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Sunday we got a titanic amount of snow. Come this morning, it was still snowing, but not nearly as fast or at the same volume. It had basically stopped accumulating, although it got a little fluffier after 8PM. 

Lots of shoveling going on. There were impacts on other things. All the banks were closed as far as I could tell. So were most eateries. Garbage day has been pushed back by a day...at least. Not many of the neighbors have their barrels out, so I don't know. 

Groceries were still open. Buses still running, thank God. And I think I saw a mail truck driving along, so the creed appears to be in effect.

Skimping

I saw a guy at the supermarket today wearing shorts. Short shorts. A friend of mine from a couple of years back was one of those guys who would switch to shorts as soon as it was spring on the calendar, even if the weather was still wintry. A little showoffy but I could see what he was going for. But today might turn out to be the coldest day of the year, and is likely to at least be in the top five. Whatever point you're trying to make, there are better ways to make it.

But that's me. I wore socks to bed last night and intend to do the same tonight.

Newsflash

I've been keeping an eye on the little weather app that I guess is embedded with Windows, which puts the temperature and verbal stuff in the lower left corner of my laptop screen. First it said "Cold weather", which I'd already picked up on. Last night was colder, though. Then "Partly cloudy", which is a little harder to pick up on at night but I can see the cloud cover out the window. As far as predictions, it says the temperatures will rise tomorrow, which I believe. And also there's supposed to be an inch of rain on Friday, but that far out it's still anybody's guess.

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The weather forecast is calling for snow in a few hours. It's gotten pretty chilly, so I can believe it's on the way. On the other hand, it's still a few degrees above freezing, and it will get warmer during the day, so I don't think it will stick around for very long.

Even if not, I'm sure there will be people not happy to see it. Drivers and such. But what can you do? This is at least a chance to get reaccustomed to it.

Salute to the spooky

Now that Halloween season is just past, I have to reflect that it's been fun to walk around and see the decorations. I've seen tableaux with simple yet effective witch figures. There was a house with a couple of skeletons propped up in chairs on the lawn. At least one porch was decorated with giant spiders, which I wouldn't have been happy about if they were real, but they weren't. And of course there have been some nicely made and creative jack-o-lanterns.

How many trick-or-treaters have there actually been? Got me. I live in an apartment building which is logistically not suited for it. But the nearby neighborhoods have looked nice.

Musing

I like doing poetry posts here now and then. Partly because I like poetry, or at least some of it. There is kind of a problem with layout. The site puts a space between every paragraph by default (except when it doesn't.) And since it involves hitting "Enter" it registers each line of verse as a new paragraph. Or new stanza, as they sometimes appear to be with the added spaces.

Anyway, the heat came on tonight. Only the second time this fall, I believe. The first one was back at the beginning of the month. It's definitely not freezing tonight, but you could say it's a little chilly.

See? That's kind of poetic.

The cool world

It's getting to be that time again. Sweater season. To specify a little, if you're up late at night, and the window is open, and you're wearing a short-sleeved shirt, it's nice to have a sweater on-hand. Unless and until there's another hot spell. 

I realized a while ago that if I'm going to wear sweaters, I prefer cardigans. They're considerably more flexible than other sweaters. The one I'm wearing now is sort of a mint green and made out of what they say is Scottish wool. It's got a nice aroma to it.

Shelter from the storm

I remembered this week that the library would be closed tomorrow because they do a three day weekend thing for Labor Day. This is after forgetting the same thing for Victory Day, which is a weird Rhode Island only thing. Anyway, I had three things to pick up, so today was the day to do it. They included a movie I wanted to watch tonight anyway.

Weird thing is, we had three separate thunderstorms today. The first one ended before I left the house. The second one started while I was on the way. It only got me a little wet, though, and while I was in the library it ended. I'd say that Numero Trio, that started when I got home, was the doozie.

Get on the good foot

On visits to my grandparents I used to notice that my grandfather had a shoehorn as well as something called a shoetree. The shoehorn was self-explanatory. I really didn't understand the shoetree, though. For one thing it didn't look like a tree. It just looked like a wooden foot you left in the shoe. And what was the purpose of that?

Well, I've learned. Something I've noticed is that a pair of shoes might be my size in theory while in practice they don't fit my feet. A good shoetree helps with that, especially providing more space in the toe area.

Preview of coming attractions

It was the strangest thing. This afternoon I heard thunder. Not faint thunder, either. It sounded huge and explosive. But when I looked outside, not only wasn't it raining, but the bright sun was shining on all and sundry.

Now around midnight, the thunder returned. And this time there was a heavy rainstorm. Lightning too. So this afternoon was kind of like an actor showing up for a matinee performance when there was only an evening show scheduled.

Summer pushes us into the deep end

I trust that when I post on the trusty blog again in a couple of days I'll have something more interesting to say than "It's hot." But for now, it's very, very hot. Hit 100F today, in fact.

One thing that changes for me when the mercury goes way up is the way I drink water. For much of the year I'll pour a glass of water and just let it sit for a while, because drinking it right away isn't necessary. Might even be painful in the winter. But on really hot days I'll probably down it right away.

All the steps

Step 1: Put food in the oven.

Step 2: Close the oven door.

Step 3: Wait 30-40 minutes.

Step 4: Wonder why you still don't smell any food.

Step 5: Realize that it helps when you turn the heat on.

This is one of those things that's unbelievably aggravating in the moment but gets funny when you have a couple hours' distance.

At the risk of TMI...

Mostly the only time I grow my beard out is when I have a fever blister. That's because the best treatment for that particular malady is just to leave it alone. (All the creams and lotions they sell for it are just growing cultures.) So rather than leave a small patch on the upper lip unshaved I just stop shaving everything above the neck.

The thing is, I don't really like having facial hair. It's itchy and distracting. I'm sure you get used to it. And maybe I'll give it another try one of these days, after the beard I briefly had in college. But at present it's one of those things I look forward to getting rid of, which I'll be able to do tomorrow.

Lost and (eventually) found

Last week I emailed someone and they immediately replied. I didn't know about it―the reply part, I mean―until today. That's because they were apparently flagged as spam and thus caught in my spam filter. Not for any reason I can see.

Anyway, I moved the replay email from the spam folder to my regular inbox and I'm hoping that means any future replies will just show up as a regular email. But it just goes to show that the phenomenon  of letters being lost or delayed isn't a thing of the past.

Greetings

Today I was at a bus stop and I saw a bit of graffiti on the transparent covering they put on advertising sheets. It was just "Happy Valentine" in black magic marker. The final "s" was either missing or too small to read.

Now Valentines Day doesn't quite have the same level of general goodwill as, say, Christmas. And seeing it enshrined on a bus stop is a little puzzling six days later. Still, if taggers want to spread good cheer around it feels churlish to complain.

The secret

A little over a week ago I ordered a book through the interlibrary loan system. It hasn't arrived. Apparently it hasn't even moved from the library that has it. 

Yesterday I called my local branch and asked about it. All they could tell me was that it hadn't been sent out. Which I of course knew already. Today I was actually at the library and I talked to a nice and knowledgeable lady at the circulation desk. She didn't know why it hadn't been sent but said she'd call the owning library. No one else had done this.

This exact thing has happened before. What it proves is that the results you get if you know the right person to talk to are very different from those you get if you don't.

Nature's whiteboard

We're having a snowfall tonight. Best word for it. More than a flurry, less than a storm, certainly not a blizzard. But a noticeable amount of snow.

Which has an interesting effect. When it snows at night, it's night, so it's still dark. But the sky looks light, due to the snow clouds. Trees in the distance then look darker than they otherwise would. And in this contrast their little movements in the wind become more pronounced. They seem like shadow puppets, of a kind.

⭐🐍

It can be fun joining your Western Zodiac sign together with your Eastern Zodiac sign to see what kind of hybrid you get. Mine is "bull dog" which is easy to remember.

Anyway, soon starts the Chinese Year of the Snake. There's an anecdote about that.

A race was held to cross a great river, and the order of the animals in the cycle was based upon their order in finishing the race. In this story, the snake compensated for not being the best swimmer by hitching a hidden ride on the Horse's hoof. When the horse was about to cross the finish line, the snake jumped out, scaring the horse, and thus edging it out for sixth place.

I guess you could call this cheating. I probably would. But it's also kind of ballsy. If you're a snake there's a certain risk inherent in freaking out a horse.

-fulness

Okay, so we're a little past Thanksgiving on the calendar. Still, it never hurts to be grateful, so I'll keep it going. I'm thankful that the rain coming down now didn't fall while I was doing my laundry, and especially not while I was coming home from doing my laundry. Now I get to hear it from indoors, which is much preferable. 

It is, by the way, 38 Fahrenheit. A few degrees lower and we'd be getting snow or sleet. As long as the sidewalks don't freeze, I'm happy.

Signs of the season

#1.

We had a lot of summery days in October, and a few even in early November. For whatever reason. That's not how it is now, though. We're getting overnight temperatures in the low 30s. Certainly some nice things about this. You can just snuggle into the blankets to get to sleep. And it's getting easier to go for a long walk in a jacket without overheating.

#2

The couple who live downstairs have a string of lights running around their doorframe. Colorful. Some of the lights are non-Christmas colors, so I don't think they're Christmas lights as such. Plus, strong chance the couple are Hindu. But it's certainly festive.