Yuck

What miserable weather today! It started with sleet, turned to snow for about two inches' worth, then back to sleet and then freezing rain. All afternoon. Just awful.

I took this picture through the living room window of one of our shrubs, just before the light disappeared altogether. Because, naturally, the trees and all were just getting prettily ice-cased as the sun went down.

I believe that most of the precipitation is over for the night, though, which means that that ice layer shouldn't be much thicker than this, when all is said and done, and so therefore not as threatening to life and (tree) limb as the massive ice storm that swept through the Midwest states this week.

The plus side, though, is that my office closed early today. So at 12:00, I headed carefully home to spend the rest of the afteroon with my favorite little boy.

Luckily, that was before the worst of the ice came along, and the roads were already pretty well sanded by then. The only place I skidded was on a curve on my own street, but since there weren't any other cars nearby at that moment, and I didn't come near any trees or mailboxes, that was okay. In fact, I think it's good to get a chance to practice that whole "steer into a skid" thing once in a while, if you can do so without risking damage. The timing was especially good since, thanks to Dad's shuttling my car around this morning, it not only had its bi-annual inspection but also its annual oil change this morning. It really would have been a shame to crunch a fender after that, you know?

Still, it was nice to be home for the afternoon. Hopefully the roads will be clear in the morning and we'll see what kind of storm the potential one for this weekend turns into. At any rate, Chappy was good company this afternoon (even if he was disappointed that this wasn't "romping" weather), and it WAS nice curling up with the new Spin-Off. (Which, incidentally, explained in the Letters to the Editor section why they had to change from the perfect-bound spine to the stapled one which is harder to see on a shelf. Basically, a cost issue--it was that, or increase the subscription price.)

Otherwise? My tooth still hurts--a nice little throbbing above one of the new crowns I paid dearly for this summer. I tried calling my dentist though . . . he's on vacation until December 20th. Sigh. But it felt better this afternoon, though it's sore again now . . . There IS a back-up dentist but if he's the same one my dentist used last time I had an emergency and he wasn't there, I don't think he'd be able to help anyway. So . . . fingers crossed.

Frankly, I'm starting to run out of fingers these days....

Comments

[lisa]

Ice storms are scary, but beautiful. 40 was a sucky year for me (not in truth, but a lot of crap happened early in the year). I have a tooth with a serious cap on it (not quite a crown), and it sometimes aches... ended up getting a root canal through the cap. And sometimes it still aches, usually if I have a sinus thing going on (it's an upper tooth). I can't remember, but I think the oral surgeon lost some part of a drill bit in the tooth. I hate those kinds of toothaches! Try advil/aleve/tylenol? And a decongestant? Do not try (as I did) some leftover opiates of the variety that people steal for... they made me violently ill (on top of the sore tooth!).

[Nancy J]

Fabulous photo of Chappy.

[crzjane]

So far we are all snow here in South Western MA. Lucky you getting to go home early. Hope your tooth feels better soon.

[Chris]

I'm glad you got an unexpected afternoon off! That storm totally missed us - whew. I'm sending anti-tooth pain thoughts your way!

[Agnes]

I LOVE this picture of Chappy! So handsome!

[jen]

i really love that photo of chappy!

[Ina]

Glad you got home safely. Ow, sounds like that tooth makes you a human barometer.

[Laura]

Ice storms don't sound any fun at all, but I sure love the pictures of the ice coating everything. Sweet Chappy; here's a little scritch in that spot you like so much. :-) Hope the tooth holds out until your regular dentist comes back, gf.

[Jessica]

Great pictures! I didn't do overtime because I wanted to get the heck home. What a mess. I wish it would just snow. That's so much easier to deal with, and more fun for Chappy too. :) Hope the tooth gets better without dr. intervention.

[Kim]

Great picture of Chappy. I got out early too but got off the train at 4pm. The roads were horrible, but my car is just great in the snow. During the night I heard a loud crash. A big tree branch fell on part of our roof and splintered apart all over the front walkway. Good firewood!