OMG watch this dog take itself sledding pic.twitter.com/8YY9oqJWHx
— theCHIVE (@theCHIVE) January 3, 2018
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The mere fifteen or so inches of snow we got yesterday wasn’t too bad, but the temperature plummet today has been accompanied by non-stop horizontal wind. Even our “wolf dog” Zevon, who loves to frolic in the snow, didn’t make much effort to force his way through the backyard drifts before ‘letting’ me lure him back indoors.
What’s the weather like, in your neck of the woods?
Mike J
A new definition of dogsledding.
ruemara
Proof that animals do things because they like it.I hope I see snow this year.
Miss Bianca
In my neck of the woods, sunny, dry, and getting up into the 60s during the day.
don’t hate because I’m beautiful. Hate me because I’ll only need a sweater and a windbreaker to go exercise the foxhounds in beautiful Bassam Park tomrrow.
Roger Moore
75°F and sunny here in Southern California. We’re finally supposed to get some much needed rain next week.
B.B.A.
I am so sorry for my comments over the past few months. I’m going to snark less and listen more, and only troll those who deserve it (like, say, my esteemed Gov. Cuomo).
All I have to say about the shitstorm of a thread downstairs is: I look forward to voting for Gillibrand for reelection this fall.
Shana
Cold, but we only got what I’d call a dusting here in NoVA.
It’ll be a somber shabbos dinner here at our house. My husband’s oldest brother died last week, 2 weeks after being diagnosed with cancer. A horrible shock for everyone, especially his immediate family and 90 year old mother. Weeks away from retirement too, and they were full of plans. Just awful.
danielx
Another night of weather below 0 degrees – it hasn’t gotten above 20 here for the last week and a half. Shouldn’t gripe, if I lived in da U.P. I’d say it was almost springlike. (Well, maybe not).
Aside from that, I stood up with a slight twist around 1 this afternoon and since then have been in a world of lower back pain. Unless it’s a kidney stone….but it hurts like a motherfucker, don’t know if I’ve ever been in this much pain. Leftover pain meds help some, but….it really truly hurts. Takes something like this to understand what people with chronic pain go through.
Toni Peluso
After a bone dry January, wet, gray, and low 60’s.
AliceBlue
Sunny in west central Georgia, highs in the low 40s but still below freezing at night.
B.B.A.
A couple years back I slipped on some invisible ice in Zuccotti “Park” (a stone slab with a few trees, famous for being the site of the original Occupy Wall Street) and fell flat on my ass. I’ve been overly cautious there when it’s been icy ever since.
It was a little icy there today. Fortunately (?) I didn’t slip or fall.
Miss Bianca
@Shana: Two weeks between diagnosis and death? Oh, that is awful. My condolences.
@B.B.A.: Yeah, right, whatever.
debbie
I love that dog! What a pal he or she would be!
Baud
@Shana: I’m sorry. Life is unfair.
satby
Right now it’s a balmy 11°, and still snowing. It’s been snowing 3 inches a day for days, and it had to warm up above freezing to do it. Not sure I will be able to get out of the alley to the street tomorrow.
debbie
@Shana:
So sorry to read this.
Silent no more
Shana, so sorry for your loss. May his memory be a blessing.
AliceBlue
@Shana:
How awful. Fuck cancer.
Yutsano
@Shana: Oh wow. Baruch Dayan Emet. I am sorry for your loss.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
We (western suburbs of Philly) were out of the main snowfall area. Got maybe 3-4″ with high winds, so lots of interesting looking drifts to shovel but not too deep most places.
Now we’re getting the Arctic temps, lows below 10 F earlier this week and for the next couple of days. That plus the continuing winds makes it unpleasant to walk around outside. Otherwise, I might be outside trying to make my annual amateurish snow sculpture with the snow piled up from shoveling. Also, the snow is still too cold and powdery to be worth much for sculpturing.
satby
@Shana: That is awful, condolences to your family and especially your mother-in-law. So sorry for your loss.
Meyerman
5F outside. Blowing. Out here in Hampshire County, MA, we got 10 inches of fluffy powder from the storm. But tomorrow night -12. Yay winter!
MomSense
I was supposed to take a friend to the hospital in Portland today for some pre op testing but 15 minutes into our drive we aborted. The roads were terrible. It is snowing, terribly cold, and the wind is brutal. The temp is -9 but with the wind chill it’s horrible.
schrodingers_cat
Cold, icy, windy and miserable.
Mnemosyne
@Shana:
I’m so sorry. Losing a sibling is really tough. Hugs for all of you.
MomSense
@Shana:
I’m so sorry.
WaterGirl
@satby: Hey, it’s a balmy 3 degrees here, and we haven’t had any snow. At least snow would be a consolation!
I had two big client meetings today, so I sucked it up and made it through both of them in spite of the bug I have. I will be really cranky if I end up getting worse because of it, but there was really no choice about either of the two meetings because they involved out of town people.
I LOVE that dog sledding.
@Shana: That is beyond horrible. How do you even begin to wrap your head around that?
@Baud:It’s a comfort to have you back here, even if I’m seldom on a thread at the same time you are.
chris
Here’s a good picture of Bert* taken this afternoon after it snowed lightly but often sideways all day. Quite a change from last night’s windy 15C and all the snow melted away. It was a good walk and much needed after yesterday’s confinement.
*A good picture in that no part of him is blurred. He rarely stops moving when we’re outdoors.
WaterGirl
@MomSense:
I’m pretty sure -9 is horrible even without wind chill.
edit: Yep, checked my source material. -9 is indeed horrible, even without wind chill.
Mnemosyne
I have a cat sledding video, but I’m not 100 percent sure it’s voluntary. It looks more voluntary than the other ones on YouTube, at least.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Salter’s fellow McCain acolyte Nicole Wallace managed a brow-furrowed segment on Graham’s fuckery while only referring to “senior Republicans”
ETA: Even more direct
Yarrow
@Shana: Oh, gosh. How awful. So sorry for your family.
Two deaths of relatives for the holidays. One just before Christmas. The one yesterday was not unexpected but still hard. About 6-8 weeks between diagnosis and and death. Merry fucking Christmas and Happy fucking New Year.
Miss Bianca
OMG, just watched that video. Trust a Border Collie to be as obsessively driven about FUN as they are about everything else!
@Yarrow: Oh, so sorry to hear it.
Debbie(aussie)
Currently 27C. (Runs for cover)
Can’t wrap my head around what you New Englanders, and others, experience in a ‘normal’ winter, let alone a bomb-cyclone. I have never seen snow ?
mai naem mobile
Ummm,mid 70s. Sunny with a few clouds. Ut does cool down to the 40s at night. You do need a light jacket/sweatshirt early in the AM. My toes curl up when I hear about the east coast temps. I would not survive there.
WaterGirl
i had a bittersweet afternoon today. I met with the folks who are taking on the IT support for my only remaining IT client. I have known her for 40 years and supported her office (she’s a doctor) and managed her server and network for 12 years. Sad to not be part of her office anymore, but ya-fucking-hoo! If I never have to work with a windows server again or fix another fucking printed problem, it will be too soon. I am SO OVER working in IT.
So now I get to focus on bookkeeping and payroll, which is much more to my liking. I had kept her on as a client since I had supported her forever, but I haven’t taken on any new IT clients in 8 years. Now I have to find another client to make up for the 5k I am losing every year, but oh well, you can’t have everything. Apparently.
SiubhanDuinne
@Shana:
That’s awful, Shana. I am so sorry. condolences to your brother-in-law’s family and to everyone who loved him.
Fuck cancer.
rikyrah
that dog is so adorable :)
rikyrah
@Shana:
So sorry for your loss.
Yeah, cancer phucking sucks :( :(
Brachiator
@Shana: Very sorry to hear about your loss.
Condolences to you and to your family.
NotMax
FYI.
MomSense
@WaterGirl: I got a weather text alert. Yesterday the scale of the coastal flooding was really scary.
Lymie
Zero and heading down. Watching Olympic trials for speed skating in Milwaukee. The lane markers are made to look like little yellow cheeses.
Spinoza is my Co-pilot
75F and sunny (Phoenix metro). Been this way mostly for the past couple months, expected to stay pretty much like this for the next couple (when the MiL from Ohio comes to live with us as usual for a while to thaw out). Then it will get somewhat warmer the next couple after that, then it will be swimming pool weather thru September. Then, repeat.
Grew up in Ohio, went to college near Chicago, don’t miss the winter one bit.
Gin & Tonic
@Debbie(aussie): I, on the other hand, have skiied, on snow, in Australia (and NZ, too.)
WaterGirl
just let the dogs out. We are at zero, headed for -11 overnight. It’s fucking freezing. What are the homeless people doing all over the country? I cannot even imagine.
Yarrow
@WaterGirl: Dying. That’s what happened in my neck of the woods. Made the news.
SiubhanDuinne
@Lymie:
Am at neighborhood restaurant/bar, watching the same thing.
It’s odd, I have never in my life been on ice skates, yet I adore watching ice skating, ice dancing, pairs, speed skating (both short and long track), and hockey. It’s just so pretty to watch.
WaterGirl
@MomSense: I’m sure it was scary. Flooding anytime is scary, in the cold like this? Freaky and frightening. Glad you are safe and I am grateful for a warm house and furry guys to share it with.
geg6
So sorry for your loss, Shana.
Really sick of this cold. Two weeks of temps near zero really has taken it out of me. Light at the end of the tunnel by Sunday, though. Supposed to go up to the 20s and then the 30s by Monday and possibly close to 50 by next weekend. Maybe i’ll be able to go out of the house for something other than work or to take the dogs to do their business.
Gravenstone
@Yarrow: There’s a reason I more or less hate the Christmas season now. My mother had the biopsy that confirmed her leukemia on the day after Christmas (and damn near died at the time when her bp cratered due to meds). Sat with her in the oncology ward at Ann Arbor on New Year’s Eve, as a well meaning aide accidentally spilled a plastic flute of sparkling grape juice (and to this day can’t abide the smell of it). Held her in my arms as her tortured heart finally gave out the first weekend of February. Six weeks from diagnosis to the end. Cancer has basically taken my whole family, and I’m just waiting for my turn on that carousel.
NotMax
Move over (2 to the power of 74,207,281) -1. There’s a new BMOC in town.
chris
@MomSense:
Yup, sounds like some records were broken here in Nova Scotia too.
WaterGirl
@Yarrow: Why can’t churches and city buildings and libraries open their doors for the homeless in weather like this?
Wait, don’t tell me. They are as much non-persons as people who are the wrong color, right? Of course, I’m an ass, too, because it took me, what, 2 weeks of frigid weather before I thought about the homeless.
WaterGirl
@Gravenstone: I’m so sorry, Gravenstone. I don’t even know what to say.
chris
@WaterGirl: The homeless aren’t the only ones.
Mike in NC
They’re calling for a low of 14 overnight. Monday will finally bring a respite with temps in the low 50s.
Mnemosyne
@WaterGirl:
In the Detroit area, they’ve been publicizing the phone number for a social services agency that will pick up any homeless person willing to come with them and urging all residents to call if they see someone out in the snow.
Using city buildings isn’t as easy as you’d think. Among other things, you need people to supervise the people taking shelter there.
Even here in So Cal we sometimes have nights that are too cold for people to be outdoors. Locally, they open up the National Guard armory in Glendale because they have supplies (like cots) and capacity for a large number of people.
Gelfling 545
@Shana: I am so, so sorry. Peace and comfort to you and your family.
maeve
37 degrees in Juneau, Alaska. It’s been raining;
MomSense
@Gravenstone: ?
Mnemosyne
@SiubhanDuinne:
So, yes, you would like to see “The Room Where It Happens” on ice?
ruemara
My condolences, Shana & Gravenstone. To you and your families.
debbie
@WaterGirl:
Here, an animal rescue group is taking in homeless pets on a nightly basis. Nothing said about the people, however.
Shana
@Yarrow: I’m so sorry. Even when expected it’s hard.
Gelfling 545
@WaterGirl: There has been a “code blue” here for a couple of weeks. That means that because of the dangerously low temps anyone in need will be found a safe spot. Citizens are being asked to call in if they know of or have seen anyone who is still exposed to the cold or having trouble getting to a place of shelter and people will go out and try to bring them in. Much is being done.
Chickamin Slam
Cloudy, chance of rain.
A local station’s meteorologist has a blog which pointed out significant regional blizzards of the past.
http://komonews.com/weather/scotts-weather-blog/100-years-ago-tuesday-seattle-had-its-greatest-one-day-snowstorm-on-record
debbie
@chris:
Wow, they’ve raised almost 3 times their goal!
WaterGirl
Thanks to everyone who posted about what their area is doing for the homeless in this weather. I guess that’s the downside of not reading the local paper – I don’t know what’s going on in my area – but it’s such a right-wing rag that I won’t read it.
On an unrelated note, I let the dogs out 30 minutes ago and I realized I still haven’t taken off my down coat. I decided to leave it on until I warmed up, and it took me all this time.
Shana
@Gravenstone: So sorry to hear about that. I suspect I’ll end up with the breast cancer that runs through my mother’s family too.
mai naem mobile
@Shana: that’s awful. Condolences to your family. I feel sorry for your MIL. That’s got to be hard to cope with.
Gravenstone
@Shana: I’m sorry, but I certainly understand how that sort of trepidation feels. May the future be better than either of us anticipate.
Millard Filmore
@Mnemosyne:
Union Station (for trains) in Washington DC tried to be a homeless shelter a few decades back. They had to give it up when the homeless were peeing on the walls and pooping in odd corners.
FlyingToaster
30 miles or so to the southwest of AL, we ended up with 16 inches of snow, a plowwalled street, and a Niflheim of blowing snow. The streets desperately need to be retreated, between what’s blowing around and what got dropped/scattered as the apartment blocks and office lots got plowed out. I was out from 1-3 today, and spend the entire time in 4WD on city streets. It’s too slippery without it.
Tonight we’re supposed to get down to -3/-4°, but it looks right now like it’ll be lower. Thank goodness our tree warden aggressively marked limbs for
NStarNeversource to remove in the fall.And, I got a new coffeemaker for my birthday! Time for cake!
efgoldman
@MomSense:
I don’t know how old you are, but the coastal flooding happened in pretty much the same places as in the blizzard of ’78 – which was supposed to be a 100-year storm.
But there's no climage change.MoxieM
@Meyerman: Oh, hay, another Hampshire Co resident. That makes 3 of us (that I know of).
Steeplejack
Reported earlier on conditions here in Threadkill Lane on the “Cold Friday” thread downstairs.
Currently 17°, going down to 8° overnight. Tomorrow will be the worst: high of 19°, low of 4° tomorrow night. But no snow. After that we’re supposed to climb into “normal” winter weather next week: highs in the low 40s, lows in the high 20s.
I have continued to drip my faucets, so far so good. Been running the HVAC at 70°, mostly for the elderly and thin housecat. Ventured out to get a few things this afternoon, see no reason to go out again until the weather improves. Continue to be plagued by occasional cravings for food items that I do not have on hand.
Yarrow
@WaterGirl: Some churches do. I saw a bit on one of the national news shows about a Catholic church that opens its doors every night for the homeless. They sleep in the pews and sometimes even while services are being conducted. Those worshiping are closer to the front and the homeless sleeping are near the back. There was a photo of it.
@Millard Filmore: This doesn’t surprise me at all. So many homeless people have mental health issues. Substance abuse too but that is often because of untreated mental health–goes hand in hand with it. If we dealt with mental health issues properly here we might find we had fewer people on the streets.
Steeplejack
@Shana:
A horrible loss. My condolences to your family.
Yarrow
@Miss Bianca: @Shana: Thanks. The one yesterday was somewhat difficult because although the diagnosis was terminal everyone thought he had longer. Went in to the hospital to treat an infection. Doctors said no problem, he’ll be home in a day or so. Didn’t work out that way. We’re all glad he didn’t have to suffer but it was a shock because it was sooner than expected and the doctors led the family to believe he was going home. He was a really lovely man.
Mnemosyne
@Shana:
If you can afford it, you may want to get tested for the BRAC gene. It can help you decide what to do, or even if you need to do anything. But genetic testing for stuff like that is a double-edged sword — some people don’t want to know.
Jeffro
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
It’s past time for some national Dem – Biden, perhaps? – to ask publicly, “This is crazy, Lindsey. You used to be a public servant. What do they have on you, to make you act this way?”
And then Five Eyes (or our own IC?) drops the hammer…
MomSense
@efgoldman:
In ‘78 the hotel between our house and the beach washed out to sea! Of course I thought that storm was the greatest thing ever. School was closed for two weeks and our street flooded and froze. We could ice skate on the roads. It was amazing putting your ice skates on and skating to your friend’s house.
The storm surge yesterday was just a few inches less than ‘78.
Suzanne
The weather here is clear and just dropped below 70 degrees when the sun went down.
Steeplejack
@Yarrow:
Sorry to hear about your relatives. Condolences.
TriassicSands
Anne, thank you. The sledding dog put a big smile on my face. Just imagine — a dog that’s smarter than our president.
Scotian
Up here in Halifax we just got the wind and a LOT of rain in the afternoon yesterday, but aside from that…we got off the lightest in the Eastern seaboard from what I can tell. We did have some hard storm surge, but no flooding around here that I’ve heard of, and it was a nice 44-46F yesterday, 34F or so today, and dropping to around 10F overnight for the cold weekend. It is odd, but so far this winter we have yet to have any snow. The few flakes that show up are clearly sea effect snow and only flurries at most. Feels weird…
Suzanne
@Shana: @Yarrow: Hugs and condolences. I’m so, so sorry.
James E. Powell
66 & partly cloudy as the sun goes down. This is why I moved to southern California. I got two more days before I’m back to spending my days with other people’s teenagers. I intend to enjoy each day fully.
Steeplejack
@NotMax:
Fascinating! Forget bitcoin, I’m going into prime-number research.
Suzanne
@Millard Filmore: I volunteer on occasion with a few organizations here in PHX, and often I have heard that many of the homeless people refuse to come to the available shelters, even when it’s brutally hot outside. What many of them need first and foremost is mental health care, but that’s difficult to deliver to someone who resists.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jeffro: I’m wondering who will be the first pundit to bring up La Nooner’s old line, “Is it irresponsible to speculate…”
If nothing else, I’d like to see Biden put a torch to one of his legendary across-the-aisle friendships
ellie
It is 50 to 60-ish here in Denver. It’s pretty nice.
No Drought No More
Levon is a disgrace to wolf dogs everywhere, but is certainly no fool.
Yarrow
@Steeplejack: @Suzanne: Thanks. The other one was a favorite aunt. I just loved her. She had declined over the last year and was beginning to have some memory issues so it wasn’t a huge surprise. She was smart as a whip, with a quick tongue to get kids moving along. Scary when young and funny to look back on as an adult. Heart of gold. Always ready with your favorite homemade treat if you stopped by. She never really recovered after her husband died a few years ago. I will miss her.
Steeplejack
@Suzanne:
I think Betty Cracker indicated last week that people in your climate are supposed to say the temperature “plunged into the 60s” in such cases.
Gin & Tonic
@Steeplejack: I think Suzanne made some sort of comment like that a few days ago and I responded rudely. It is now 5 here, and predicted to climb all the way to 6 tomorrow.
CarolDuhart2
What a week. My first week of retirement, and it’s cold, terrible and I have sinus (I found out yesterday). It’s going to be -3 tonight, a high of 16, then 33 with freezing rain for Sunday. With a high of 59 next week. Instead of doing things around the house, I have mostly spent the week in bed, with respite moments of cooking and making coffee.
I’m glad I didn’t have to even try to go to work this week. I think the cold would have killed me. When I went grocery shopping last Saturday, I had to unload groceries onto another cart to carry upstairs. The act, that didn’t take very long, nearly froze my hands and I ended up turning on a stove burner and holding my hand over it for a couple of minutes. I went to the doctor, and felt the cold just getting back in the car.
Shana, how terrible. I have no words to say except condolences and may his memory be a blessing to you and yours.
Ohio Mom
@Mnemosyne:
@Shana: I think BRCA testing is a little different from many types of genetic testing because there are some proactive things you can do if you test positive, which isn’t the case with testing positive for a disease that has no treatment options. A good source of info on hereditary breast cancers is the FORCE site, which is Facing Our Risk of Cancer something that starts with an E. Everyone? Empowered? It’s googable.
One thing you might want to consider Shana is asking/insisting to be referred to a breast surgeon for a consultation. She/he can help you understand your risk better, Including determining if you are a candidate for genetic testing and/or increased surveillance.
Also, my condolences. I think a death in the family is doubly hard when it comes out of the blue.
Soprano2
@Shana: I’m so sorry for your loss. Cancer does indeed suck.
We had almost balmy temps of 35+ today, to contrast with the single digit and below zero lows of the past two weeks here in the MO Ozarks. We had to cut some wood last Sunday in 15 degree weather – not fun at all! There is a forecast for freezing rain on Sunday. I’m worn out with winter, and it’s not over until March!
Another Scott
Smart doggie!
Condolences Shana, Yarrow, and Gravenstone. And everyone else who has lost loved ones recently.
My best friend from high school died in December just six months after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. :-(
It’s cold here in our neck of NoVA too. But at least our gas furnace is working again. The electronics board failed on new year’s eve (7 years after it happened last) and it took until yesterday to get a replacement installed. We were able to keep the place warm (enough) with the electric range and space heaters, but I had to extend my winter vacation to babysit the stuff. :-/
But heat is good!
Stay warm, everyone, and be careful.
Remember with fondness those who have left us.
Cheers,
Scott.
tybee
@AliceBlue:
i spent many years in west central georgia.
and here it was sunny and cold. the streets around the squares, not getting any sun due to the live oak tree shadows, were ice rinks. scary to drive around, scarier to walk through.
satby
@Yarrow: @Gravenstone: Condolences to you both too. It’s specially hard when loved ones pass during what is supposed to be a season of joy and celebrations. My paternal grandmother and one uncle both passed away on different Christmases years ago.
stinger
@Shana: Oh, I’m so sorry. How hard it must for for the whole family.
scott alloway
@Shana: So sorry for your loss. Went through it two years ago when my mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died four weeks later. She was 90 so she did have a long (and exciting) life.
1000 flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@WaterGirl: Here in Nashville they’ve closed the community centers in the city parks for regular use, and are operating them as what they call ‘warming centers’, with overnight accommodations and food provided through the local food banks. I saw a stream of people leaving the one in the park across the street yesterday morning, most of them headed out to work (yes, many homeless people have jobs of various sorts–not good enough jobs to cover rent in what is becoming an increasingly expensive town, but jobs all the same!) (I won’t get into the difficulty some have in passing the background check many landlords/realty companies now apply, but welcome to modern life; it sucks but we have the Internet!)
For years, Nashville has opened its public buildings in similar circumstances–the floor of the courthouse, with heat and access to working restrooms can’t be confused with the Ritz, but it beats the hell out of freezing to death. It isn’t a solution to homelessness, but this at least acknowledges that we should condemn people to death by freezing as a matter of public policy.
1000 flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@Shana:
@Yarrow:
@Gravenstone:
My condolences to you all.
HeartlandLiberal
Here in south central Indiana an hour south of Indy, we have hit minus 7 F degrees at one point, but been below zero at some degree for all but maybe one or two nights for the past week or more. Maybe once we got a daytime high that hit 20, but usually been in teens or single digits. Our house is large, and we are all electric with a hugh geothermal furnace that does heat in winter and air conditioning in summer. The past couple of days, it has had to shift into emergency heat mode, firing up the electrical elements which only come on in emergency to keep up with the bitter cold, the normal heat transfer from the well loop just has not been able to keep up. I am so looking forward to the electric bill for this period. Well, not really.,
We have been keeping the cats in, unless the temp hits 12 – 15 in the day, but definitely at night, to protect them. They are indoor / outdoor cats, with their own 24×7 door, and have not been exactly understanding of our protecting them. Well, one, the little tubby gray 1 1 /2 year old kitten, seems to get it. We open the door onto the deck off the kitchen dining area, she sniffs the air, then gives a spastic shake first to one front foot then the other, and turns around to chow down on some hard food. For the dumbest of the three cats, she is demonstrating that on this issue, she is the smartest.
gbbalto
My condolences to Shana and Yarrow and to all others who have lost loved ones so quickly and unexpectedly.