Winter…blarg.
Winter is here…like not just a little, but the full-on, face-numbing, cold-as-balls winter. Lo mowed the lawn/leaves on Saturday and let the mower run out of gas for the winter. Just in time because it got really cold on Sunday, and it started to snow around midnight.
By morning we had a couple of inches of wet, heavy snow, and 10,000 Ohioans who don’t know how to drive in the snow (despite regular snow in the winter). Schools were cancelled (not sure why) if they weren’t already closed for in-service days, but the commute took me an hour or so. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised…ML took several tries to get up our driveway in the morning. When I went to leave, her SUV had slid back down our driveway and was partway on the street! She played it safe and just parked on the street. I totally forgot to wear boots (instead of tennis shoes – my work shoes live in my office), so I had to walk the 3 or so blocks into work in the snow. Oops. I had to leave work early for an appointment, so luckily I didn’t have to deal with traffic on the way home.
Tuesday and Wednesday it got too cold to snow, which made it too cold to be outside for any amount of time. Like 11 degrees. So on these mornings, I didn’t get wet feet, but the wind was more miserable. The last block of the walk into work is the most awful wind tunnel where the wind cuts through the plaza beside the building from the river. It numbs my face and legs, and I start to wonder if it’s possible to pass out from being so cold.
The good news is that on Wednesday I finally remembered I have heated seats in my car, so my ass was warm this morning and after work.
The last two winters, I’ve ridden to work with Lo, and usually he’d drop me off at the door on the way past the building, so I was totally spoiled and never had to worry about walking in the cold further than the gym across the street. When he got a new job and we stopped riding together in May, people kept asking (in a concerned voice) how I was doing driving myself to work. It was kind of annoying because I drove myself for years, and I’m perfectly capable of driving. Sure, it was nice having a chauffeur, but obviously I can handle it. The most annoying thing about it was that since I don’t get picked up, it takes longer to get home because by the time I walk to my car and get on the highway, so is everyone else. But now…now I know what they didn’t know they meant when they asked if I was okay driving myself. Technically yes, because I am fine driving in the snow. But the commute takes SO long and the walk from the car to the building and back is SO cold. So I’m just trying to accept that fact that this is how it’s going to be from now on. I did my winter complaining now and I’ll try to keep it to a minimum (but why did it arrive so cold, so fast?). Or I can be like people on Facebook who choose to live in states with a real winter, and then complain about it everyday. I’ll just sit here, shivering (not really, because I’m rocking some sweet fleece jammies), jealous of Kelley for escaping Ohio winters in Florida….and my sister, who moved to the desert and never looked back (come back someday!).
Boof loves winter weather, but she doesn’t get to walk if its too cold because her paws can’t handle it (and neither can we). Jenson doesn’t know the difference yet. We have snow pants and a winter coat for him, but he doesn’t actually wear shoes. We have shoes and boots that should fit him, but he doesn’t actually know what to do with his legs when he has shoes on his feet. They kind of turn to jello when we put shoes on him. We don’t intend for him to wear shoes regularly – from what we’ve read, it’s better for them to learn to walk and such without shoes on (“shoes on, shoes on”….a few people will get that), but I figure we need to put something on his feet if he’s going to be outside for very long. So I think we need to practice.
The other good news is that next week is Thanksgiving, and while I may be one of the only people who doesn’t really care for Thanksgiving food (yes, I said it…and that was true even before I was gluten-free), I do have extra days off…and any extra time I get to spend with Jenson makes me so happy.
Rocking our fleece jammies before bed tonight….
