OT: Small Rant

Amen! Thank goodness we're retired & don't have to go to work!!! I sympathize with you, Maureen.

We're having an unusually COLD & snowy winter up here in Maine, too. Maybe not a "two-footer" (yet), but seems like it's been snowing 2-3 times a week. DH had to have lumbar surgery two weeks ago and was forbidden to bend over or do ANY lifting for a while -- he's the one who can run the snowblower :-( (too powerful for me to handle). We've hired someone to plow the driveway, but cars still need to be cleared and walkways/doggie areas still have to be shoveled!!! Could sure use a week of sunshine!

Our temps are going to nosedive by the weekend to minus numbers (10 to

30 below zero!)

And why is it that the bigger the truck, the more powerful the driver thinks he/she is! They just slide farther & faster! Or... are so bent on passing me and end up one car ahead of me at the next stoplight.

Thanks for letting me vent! ME-Judy

Why don't you tell us how you really feel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gen (who loves winter and snow)

Gen -- then you are having a good winter from what my Mom (in Dublin) is telling me!

Here in SE Michigan today -- very cold (single digits) but bright sunshine. I love these kind of winter days... reminds me of Minnesota winters!

Oh, Maureen...this is precisely why I moved to sunny Southern California. Just a couple of rainy weeks in Dec/Jan and then the sun comes out again. It's sunny, mild and 75*F here today. Great day for gardening...which I did with my DIL all day. The rest of the weekend looks just as good. I don't think I'll ever go back to Central NY where they have the same winters as you do. amy in SoCal...thinking of all those cold friends.....brrrrr!

Rant away Maureen and anyone else that lives in a cold/snowy/rainy place.

The weather is exactly the reason I escaped to Arizona. You can't beat

350 days of sunshine! Though my winters weren't as bad as some have it in the Northeastern USA, the Pacific NW was enough after 24 years there.

Mary O'Neill

I'm with you on all counts. I used to keep an electric heater in my cubicle!

Sherry

I adore snow! HOWEVER - - - Before I retired, I would leave the car at home on any days that had icky roads or snow predicted, and took the bus instead. After I bought my house, 1/2 mile from the office, I would often walk to and from work. Thus, it was easy and safe to get to and from work, which was fabulous! Now that I am retired, I stay home when the roads are the least bit icky. And no matter what, unless it's a life-or-death thing, I NEVER drive on the first day or two of snow, and let the other idiots re-learn the need to slow down on the roads. Instead of getting out in my car in snow, I fire up the snowthrower, clean off my driveway and walks to the front and back steps, and then run it on the front sidewalk on both sides of the street for all the neighbors on the block. I don't go on private property, but having an 18" clear path for everybody is always helpful. After all, a snowthrower is the ultimate push-toy for adults, right? It's a small snowthrower, but wonderful.

DH has had to take a small heater in to work as it has been down to 6C inside his office - still better than one of the teaching labs which had icicles hanging down (and this is inside!)

Sarah

And up here in northern Michigan, we have some temps below zero and about 18 inches of snow on the ground and it's coming down again. Bah humbug.

KT. in MI

On Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:01:15 -0600, Kate in MI wrote (in article ):

In theory, I love those kinds of days too. As long as I can stay inside and drink hot chocolate and quilt. But most of the time I can't.

Plus, its too cold for the cats to go out and they are starting to be a real pain!

Maureen

On Fri, 21 Jan 2011 18:18:18 -0600, Mary O'Neill wrote (in article ):

My DSis lives in AZ. And it seems nice, except is too brown. All the time it seems. I need green around me in the summer.

Maureen

I wish I could! But they've been confiscating them. Yesterday I took a wool/cashmere shawl that's almost as big as a blanket to bundle up in.

Maureen

Amy, this is an unusual year. Not every one is like this. But the weather certainly is better than back East. This is why they make a big deal of the Pasadena [CA] Rose Parade and the clear shots of the mountains or beach on New Year's Day.

As for cold working environments, our courtroom is cool to allow the judge in his black robe to be comfortable. We cannot use little heaters at our workstation because the space is too small to allow good ventilation. I keep a lap quilt to throw around my legs, and have fingerless gloves handy. The gloves come off when I have to swear a witness in, though ;)

Ginger in CA

I'm getting a little cabin fever myself. I love winter but I'm sure waiting for spring to appear. I went out and checked on my flower gardens and they're showing signs of springs just poking out of the dirt plus new birds are appearing at my feeders. What a picker-upper!

Perhaps a bunch of nice cheerful flowers would help lift your spirits?

Donna in WA

If you think you've had enough cold weather, just wait until you see this tv weather lady in Atlanta howl. This will make you smile. Polly

My wife grew up in Ohio and when we retired and looked around for places to live, she thought about moving back here. I said Ok. She worried about me adapting as I had always lived on the west coast and we had both lived for 45 years in San Francisco Bay Area. So we ended up back in Ohio and guess who can't stand the winters and gets the "Blues" if she can't get out and see the sun. Yup. Miss Ohio. Me I stay inside and quilt, and woodwork, and other things, and never look outside some days. I will admit that it is a bit of a challenge, to deal with all the snow and crazy streets, but I don't have to drive to work, so it is almost optional, if you can wait for the roads to clear. We have been talking about selling the house and looking for a single story place in someplace warm: Florida, the Desert Southwest, or my choice, Costa Rica, but nothing seems to gel, and the thought of selling this big old house in this market is, shall we say, "challenging". But then spring comes around and things are right with the world again, and another year passes.

John

My wife grew up in Ohio and when we retired and looked around for places to live, she thought about moving back here. I said Ok. She worried about me adapting as I had always lived on the west coast and we had both lived for 45 years in San Francisco Bay Area. So we ended up back in Ohio and guess who can't stand the winters and gets the "Blues" if she can't get out and see the sun. Yup. Miss Ohio. Me I stay inside and quilt, and woodwork, and other things, and never look outside some days. I will admit that it is a bit of a challenge, to deal with all the snow and crazy streets, but I don't have to drive to work, so it is almost optional, if you can wait for the roads to clear. We have been talking about selling the house and looking for a single story place in someplace warm: Florida, the Desert Southwest, or my choice, Costa Rica, but nothing seems to gel, and the thought of selling this big old house in this market is, shall we say, "challenging". But then spring comes around and things are right with the world again, and another year passes.

John

Keep in mind that although you are selling your home in a down market you are buying one in a down market too. Market pretty bad in a lot of warm places, Phoenix and Vegas are both really in bad shape. Here too. Taria

Hey John, and any of you others up in the cold and snow. There are several houses for sale in my neighborhood here in Phoenix. I really wouldn't mind some neighbors I could know. We have lots of quilt shops, and a few nearby chapters of the big guild too.

Just say> My wife grew up in Ohio and when we retired and looked around for