I was reading blogs earlier and had quite the scare.
I was in the basement, because that’s where my home office is located, and suddenly heard water gurgling. Hmm, that’s odd, I thought. When it didn’t stop after half a minute, I got up to investigate, checking the bathroom and laundry room to figure out the source of the running water. Given our recent stretch of subzero weather, I was worried a pipe might have burst. My heart raced frantically as dollar signs danced in front of my eyes.
After a full minute or two traipsing around downstairs, trying to figure out where the gushing water was coming from, I glanced down at my laptop and discovered the source of the noise. WTF? Had my MacBook Air sprung a leak?! I lifted it up to my ears, and sure enough, the sound of flowing water could be heard through the speakers, loud and clear.
The culprit? This blog post. Shelly, it turns out, had shared a video of water trickling into a swimming pool at an RV resort.
Good hell. I’ve never felt so stupid in my life. I swear, this is the type of thing that only happens to me.
Then again, better a moment of sheer idiocy than an expensive repair bill. I can live with a little egg on my face.
As you may have surmised, it’s still cold here, though we did warm up to 13° yesterday. What a ridiculous sentence to type.
With no break in the cold, our yard looks virtually the same as it did Saturday morning. Not an ounce of snow has melted, the icicles are looking as deadly as ever, and the trees remain blanketed in white.
The roads in town are still a treacherous mess, snow-packed and icy. Salt isn’t effective at temperatures below 15°, and the county uses sand sparingly as it can negatively impact the Rock River. This has made for a couple of white-knuckle drives to work this week…but you can’t deny the beauty of the landscape. Thank god for heated seats and remote start.
We have solar lights lining our front walkway. They’re cheap things that flicker out long before sunrise, and on overcast days, they never even come on. That’s why I’ve got to hand it to this valiant little fella.
All his brethren are buried in snow, yet through sheer happenstance (or the fact that he’s shielded from drifts by the trunk of our maple tree), he stands tall and proud, vainly trying to light the way on his own. I’m sure there’s a great metaphor for that, but I’m too lazy to put it into words.
There’s relief in the long-range forecast, but first we’ve got to get through tonight (a little more snow) and the weekend (more negative temperatures). Then next week it’s supposed to warm up to the mid-30s…and rain. Which means we can expect a slushy, sloppy mess at best — and worst case, flooding.
Still, we have it better than my brother and SIL in Springfield, Oregon. They lost power during an ice storm Saturday night, then a giant branch took out their deck during a second ice storm on Tuesday. They are staying in a Motel 6 until their power is restored…which might not happen until next week. Ouch. Oregon just isn’t built for that kind of winter weather. I learned this firsthand.
The worst we have had to contend with was a frozen sliding glass door, but it’s not like we’re going to hang out on our back deck anytime soon.
Have you had any Mark-like moments of pure stupidity recently? How has the cold and snow impacted your life this past week? Oh, and how ’bout dem Packers?
Mark My Words 
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