To hear the local news stations tell it, the Dallas/Ft. Worth area is entering a second ice age. I guess they have to do something to stir up some excitement, but it's not really necessary. Just trying to get from Point A to Point B is excitement enough.
I got suckered twice this week. First, on Monday, when we had an "ice storm" that turned out to be significantly less severe than the meteoroligists had been trumpeting for the previous four days. I was at work by 7:20, but the office didn't open until noon. Today, we awoke to "snow" (in fact, a sort of airborne slush that only looks white when it accumulates), and not a warning shot from the weather persons. The sand truck drivers must've been depending on the TV weather, because when I hit the roads at 6am, there wasn't a sign that any of the overpasses had been treated.
Not that I cared. I took to the side streets where the only hazard I had to face was the frozen stuff, not some moron in an Econoline talking on his cell phone instead of concentrating on my brake lights. By 7:30, I had arrived at my office, where I immediately called Turtle to let her know I was still alive. Then I went looking for the usual idiots stalwarts who show up regardless of the crap on the roads.
My boss's boss looked up from his desk. "What are you doing here? The office is closed."
"I could ask you the same thing," I said. "But the fact is that the message I got when I called in to check said the office would be open at 9am."
"You're the third person who's told me that, but the office is closed." He then dialed the main number and let me hear for myself. Obviously, it had been changed since Turtle had checked while I was en route.
So I checked a few emails, drank a second cup of coffee, made a trip to the men's, and turned Dorian north again.
My morning in a picture:
(Hmm. That's interesting. Looks like Blogger's using Picasa for images now. Google truly owns my soul, now.)
I know: it doesn't look like much, but there's enough on the roads that I had to chip the slush dingleberries out of Dorian's wheel wells before tucking him in to the garage.
Maybe I'll go take a nap with the kittens...
5 comments:
And I thought *my* birds were evil. You guys must have pterodactyls up there in Allen...
*SNORK!*
Yes, the local weather folks get a little carried away with their "Winter Blast Warning!" and "Oh my God, it's going to be 30 degrees tomorrow morning!" broadcasts. The folks in Minnesota or North Dakota would get a real laugh out of that if they ever saw it. Kind of like we would if we ever saw one of their July weather broadcasts. "Folks, you need to be careful today and stay indoors if at all possible. The temperature is supposed to top 85 degrees this afternoon. Seek immediate shelter in the shade of a tree or shadow of a moose."
It's all relative.
I'm really hoping for some snow here (in Florida). They'd probably shut work down for a WEEK.
R: You're right about the almost-Canadians laughing at us. Heck, I'd laugh at us (it's the northeast Ohio blood in me) if I weren't so tense and on high alert for whatever moronic stunt the Joe Bobs were going to pull next.
On balance, though, it's as you say: the moose huggers' blood boils when the ambient temperatures top 80.
Tink: if your employers are like mine, you could get a foot of snow and they still wouldn't close the office. Until you had already fought your way in, that is.
Susie: I didn't get out the snow shovel for that. In fact, I was just trying to underscore just how little frozen precip it takes to give Dallas-ites conniptions. However, I should probably mention that you may not have seen "snow" like this before. See, we don't get real snowfalls measurable in inches or feet. At least, not often. What we get is a sort of drizzle that freezes when it hits the ground and forms a nice, glass-like surface. Then we get half an inch of snow. Unless the family car happens to be a Zamboni, it can be pretty treacherous.
And for the record, I don't own a snow shovel.
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