This winter is shaping up to be a weird one. It's been extremely cold, even here in Southern California. We've had temperatures in the forties, rain everywhere, and even snow. The picture above is from my mom's house (central Orange County) where the snow levels came down to under 1,000 feet (which rarely ever happens). The local foothills were covered in snow for a few days until temperatures went back up a bit and it all melted (also dangerous, since these were the same mountains that burned in the 2007 fires).
Lots of people who are trying to get out of town for the holidays have been stranded by airport closures and delays. Kate is trying to get home to Seattle, which has been socked in by snow (and lack of resources to deal with snow -- beach towns don't usually have snow plows). Her flight yesterday was cancelled and I believe that today (Monday) she's on stand-by, hoping for the airport to be cleared for landing. Mark called me last week and mentioned that he was heading home to Buffalo, NY for the holidays and I said "you're connecting through Dallas, right?" and he said that no, he's connecting through Chicago, at which point I yelled ROOKIE'S MISTAKE! In the winter, always connect through a southern city and avoid Chicago at all costs. Chicago has some crazy winter weather and you stand a very good chance that you're going to be significantly delayed (if not cancelled outright). Anyway, I got a message from Mark last night, saying that indeed he was snowed in in Chicago (current temp: 7 degrees) and they were moving him to an airport hotel (where we stayed once when we worked together) and he was re-living the memories. It was all swings & roundabouts until this afternoon - when he is STILL stranded at the airport. It's too cold to go outside to build a snowman and so he's slumming it in O'Hare in his Arizona clothes (he's from Phoenix) freezing his toes off.
Inside my house, where the heater is running and drying out my sinuses like nobody's business, the thermostat in the hall says 69 degrees, but I think it's warmer in the hall. The living room is freezing and I have a heating pad on my back and a cat on my lap and I'm still cold.
I hope that where ever you are heading this holiday season that it's warm. May your toes never be froze!
3 comments:
Dude! We are sisters together in coldness. I am constantly freezing. I am constantly checking the thermostat and disbelieving the number it reads. My toes are decidedly froze.
But thank the gods we decided to stay home this holiday season. Traveling this time of year SUCKS!
We managed to travel with no drama...but JUST AHEAD of this GIANT storm that has Portland totally screwed. Snowed for four hours this morning. We got dressed and went outside and walked around in amazement...so beautiful. Could be a White Christmas for us which would be pretty crazy. Love you madly hope you have a great holiday.
Yes! It is freeeeeezing!! I love the cold, so I'm hap, hap, happy! but it sucks at night when you can't get warm and cozy.
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