. I get in at 9 and prepare a healthy (?) lunch for 50 little tykes and their teachers, wash a sh*tload of dishes, mop the floor and then I can go home.  The problem is pretty simple - I'm absolutely exhausted.  I feel like I cook a huge Thanksgiving dinner every day.  I'm 52 years old, in not so good physical shape, and each day is an intense 4 hours of moving, reaching, bending and lifting.  I get home at 1 pm and sit....and sit...and sit.  Once I recover, I do my Mom/Wife/Homemaker routine to make sure my brood is cared for and then wind up going to bed by 9 pm.  I'm not sure how long I can keep this up. All thius fun for $7.50 an hour.  For this I went to college??

One bright spot on the horizon is the lead I have on a pretty good job in the County Auditor's office.  Not secretarial (yeah!), dealing a lot with real estate issues (I know a lot about that), it pays pretty good...amd it has benefits!  Benefits...like health insurance.  Of course, I lose my proud affiliation with the 46 million uninsured, but I think I can deal with that.  Networking is a good thing and it really helps to know the Auditor personally.  The application is in and I have my fingers crossed.

Snowsuit

It's here.  Snow.  More snow.  A little ice.  Cold, biting wind.  Daytime "high" temperature of 10 degrees.  Did I say cold, biting wind?  Ahhhh, Iowa winters. 

I read a piece online about Minnesota winters that really could also describe winter in Iowa.

One day in winter, he said, you'll wake up and it will be snowing. You'll go to work, come home, go to bed, and it will be snowing. You'll get up the next day, go to work, come home, go to bed, and it will be snowing. Day three, you'll get up, go to work, come home, and, maybe around dinnertime, the snow will finally stop. That's what Minnesota is like, he said. It snows. For days.

Snowy-japan-1

Am I complaining?  Well, maybe just a little, but that's because I still have enough Virginia in me to half expect to have a 60 degree day smack in the middle of January.  Ain't happen' here, folks.  I doubt I'll even see a patch of dirt in my yard until the April thaw.  But there's one good thing about winter here in the heartland - it's dry.  No slushy, icy, slippery snow.  It's mostly dry and powdery and just no darn good for making snowballs. 

Now, I think I'll go make a steaming mug of hot chocolate.  With marshmallows.

Another Iowa winter has arrived.  The weather forecast is calling for flurries tonight, a "wintery mix" starting Friday night and then freezing rain by Saturday night.  Then we are supposed to get snow on Sunday.  Sounds like way too much fun to me!

Winter arriving so early is still hard to get used to.  By this time in the DC area, there's still some warmer days and usually no snow until January.  When winter arrives here in Iowa, it makes its appearance as early as October, snows a lot, and doesn't really get warm until April.  The snow cover lasted for 12 weeks last year and I got a pretty huge case of cabin fever. 

Brrrrrrrrrr.........................

King of the Hill

White Out

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