Tuesday 11th February

There's very severe weather forecast over the south, and almost inevitable power failures with ice bringing down trees and power lines.  It seemed to be a bit in Oklahoma, that blue area north of Dallas, but actually I think it is going to be alright here.

Certainly looks better by the end of the week when it starts to get into the 70s.  That would be a heatwave in Britain.

The Kiwanis bake sale was postponed from last week, and held this morning.   I didn't sleep well last night and didn't wake early enough to get to the Senior Centre to help set up, but there's usually plenty of people helping.

There's a lot of tv advertising of ancestry.com, and I don't quite know how I wandered into their site today, but I was amazed at the resources they have now.   I did quite a bit of family history a few years ago, I don't know if my research is still around somewhere, but there is so much more information available now online.   One can access all the census returns up to 1911; when I was doing it there was only the 1881 available.   I even have hopes I might find my Irish great grandfather, there are a lot more Irish records now.   Memo to my loved ones.   I have e-mailed you a copy of what I have done today, and I hope it makes sense, I haven't got all confused and stupid.

Monday 10th February

It is still brutally cold, it has to be the coldest winter I have ever known, certainly the coldest in Oklahoma.   But then it is exceptionally cold all over the States at the moment.

The icicles here fascinate me.  Although these look as if they are hanging straight down, in actual fact  the wind blew the water back, and then they froze.  And look how long some of them are.  As I'm driving round town I'm looking at the icicles on everyone else's house, seeing if theirs are as long as mine.

I was running round town this morning on my errands.  I needed to see Louise for a few minutes about the Kiwani's bulletin and caught up with her at a diner.

A diner which has just introduced fresh baked buns!!   Fancy.   Presumably they have hitherto been serving old stale ones.  

Valentine's Day is certainly a big deal here, we just get a little card - if we're lucky.   And on the subject of Valentine's, I bumped into my new friend from the posh retirement home in the checkout line.   She was buying gifts for the single men there, a pair of socks each and confectionary.   It wasn't until I got outside I wondered about the single women.

Saturday 8th February

Weather still very cold, I am still very lethargic - or at least I am busy crocheting but not doing much else.   Just went out and picked up two or three things I needed, then picked up a takeout for supper.

Do we ever have icicles like this in England?   I don't ever remember seeing anything like them.

The morning doesn't look too promising, and I have to be out picking up donuts at 7.20.

In the news...........          It has just been announced, but last April there was a terrorist attack on an electrical substation in Silicon Valley, California.  Someone slipped into an underground vault and cut telephone cables.   Within half an hour snipers opened fire on the substation and were shooting for 19 minutes, they knocked out 17 giant transformers, but just a minute before a police car arrived the gunmen disappeared into the night.   It took utility workers 27 days to carry out repairs to restore the substation.

 

Now there is widespread concern that terrorists could bring down the power grid and it will be the end of civilisation as we know it, I don't scare easily but I am feeling a little uneasy.

    

I am sure you have heard all about the debacle at the Olympic Games.  Hotels not finished etc. But get this.   A Russian official was complaining because they had fitted surveillance cameras in the shower  and the occupant of a room turned on the shower and left it running all day.   

 

And did you know that the runner up to Sochi to host the Games was Salzburg.    SALZBURG!!!   Did the Olympic Committee take leave of their senses??   Who would think that Sochi would be a better place than Salzburg.

While I was doing this I heard a crash outside, I think the icicles have just dropped off the roof.  One wouldn't want to be underneath them.

6th February - Accession of Elizabeth II

It is said, isn't it, that we always remember where we were at the pivotal moments of history, and I remember being in my classroom at Gregg School when the headmaster, Mr Lewis (I'm surprised I still remember his name) came round to tell us George VI had died.   Needless to say our jaws hit the floor, I don't think we had  been told he was ill. 

George VI was a popular monarch and I also remember the following days of overwhelming national sadness at his death.

The Queen has another year and 126 days before she catches up with Queen Victoria's record of the longest reign.  I hadn't realised she has already overtaken George III, who came to the throne at 14 and reigned 59 years and 96 days.

Well, we got the 30% chance of snow last night, and this is what I woke up to this morning -

the snow had almost gone last night, and what there was was very crunchy underfoot, and there was nothing on the car.

Obviously there was no question of getting out anyway to Kiwanis, but the Senior Centre was closed  - as it does if the weather is bad enough for the schools to close.

So I put the kettle on, filled a hot water bottle, made tea, and settled down with the crocheting to watch the news.   And faithful companion settled down too.

As I am not going anywhere - doing anything - today, I thought I would regale you with said news.

The main lead item is a scandal involving the IRS - the hearings are going on at the moment - and as with all scandals the cover-up tends to be worse than the scandal.    Now, in this country they have a very nifty "Get out of Gaol Free" card.   It's called the 5th Amendment (to the Constitution) and it says -

The Fifth Amendment's right against self-incrimination permits an individual to refuse to disclose information that could be used against him or her in a criminal prosecution. The purpose of this right is to inhibit the government from compelling a confession through force, coercion, or deception

Isn't that handy?   The head culprit just has to sit down, which she did, invoke the 5th Amendment, clam up, and HEY PRESTO, she is off the hook.

Moving on - there is controversy because a fat woman participated in a competition called 'The Biggest Loser' and lost a vast amount of weight - as you see

now people are saying she is "too skinny".    Too Skinny!!!!  that was the idea.  My thought was "there's hope for me".   I believe it was the late Duchess of Windsor who said a woman can't be too thin, or too rich.  A sentiment with which I fervently agree.

Subway is a sandwich chain.  You go in, they pick up a foot long baguette, and you choose whatever you want on it - meat, cheese, salad, veg, there is a tremendous variety.  I quite like it but it is too much for me to eat.   And as you see, chemicals have been found in the bread, chemicals used in yoga mats, and running shoes, to give them elasticity.    Who knew.    I wondered how they came to that conclusion.  Was someone munching away on their sub and thought, hmmn,  hmmn, this tastes like my yoga mat.

The rest of the day I was sorting and filing, and made some cakes which I'm freezing for the bake sale later this month.    All day I've kept looking outside in the hope that the snow has gone.   There is less of it on the car.   I should be able to go out tomorrow, Louise said the main roads are clear, she has been out today to take Cecil to the dentist.

Wednesday 5th February

We didn't get the 70% forecast of snow I thought would come this morning.  I had rung the church yesterday to say I didn't think I would be able to do the desserts for tonight's meal, but actually there was no problem in getting out, and I picked up the flowers from Emmanuel and took them to the hospital.    Other than that I haven't done a lot today. 

Pattisue rang and I think we have given up on "12 years a slave", it is too bitingly cold to go out.   I don't mind as I wasn't terribly keen.   We are both very keen however on seeing "Monuments Men" a WWII movie in which an Allied platoon comprising seven museum directors, curators and art historians enter Germany with the Allied forces to rescue artworks plundered by the Nazis.    Pattisue laughed when I said I was longing to hear the clipped  British accents of the British officers in the film, asked if I was tired of the Oklahoma twang.

In the news....there is a disorder - or maybe it is just a legal defence - called "affluenza".   It affects kids from wealthy parents who have been spoiled rotten and don't know right from wrong.  One of these kids, a 16 year old, got drunk, got behind the wheel of a truck and killed four people, and very seriously injured two others.  He was sentenced to ten years probation.   In most states death from drunken driving carries a sentence of life imprisonment without parole, but this kid was tried in a Juvenile Court.   The parents - quite rightly - are going to lose everything they've got; the victims' relatives are all filing lawsuits against them.   I think the parents should have known what their 16 year old was up to, where he was going, what he doing.

The weather is not about to get any better - I hope I can make it to Kiwanis in the morning.

A Wind Chill Advisory is issued by the National Weather Service when the wind chill is low enough that it is a threat if adequate protection is not taken against hypothermia and frostbite.   Areas prone to colder temperatures often require the wind chill to be lower before issuing an advisory.

Winter Weather Advisory is when snow, freezing rain or sleet presents a hazard but does not constitute a warning.   And that varies from state to state.  A few flakes of snow in Florida would constitute a weather advisory, but in other states it would have to be several feet deep (almost).

As you see, it is pretty chilly right now, and I am feeling cold.   I am going to ring the Energy Company in the morning, tell them to stop monitoring and turning down my thermostat.   Sometimes I think there is just too much technology.

Monday/Tuesday morning

Monday
I wasn't prepared for the bad weather coming in and was anxious about stocking up, particularly on goats milk from Walmart.  It wasn't going to be easy going out today, but it was my only 'window of opportunity' as they say.   It meant grabbing a broom and brushing 6" of snow off my car....

I know I took this on Sunday but it was all still there on Monday morning.   I swept all the snow off, and cleared it a bit behind the car (I should have waited until the afternoon, by then it had melted anyway from some rain) and I set off up the north/south road nearest to me.   The drive was a total nightmare.  The road was so icy I was doing about 10 miles an hour all the way, and even then I felt the wheels slide a couple of times.   I broke a record shopping.  Normally I pile everything into the child's seat in the trolley, but today it spilled over into the trolley itself, that's how much I got.  The bill at the checkout was a record too.

Coming back down the other north/south road was a lot easier, it had cleared quite a bit by then.

Tuesday morning

A severe weather front is moving in.   I took this this morning at 4.58, I've been up with the lark.

 

 

Going round Walmart I couldn't find any gloves and asked an assistant.  She brought me these,

 

of course I wanted to know what those marks were on the fingers.  I was told it was so people could text without taking the gloves off.  Why can't they take them off???????   This is Oklahoma for crying out loud, it's not Antarctica, it's not even Minnesota.

Also going round Walmart I saw this.

It is a wonderful scooter and it totally folds up.  Ever since I've walked with Roy and his grandson on a scooter alongside the Cuckmere it has been my heart's desire to have a scooter.  In Denton I used to fantasise about whizzing along the seafront (I would have put a woolly hat on, and dark glasses) but in this country there isn't anywhere for people to even walk, far less for demented old ladies in woolly hats and dark glasses to ride scooters.

 

I've just seen this on the morning's television.  It is for people who can't remember their passwords.  They swallow it and sensors home in on where their passwords are stored, and unlock them.   I'd liketo know how they get it down.  I can't even swallow a regular Ibuprofen cut in half.   One would think an easier solution would be write down the passwords, but that is very DANGEROUS,    bandits might access them.   Of course they would, if one is stupid enough to leave them lying around where bandits can access them. 





Groundhog Day

In 1866 German immigrants in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania established February 2nd as Groundhog Day.   Old men dressed up in 19th century gear drag a groundhog out of its burrow, and if it sees its shadow - which it did this morning - there is going to be six more weeks of winter.

The legend is based on the European custom of predicting the winter by the weather conditions on Candlemas.    Candlemas is the day on which Mary is believed to have presented Jesus to Simeon in the Temple, following the forty day period of purification of mothers after childbirth.

When I looked outside this morning about 5.30 there was just a thin layer of snow and ice, but by 9.30 it was snowing heavily, so I haven't been out at all.



 

 

 

Yesterday, Saturday, which feels like a week ago, I went round the nursing home with Phyllis.  I didn't realise until I got there that this was an annual event under the auspices of the AARP, of which she is President and I am an occasional member.   She asked me to bring 26 bananas - they are only 50 cents a lb at the moment so that was no big deal - she brought a couple of bags of oranges, and a couple of boxes of little gifts collected by the AARP during the year.   We loaded them on to a cart which I pushed while she dispensed the largesse and was very sweet and kind to all the residents.   She knew quite a few of the residents because she visits for the Hospice.

In the evening I had planned to see '12 Years a Slave' with Pattisue, but I had a raging toothache (which has now subsided) so had to call it off.  And looking at the weather for the rest of the week I don't think we are going to make it.

Someone was asking this afternoon how Bubbles is, so I've just taken this picture of her lying beside the drawer which came crashing down yesterday.    It is not just alarm clocks and gloves which are shoddy imports from China, but the furniture is as well.  And I didn't buy it in Walmart.  It comes from a proper furniture shop in Main Street.  My nightstand is just as bad.