It is now 1955 hours on January 10th. The past two and a half hours have been spent digging out the car. A plow comes to clear the parking lot but if you are unable to move your car, it becomes “plowed in.” Mine was definitely plowed in. More than that. It was buried and jammed. It also wore a thick hat of two feet of snow with an inch and a half of a stiff ice crust brim beneath the crown. The local temperature is now 6 degrees centigrade. In the middle of January! According to one forecast, a light rain started falling 15 minutes ago. No sign of it. Snow is forecast to start in 56 minutes. For that to be correct we must experience a massive temperature drop in the next hour.
Figure 1 – High Local Temperatures on January 10th, 2016
I am again exhausted. Nothing has been accomplished this weekend but a continuous battle with the weather. I am now reasonably optimistic I could sell the car and not notice it. There is an irony in that all of the recent heavy duty walk activity has been the direct result of obtaining the parts required to put the car back into service. The final decision on the car will be deferred until the end of January as we will then be through the period of lowest annual temperatures. There will be significant snow in March but the temperature will moderate and a mix of heavy rain and snow is likely.
Figure 2 – Radar image of storm. Green is rain, blue is snow, area of greatest rainfall is red.
I still need to prep for tomorrow’s walk to the hearing test. The parking lot was a mixture of bare pavement, and water slicked ice. The sidewalks tomorrow will likely be similar but the ice will be coated with a thin blanket of snow, exactly the same treacherous conditions I encountered on my last trip to the copy shop.
This post, and the prior posts, serve as tests of my cognitive acuity. The last four or five days have been an extreme struggle. I have notes for a key series of posts on the likely cause of my injury but have been too wonky, and too preoccupied, to commence the formal draft. Once the hearing test is complete, I will have block of undisturbed time to devote to TAQ submissions.
Just checked. We do have a light snow squall passing through.
03:23:36
Awake. Slept from around 2100 till now. Almost six hours. A sign of some progress.
06:08:07
Prepping for the trip. Getting everything ready, reviewing my checklists and itinerary. The hearing test takes place outside my normal walk shed so it will be a hike into foreign territory. I am taking advantage of this trip to visit two other destinations.
06:32:07
As I was getting ready, I noted my jacket has grease spots on the right sleeve. On examination it appears to be white lithium grease. This will be very difficult to remove. The jacket fabric is nylon and nylon forms a strong bond with all forms of oil. Spent a fruitless 30 minutes trying to remove it using dish detergent. Becoming increasingly discombobulated. I have great difficulty adapting to changes in planned routine. This is a major difference from past work environments in which it was my job to address non-routine issues. I greatly enjoyed the challenge this presented.
I am working very hard to stay on the rails. The header picture is an excellent representation of how I feel. Yesterday, the car was buried and jammed. Now, it is my turn. I find it interesting I resort to the blog as my form of security blanket. I did manage to complete additional work on the TAQ draft so things are being moved forward.
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January 12th Update
I left the house just after 0800. As soon as I turned the corner and encountered the wind chill I knew I was under dressed for the conditions. I returned to the house and put on a pair of polypro long johns, added additional upper body insulation and changed to my preferred nylon jacket. At 0813, I left the house for a second time.
I was back five minutes later. When I reached the main road, I realized that due to my discombobulation I had no memory of performing my house exit checks. I had eaten a big breakfast of hash browns, fried egg, and onion, in preparation for the walk duration and the low temperatures. I had no memory of checking to ensure the stove was off. I returned for a second time, and left for good around 0830.