Cold and Colder

Today has been chilly - the thermometers never got out of the teens, but tomorrow is going to be a whole lot colder, according to the forecast. We've had a few snow flurries during the day, but not much accumulation. We have been getting around 3 inches each day for several days, but it is very light and fluffy - the fairy snow that falls when the air is really cold and dry. The driving hasn't been awful, but I went to Cabot Village yesterday and in some spots it was hard to tell where the road ended and the snowbanks began. Fortunately, there had been other traffic, but away from the tire tracks, everything just looked white. 

I was able to pick up a few things at the Cabot grocery store so I don't have to go out again for a few days. By the way, their pizza is really good. I picked up a turkey sub for my lunch yesterday (and today - one is plenty for two lunches!) and that was excellent, as well. I enjoy going there - everyone is really friendly and I always see someone I know. Yesterday I was hailed by Tim, who used to deliver my mail. He lives across the street from the store. I miss him. He once told me that when I got old, he would bring my mail up to the house for me. Unfortunately, he got an injury and I believe has retired. However, the present mailman brings packages up to me from time to time -  some others have left packages on top of the mailboxes at the end of our drive if they wouldn't fit inside. For a while we had different people delivering, but now the same guy seems to be on the route regularly; however, he doesn't come every day. He told me there just aren't enough people to deliver everywhere every day.

Here's a bit of news - Henretta Splain fell a couple of weeks ago and broke her hip - she is in rehab and told me that she expects to be home in 10 days or so. In the meantime, if you'd like to send her a card, her address for the next week or so is Cedar Hill Continuing Care Community, 48 Cedar Hill Drive, Windsor, VT 05089. 

There have been more than the usual number of injuries from falls this year, for whatever reason. Not only our friends at Joe's Pond, but several in Cabot have taken tumbles, too. I haven't dared to walk around much outside this winter - only from my car to wherever I've had to go. I am hoping to tackle my driveway soon, but it's been either too slippery or too cold, so I depend on Jamie to bring me my mail, or if there's something I need sooner, like the prescription that came yesterday that I didn't want to leave in the cold, I go down with my car. My cooperative mailman doesn't bring up packages that will fit inside the mailbox - just the bigger ones. 

I've been struggling with on-line stuff for the past week or so, trying to pay one of my credit card accounts. Turns out the company recently changed their system and in the process, information got dropped. I've tried unsuccessfully to reestablish access to my bank, but it is just not happening. I think I broke their "system" somehow! I waited about half an hour to talk with an actual person yesterday, and she assured me everything was good and I'd get confirmation soon. Nothing today, and I don't expect anything will happen over the weekend. I also managed to lose a document I was working on - and along with it, Word disappeared. After several days of frustrating "fixes" as described by AI, I finally got Word back. But I still haven't found that document, so I've had to write it again. And today I was informed that I've run out of Cloud space. So this weekend I'm purging files and photos I no longer need, or removing large files I need to keep to other storage. It's tedious stuff, and I'm always afraid I'll dump something I will need later, but a lot of it is old photos that I'll never need. It just takes a lot of time to go through everything. I refuse to pay for more Cloud storage!

In the meantime, lots of organizations are cancelling activities this weekend because of the bitterly cold weather we're expecting. With wind, the chill factor could put us in the -40 degrees category. An then we are expecting a foot or more of snow. Not totally unusual for January - and I don't think it's going to last more than a couple of days, but everyone is getting prepared to hunker down for at least the weekend. If you have plans to go somewhere, better call ahead to be sure wherever you need to be is going to be open. I saw lots of closures and notices of rescheduled meetings and activities on Front Porch Forum this afternoon. With intense cold like that, cars will not start, water pipes will freeze, and stoves will overheat. We are warned to not leave any skin exposed - ears, noses, toes and fingers can get frost-bitten within just a few minutes. 

I know just about everyone reading this has either been experiencing this massive storm that's now coming at the eastern states - or you are preparing for it. Be safe, stay warm, remember to keep pets inside and warm, too, and check on your neighbors - just to be sure everyone stays safe. January is almost over!

(I just realized - since I sat down to write this about an hour ago, the temperature has dropped about 10 degrees - it's 4.8 above, and heading down rapidly. It's an "all shades down" night, for sure.