Sunday, February 10, 2008

Shiver me timbers! Arrrr!

Ahh, what a lovely winter day. When I got up at 5 AM, it was 17°. When I left for work at 6:15 AM, it had dropped to 13°. It continued to drop during the day, and it is now a balmy 7°. Even better, we had winds around 25 mph, with gusts up to 45 mph, resulting in wind chills around 20° below zero. Oh boy! We got some snow, but not too bad--the wind was blowing too hard for it to really stick! It wasn't too bad at Nutwood, but it was worse in town.

It was really kind of a cool drive to work, though, in a spooky, desolate kind of way. As you can imagine, there isn't a lot of traffic on the road at 6:15 on a Sunday morning, especially out here in the country. I felt a strange loneliness, but it was almost a good kind of lonely. Does that make sense? Sometimes it's a neat feeling to just enjoy the solitude of a deserted road. (I felt some of that on Route 66.) I saw a couple of really cool things. Several times I saw what I would call "snow devils," where the wind whips the snow into a tiny white tornado. One went right in front of me, and I think I went, "Ooooh!" I also got to see that snowy snakedance on the road, where the wind makes the snow undulate on the pavement. I KNOW I went, "Ooooh!" when I saw that! I didn't experience any actual whiteout conditions, but in some of the spots where open fields are to the left or right of the road, it was really blowing hard.

Conditions didn't improve once I got to work--another really busy day. We actually had to leave some lower-priority work, and we try our best not to do that, but our manager said to leave it and she'd come in early tomorrow and work on it. Bless her heart!

I'm certainly looking forward to my day off tomorrow!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, a very blustery day at Nutwood.  I thought of my Bride as I went to get the paper.  After I warmed up, I sat at the table reading the paper with my large "Eeyore" coffee cup, and wrapped snuggly in my bath robe.  It was chilly due to the wind blowing, so I changed my slippers to some "booties" that my Grandmother made for me many years ago.  :o)

Anonymous said...

becareful out in the elements they will sneak up on you before you know it , enjoy your day off .
hugs
Sherry

Anonymous said...

i'm behind. I hope you had a good day off. Today we have sheets of ice falling from the sky. Awful weather. Stay in and make some good food and come tell us about it if you can. I like hearing about your dinners.
Hugs, lisa

Anonymous said...

Hey, hope you're on the mend, Lisa!

Hmm, I haven't decided yet what's for dinner. Probably some kind of chicken dish.

I hope the ice storm lets up for you soon--ugh, snow is bad enough, but ice storms are the worst. Stay warm!

Beth

Anonymous said...

I love those gloomy weather days, when it's strange and erratic storms, or wind. I know exactly what you mean about a subtle loneliness, yet safety. (Hugs) Indigo

Anonymous said...

Yes, Indy, there's something about being inside, cozy and safe, when the weather is raging all about. I've always loved storms--except for tornadoes--and love to watch them from the safety of home. We've had some crazy winds lately, too, and I love being in bed under layers of covers and hearing the wind outside.

{{Hugs}}
Beth