Cat Toothpaste, Closet Teaser

Sometime in the past (okay, here), I mentioned that I was looking at cat toothpaste on Amazon and was mightily amused that there was maple-flavored toothpaste, because seriously, for a cat? Why would they find that appealing? The one I bought, I believe, said in the description that it was malt flavor, but the package didn't say anything about flavor, and it was cheap enough that I was willing to try it. It doesn't even say it's for cats, just pets.

He loves it, and would lick it off my fingers. Not so fond of the brush on his teeth, though, unsurprisingly. At his vet visit in January, the tech suggested that if he didn't like the brush, which is supposed to be better at actually getting it on his teeth and not just in his mouth generally, I could try getting some dental treats and smearing some toothpaste on those, so he would be getting tooth involvement. I tried it, and he loves it (whew!), so just about every night he gets called for his treats, and gobbles them down.

As we're getting low in the tube, I went to Amazon to order more, and now, apparently, instead of being phantom "malt" flavor, it is phantom "peanut" flavor. Seriously. It says, "Natural peanut-flavored toothpaste encourages your pet's acceptance" as if that makes any sense at all. Have you even known a cat that eats peanuts? I'll order it anyway, and as long as he can't tell the difference, we'll be fine. (I am so tempted to check off the "it's a gift" box, I can't even tell you.)

I've been busy today, enough that my hands hurt, so I will leave you with before and after photos, and perhaps details will come tomorrow.

Kitchen closet before:

And the after, so far.

I'm still working on it, but you can see there's been improvement, eh?

Mostly About Knitting, and a little science-nerd humor

It snowed again today. Not "much," if that has any meaning anymore. Someone in the office said that Boston now has over 100 inches this winter, and crowed, "Just 8 more to go for the record!" Like that's a good thing.

I heard someone on the radio this morning say something similar, that if we go through all this and don't set a new record, what's the point, which, I don't know, that doesn't make sense to me. Why does it matter if it ends up being the snowiest winter on record, or the second snowiest? Either way, it's a damned lot of snow.

Let's talk about something else. Pictures will have to wait for daylight (although, the daylight is getting longer! Soon I will be able to take a decent picture after work!), but the current purse sock, which replaced the "heel needs decision, so not a good purse candidate" sock knitting, is moving along swimmingly, close to time for the heel flap. I really missed having purse knitting, the week or so that it took me to realize that the sock in my purse was not right. And in readiness for finishing the bike sock, I selected the next yarn (more Socks That Rock; a few pair have worn out recently, I need more workhorses in the sock drawer). Moving right along! Controlling what I can control!

In non-sock knitting, I also very much enjoyed going to the alternate knitting group last night. It was good to be out of the house, even if we spent a fair bit of time grousing about the weather--somehow that's different than grousing about it to myself, or even here. As an aside, I read an interesting quote recently (the Garner's Usage Tip that I get emailed from Oxford University Press has a quotation of the day):

"Link what you say to the cheerful things of life, and leave out the doleful telling of your ills. If you write too often about your trials and troubles you will give your reader the notion that you enjoy them, or at least that you enjoy them for the pleasure they give you to tell about them." Royal Bank of Canada, The Communication of Ideas 76 (rev. ed. 1972).

Agree, disagree? Thoughts? I have to point out that this was written before blogs, which you might say have a primary purpose of writing about trials and troubles! But does it seem that I enjoy grousing about them? I don't think I do ... but would I notice? I get satisfaction from presenting them well, kind of...

Anyway, knitting! I brought the sweater with me last night, and had a good conversation with fellow knitters about projects in process and startitis. The sweater is very good social knitting, the blanket is good at-home knitting (due to its size), and there's always the purse sock. I need to not be starting more things! I have plenty in progress already, as it is.

Speaking of the blanket, I want to get a bin or tote to put by the couch for it, since it is rapidly outgrowing the tote bag it's in; I'm thinking that when I clean out the kitchen closet, a project I have earmarked for Saturday, I can de-stuff-ify enough to clear one for this use.

*****
In closing, I don't know if anyone here has anything to do with medical or scientific stuff (to use the technical term), but if you ever deal with P values, you should find this as amusing as we did at work.

Take my word for it, it's funny!

Been Knitting

I got in late from the chiropractor and the library and knitting tonight, which was all pretty good, and I gobbled some dinner and am going to get ready for bed now.

I'm also giving myself the night off from the bike, partly because it's late and I need the sleep, and partly because the bike sock just needs the toe grafted, which means I need to pick the next yarn and I'm not getting that ready tonight. (This is something that happens when the knitting is what motivates you to ride the bike: it can keep you off, too.)

Tomorrow. Tomorrow.

Can I Borrow a Flamethrower?

I've never been a strong believer in the idea that you are given only the amount of troubles in life that you can handle; it sounds nice, but not realistic to me. And lately, well, I was already buckling under the weight of the last month (as you may have noticed), with all the snow on top of everyone else (life, basically); seriously, we went from 5 inches of snow to second-snowiest winter on record in a month, and it's not done yet! Why, we might get 3-5 inches tonight. Or more. Or less. They don't know.

And then the car battery thing.

And then the tire.

And there's a work thing that may be fine or may not...

And then this morning? Clear evidence that a mouse was in my kitchen. Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

To backtrack, we condo owners got an email from the property manager back in October, saying that someone's tenants had reported a mouse problem, and was anyone else seeing them? Which I was very glad to say I had not. But a few weeks ago, I heard a noise that seemed odd, and then once in a while I would walk into the kitchen and find a cat staring at the fridge, or the cabinet, which they've never done before. So I was watchful.

This morning, as I first walked into the kitchen, I thought I heard a slight rustling, but I was literally just out of bed, meaning about 7% awake, and I fed the cats and turned on the coffee maker and forgot all about it. But when I went into the kitchen later I remembered, and I looked at the loaf of bread on the counter, and there was a hole in the side of the bag, and a small cave tunneled into the side*. Yuck yuck yuck!
*On a side note, it is a damned good thing that the vermin targeted the bread before, say, the chocolate. Granted, that was on the kitchen table, farther away, but still. I whipped that stuff into a covered glass dish ASAP this morning.

I guess a good blogger would have taken a picture of it, but I just put it in the garbage (which I then took out and it was picked up today), so sorry about that lapse. I turned the computer on and fired off a mayday email to the manager and owners. The property manager says she's getting a quote from the exterminator tomorrow. I hope so! Yuck. I am trying so hard not to freak about it, but it is creeping me out majorly. Please feel free to not share any gross-out stories.

Best-Laid Plans, but NBD

I was planning to go to stitch and bitch tonight, and it wasn't the car battery that stopped me, but it was the car. The car started this morning (yay!), but I noticed that one of the tires looked low on air, and when I left work tonight, it was low enough that I drove to the dealership instead of my planned destination. They confirmed that it was too low, but the guy had to take it apart and search before he found a very small leak between the tire and the something (it's all greek to me). Hopefully, his fix will hold, of course I'll be keeping an eye on that, but for tonight it made me too late to go knit, so I came home and scrounged some dinner here instead.

And cracked up over this video, on Puck Daddy, of the Penn State men's hockey team winning a dance competition.



Love it! That's a lot of choreography, and the kick line, and especially the part at 0:55 where they worked in a hockey stick. Fun.

What a Wacky Day

I spent much of yesterday with friends, and I didn't even have to drive, so despite all the snow, it was a pretty relaxing day. We saw Kingsmen: The Secret Service, and it was very good, though surprisingly violent (I hadn't realized that it was based on a comic book, but most of the violence was awfully realistic, and I spent most of certain scenes with my eyes squinted half shut, waiting until it got past that kind of thing). I recommend it all the same, but I want to express the caveat.

And then today happened.

Recently I joined a professional organization, and the local chapter was having a brunch meeting today, which while I wasn't quite excited for, I was interested in. Plus, brunch! So I put on grown-up clothes and went out and ... the car wouldn't start. I mean, it was utterly dead, the remote wouldn't click and when I put the key in and turned it, zilch. Hmm.

When I got the Kia, it came with roadside assistance, so I called them. Then I went inside and got into jeans and snowboots, and texted the colleague I had been expecting to see there that, nope, I won't be there. A bit later, while waiting for the guy to arrive, I decided I should e-mail the organizer to express my regrets that I hadn't been able to make it, and looked forward to coming to another event.

The guy came, hooked up the battery charger thing, and ... nothing. 100% dead. He said that I could call and get them to arrange a tow (he wasn't in a tow truck), or did I know anyone who could put in a battery for me? Or, he mentioned almost diffidently, he had a business in the next town over, not related to the roadside assistance thing, but he could sell me a battery and install it. I hesitated, not sure what to do, and he said well, if I decided I wanted to, I could call him. I said fine, and he left.

I went back in to ponder (and rail at the universe: another damned thing gone wrong, and another winter-caused problem yet, argh). I looked at the car warranty paperwork, and wasn't sure if the battery would be covered or not. I called the dealership, but all they said was call Monday when Service is open. I tried emailing the sales guy, in case he was working (no reply).

And meanwhile, I got a very apologetic email from the organizer, letting me know that somehow as a new member I hadn't been added to the distribution list, so I hadn't gotten the notice that the brunch was in fact postponed. Ironic, eh? I had been told that it was a possibility, with the storm coming in Saturday, but when I didn't get the notice I figured well, Saturday's/Sunday's snow wasn't that bad ... ah well. If I had arrived and found no brunch, I would have been annoyed, but as it is, it meant I found out about the battery today instead of in the morning, so, whatever.

After pondering my options, I decided to call AAA and just have them replace the battery. I placed the request, and in maybe an hour the tow truck pulled up. He hooked up his machine to the car, and ... it started. Wait, what? Considerably surprised, I mentioned that the other guy's hadn't, and he said maybe that guy's starter-thing was dying itself. Who knows? He said I might still need a new battery, but I should go drive 20-25 minutes to charge it up, come home, turn it off and try it at once to see if it would start again. Then, try it in the morning  and see what happens then.

So I went on a drive to nowhere and back (with a swing through the drive-through at Starbucks; hey, it was a balmy above-freezing and kind of sunny afternoon, enjoy it before it freezes solid again tomorrow), and came home. Engine off. Engine ... on! So hopefully it will start again in the morning; if it does, I'll still go in to Kia sometime and have them test it, and if it doesn't, I'll get a jump-start or a tow and go in then.

But, god, I didn't need One More Thing, you know?

The rest of the day did get better. My laundry is almost done, I ran the dishwasher, trimmed my nails (way overdue) and the cats', and craziest of all, the Bruins, well, they, um, won. They beat Chicago, Chicago! 6-2. Nuts. I mean, they'd lost their last six games, including to some low-down teams like Edmonton, and lost star player David Krejci to some unnamed injury, and then they beat Chicago quite handily, and don't implode even for one period. Six different goal scorers! Nuts, but much more entertaining to watch than they have been lately.

And now this strange weekend is winding down. It's been kind of stressful at points; I won't be sorry to get to bed.

Be It Ever So Friday

There's no place like Friday night.

The Bruins game starts shortly, and I have decided to give it a chance, but have given myself preapproval to stop watching if it is too painful. (Stanley Cup of Chowder wrote on Facebook, "How will the Bruins disappoint us tonight? We'll find out in a few hours" and that about sums it up.) My tolerance for shit from them is low, of course, but not so low as to not give it a try.

With knitting in hand.

And chocolate.

And the remote in reach. NBCSN is showing curling, and it isn't even the Olympics! (I am not a big fan of curling, and have mocked it for being televised endlessly during the Olympics, as opposed to other events that are over in seconds. But I might turn it on for a moment, just to enjoy the novelty.)

Happy Friday night to you, however you spend it.

Still In A Funk

Yes, the self-pity around here is as high as the snowbanks, not coincidentally, and when I went out for lunch (free lunch at Bertucci's, yay; awkward conversation with a 17-year-old from France, here to work on his English, um, awkward) and it was snowing, well. I tried to stop repeating, "But the sun was out at 9..." and generally pull myself together, so he wouldn't go back with stories about the crazy lady. (Mind you, he said the snow here is like the Alps, so there is that.) It subsided by the time we left the restaurant, and was kind of trying to be sunny ... but later it was briefly white-out, and I had to clear my car off again when I left work. Sigh. (It must have been during the white-out that one of my friends said on Facebook, "Ummm, is snowmageddon happening again???" and one of the comments was "Has it ever stopped"?)

Meanwhile:

• My mouth is still tender around the temporary crown; my jaw hurts, and I'm tired of selecting foods based on chewing.
• I got a shot today, so my rear hurts, too. There is no position in which I can forget it.
• The Bruins continue to decline. They lost last night to Edmonton. Edmonton! Whose record before the game was 16-32-10! Ow, ow, ow. I guess I should be glad I didn't watch that. (It started at 10; I was asleep long before then.)
• My face is breaking out on a near-continuous basis, and my weight has gone up enough, despite the biking*, that most of my clothing is uncomfortable.

*Believe me, I have noticed how often I mention chocolate and ice cream lately. I know it's related. But the snow, my god, the snow.

It isn't really that everything is so bad, not truly, it just seems so right now, since the everlasting never-ending snow has trimmed my fuse down to microscopic levels. Every little thing that happens goes straight to end-of-the-world, emotionally speaking.

Last night, however, I faced one of the problems I've been having, one I can actually control, and took the current purse sock out of rotation. As I mentioned, I have to work out the heel, and while I ripped it back and I have a plan, right now it isn't in a good place to be carried around for when-I-have-a-minute knitting. I wound a skein of Socks That Rock last night, and this morning I cast on while I waited for the doctor's office to get its act together (they had opened the office and found a puddle in one of the exam rooms; if you have never heard of an ice dam, be grateful). I worked on it during a meeting this afternoon, and it helped my mood a little; helped me contain it, anyway. I think I will sit with it for a little while, now, and wait for the latest codeine to kick in.

Snowing

This morning it wasn't snowing, it was actually sunny, and while cold it was not bitter and miserable, and it was such a nice change. Tonight it's snowing, and it may snow some more tomorrow, and then more this weekend, and if I could twitch my nose and be moved to Florida, I would do it this minute.

If I write any more, it will be to enumerate my woes. You all know them by now. I'm going to hug a cat.

Not Cohesive Enough to Title

I feel betrayed by a spam email.

Today I saw this gem, caught by the Google spam filter.

And yet, today does not seem to have been a particularly lucky day. Maybe it will be tomorrow?

Not that today was a bad day. Sure, my mouth is tender from the dental work (codeine helps), and the satisfaction of having work to do again is offset by multiple "what does she mean there?" moments, but hey, super-fast chocolate delivery! Seriously, I placed the order with Lake Champlain yesterday at 2, and the box was on my door when I got home today. Wow! Very impressive.

And, yeah, it did snow today, but it didn't accumulate, much.

Nor is it supposed to accumulate much when it snows tomorrow.

The weekend's snow, they're not saying yet.

Because of course it's supposed to snow this weekend. Or it might be a mix of rain and snow, because the only thing better than more snow would be heavy, wet snow.

Wait, where was I going with this? Was it supposed to end well? Hmmm. I lost the thread.

Perhaps I should have followed last night's Bruins-watching strategy, and quit while I was ahead. Since they're out west, the game started at 9. I watched the first period, and went to bed happy with a 2-0 lead. Don't get me wrong, I expected them to lose, which they did, but at least I didn't miss sleep to watch it. I know I've said before that the year they won the Cup, they just found different ways to win, in all situations; this year, they find different ways to lose. It is ... not as much fun.

Right, here's something from Facebook that made me laugh yesterday. Possibly because I'm losing it, but you be the judge, if you're a Harry Potter fan.

Even better, someone commented, "You're a muffin, Harry." I can't explain why, but that just made me giggle for the longest time.

Expanding on Facebook

This afternoon, I put this on Facebook:

My day so far:
*finish shoveling out car
*listen to snow removal equipment for two hours
*get police officer to stop dump truck parade long enough to get out of driveway
*nerve-wracking drive on snow-clogged streets
*90 minutes in the chair at the dentist, getting a crown
*nerve-wracking drive home, dodging trucks to get back into driveway
*listening to continued snow removal noises
Great day, right? And half my face is still numb, so I have that wearing off to look forward to. Fortunately, Lake Champlain Chocolates put their valentine's candy on sale today. My smile may be lopsided, but I'm smiling!

Not the best day overall, no. I am grateful to have the snow removal being done in my neighborhood, absolutely, we needed it so much, and I am also grateful they didn't work on it at night, the way they did a few years back. Especially since they got here 8 hours ago! But it is a lot of noise and vibration and disruption, from which my only break has been a few hours of torture. So excited to go to knitting tonight! Apart from wanting to get away from this, the recent and never-ending storms have had something especially against Mondays, and we've missed the last three weeks. I want to show them the blanket before it is too big to bring (it almost is now).

Now, I know you live for the snow pictures, so in case you're wondering what the snow removal looks like, it goes like this. There's one guy (in a machine I would probably know the name of, if I spent any time with little kids) pushing snow down the street to the intersection.

The guys there scoop up the snow and throw it into the dump trucks, which take it away, somewhere.

It is neither a quick nor a quiet process. But it does work. As you can see when you compare this morning's pile-next-to-the-car:

To this afternoon's:

I hope that pile falls away from my car, when it falls. Which will not be soon, given the current freeze we're in. Still, it will be so nice to be able to pass cars, instead of pulling into driveways to avoid them.

Progressions

A few facts:

• My hands hurt so much.
• Mercifully, the head is better.
• The snow stopped mid-day, after landing us with another 15 inches of snow, making this apparently now the third-snowiest winter on record. So far.
• The wind has remained tremendous. The wind chills tonight are going to get to around -25, and will barely get above 0 tomorrow.
• Then on Tuesday, guess what? Snow.
• No, really. Snow on Tuesday.
• And my hands hurt so, so much right now.

Let's look at a few progressions, shall we? Snow first. At just after 8 this morning.

At 12:30, after I took a short pass at the digging out. We hadn't been plowed out yet, and the wind was bitter; I was back inside in under 10 minutes.

At 3, after the plow came by.

Then at 4:30, before I went out again.

And at 5:30, aka "I am done for the day, ow."

My car is not the only snow progression. The building across the street went from "snow almost to the window":

To "snow over the windowsill":

What's that, you say? You'd like something more cheerful? Well, so would I. Here are the tulips at 8:20.

To 12:15.

To 4:30.

Aren't they lovely? I'm also smiling at the blanket, which I laid out earlier when I finished the first pattern repeat. It measures roughly 68 inches across, and the repeat itself is 9 inches and took almost 3 balls of yarn. I have plenty to go, but isn't it pretty?

The cables really stand out.

I'm really pleased with it. And considering the things in life that are combining to be annoying at me, having things to smile about is very good.

Right, Belmont?

"I don't see any snow."

Looking for the Good

Instead of thinking about the snow, or about my still-hurting head, I want to focus on better things today. To start, I'll show you this:

We got these little notebooks at a work thing recently, each with a different saying, and given my ability to procrastinate and put off decisions, for mine to say DON'T WAIT seemed very apt. I decided to use it in combination with a sometime habit I'm trying to revive, of thinking at night of three good things that happened that day. In the past, I haven't written them down, but perhaps doing so will help me feel the weight of the good things even more, and remember them longer.

Once I decided that, I waited no more.

They don't have to be big things, just specific, positive things. Like a book I've been waiting for!

I'm hoping one of my things to list today will be that the headache went away, but even if it doesn't I have the other two. One is kind of mundane, but given the headache, I'm proud of myself for getting all my errands done this morning. It wasn't fun, but it was still satisfying. I even found my very favorite coffee creamer, which I have been unable to locate in the last few weeks! Reward in itself for making the effort.

And the other came to me from Mary Ellen, who brought me a little spring.

Tulips! Given that the hyacinth is fading, they are most welcome. I would have bought myself something today, but I never thought of it. Perfect.

That's hope, right there. Just beginning to bud, so I get to watch the whole thing. Perfect.

One thing that won't go on that list is the recent play of the Bruins, unfortunately. After a vastly improved January, they are doing very poorly in February. I was asleep before last night's game started, but by all reports, I spared myself much pain from watching it. Ugh! Yesterday I watched a clip from when they won the Cup a few years ago, and was amazed by their smooth play, crisp passing, and lack of stupid mistakes. They made it look so easy. Apparently it isn't.

But I'm supposed to be looking for the good. I'm going to plant myself on the couch now, with a comforting and non-demanding movie (yet to be determined), and knit. The blanket is coming nicely. Later, leftover pizza from last night. Look out the window as little as possible. Smile every time I see the tulips. Sounds like a plan.

Made It to Friday, Snow Edition

While I've had a mild headache most of the day, it does serve to remind me that this condition is not as common as it used to be, so hooray for that much. There's that bright side.

Also today? I got a laptop at work. Yay! Just in time to be snowed in again!

Kidding. Monday is a holiday*, and we'll probably be able to dig out by Tuesday. I guess that remains to be seen. I actually have a dentist appointment on Monday, so that is in more doubt, but again, we'll see. The snow is supposed to start, quietly, tomorrow afternoon, so I will be getting out of the house tomorrow morning to do a few errands before it gets bad. Like, blizzard warning bad, is what I mean by that.
*About which I am pleased, but not as excited as I would be had I not spent two of the last three Mondays at home, snowed in.

May I say that I am Quite Sick of scheduling my errands around blizzards? I am, truly. Three weeks of just a day or two between storms is way, way too much. With the head, and the not sleeping all morning, I probably won't watch tonight's Bruins game, since they're in Vancouver and it starts at 10 PM eastern time. Maybe the first period, in my PJs.

Vancouver, by the way, is in Canada, which I think of as generally being colder and snowier than here. I understand that it varies from place to place, but in general, wouldn't you say? Yet the Globe's hockey reporter, traveling with the team, shared this:

The lovely waitress at the sushi restaurant, upon learning I'm from Boston, said, "Oh, that's the place with all the snow!" Yes, yes it is.
— Amalie Benjamin (@AmalieBenjamin) February 13, 2015

But back to trying to find a bright side that doesn't involve snow blindness, I came home tonight to an envelope with my name on it, containing a free book that I'm excited to read! Sometimes one lucks out. I will report back.

Why I Keep Buying Ice Cream

Today's snow was, as hoped, just a dusting; annoying to have to clean off the car, slightly slippery/slipperier to drive on, but not a big deal. This weekend's snow*, on the other hand, may be another foot.
*Of course there is more snow this weekend. I told you it was never ending.

Another. Foot.

Two things from Facebook tonight that I really felt illustrated life in Boston right now. First, for the visual people, who learn better from pictures:

Second, if you are a word person, read this article (which also has some good pictures) regarding the attitude that we should just stop complaining about it. Key quote:

You should probably know that we are way past joking. We are tired and beat down and every single day is a struggle.

I am so fortunate that I don't have to take the T, which is crumbling under the unrelenting snow of the last few weeks. And I am fortunate, like one of the commenters on that story (who also linked to another story I had read that hit a similar point home) wrote regarding herself and her husband, that I can say, "And we are the lucky ones. We have employers who did not expect us to be at work on Monday or Tuesday. We have employers who pay us when they close. We have employers who let us work from home." But knowing I am fortunate doesn't help all that much, facing another foot of snow. Even ice cream isn't helping all that much.

Another foot. Where will we put it?

Guess the Topic

Through yesterday, the forecasters were talking about the snow expected on Thursday, now predicted at a dusting to a few inches, and the as-yet-undetermined amounts on the weekend.

No one was talking about snow today, Wednesday.

Cue ominous music...

I heard the trash truck this morning and looked out full of sympathy because that job must be so much harder with all the snow, and those poor guys ... wait ... it's snowing? Why the hell is it snowing?!?

Yeah. I think if I'd been expecting it, I wouldn't have been quite so poleaxed by the sight, but as it was, well, as one of my friends noted when I complained on Facebook, "you know it's bad when [ccr] drops the f-bomb". The language in my head is often R-rated, but I don't generally let that out on the world. Some days, though...

I went in to work anyway--the commute was only slightly over double the normal time, and enlivened by an ambulance needing to get through at one point, more than a challenge in all this snow--and only regretted it because I couldn't wail and gnash my teeth quite as much as I would have had I been alone at home. There's commiserating and there's okay-shut-up-already. At least it made me glad that I can't see a window from my desk; every time I got up and looked out, my mood dropped again. I bought consolatory ice cream tonight.

Meanwhile, Suburban Correspondent commented, "Honey, down here with HALF that amount of snow, we wouldn't even be THINKING of going to work. They probably wouldn't get the roads cleared until March." First, the roads probably won't be back to normal here before March. Second, let me show you the sort of picture I keep seeing on Facebook, in the last few weeks.

I'm actually lucky not to be feeling pressure from work to go in; I know people who did work Monday, and not "essential personnel" like at hospitals, either. But that's a meme, you say, that's not really what you're seeing around you. Well, you're right. So here's a picture from the Globe:

Or this one, also from the Globe:

Or, hey, mine, when I took when I pulled into my spot tonight and looked at the neighbor's pile.

That's looking over the hood of my car, so you see how high it goes, right? Now, he's the one with the snow blower, so he doesn't have to lift all that manually. But Still. That peak is probably 8 feet tall.

I think I hear that ice cream calling me.

Yup, Still Talking About Snow

Before I get into all the continued downside of the snow, I will say that one good thing has come of it: today I talked to the IT guy in California, who was setting up my new laptop. Laptops for editors, hooray! Funny how the office being closed for 5+ days out of 11 made a difference in their policy. Since I have lost confidence in the snow ever stopping, this means I should be able to do work, when there is work to do, and I am snowbound. As I expect to always be.

Well, I'll go in tomorrow. And hopefully the rest of the week, though I sure hope Thursday's/Friday's snow is at the 3-inch end of the estimate, not the 12-inch end. I really want to go in Friday and get the new laptop, since there is more snow forecast over the weekend. No, I'm not kidding. You see why I have lost hope.

Today, like last Tuesday, I could have gone into the office (that is, it was open) but I chose not to. I shoveled the car out, but lacked confidence in the roads (plus all the usual sore hands/arms/shoulders/back/hips). I mean, here's the car this morning, before I shoveled:

And here it is after:

To the right of the car is the snow bank, but to the right of that is the street, not that you can really tell. I just don't think so. Not even to get my performance appraisal.

When I went out this afternoon (shoveling out some of the trash cans, as we haven't been fully picked up lately), I took pictures from ground level. For instance, the impression the nose of the car left in the snow was very detailed.

And the side of the building is doing its usual freeze-over:

This morning's Globe used a sports analogy for how much snow has come down.

I like that they used multiple sports to make the point, and of course I love that they used Bergeron, though using Chara would have messed up their little line there. I also enjoyed a story on Boston.com today, entitled A Breakup Letter to Snow From the City of Boston (key quote: "Because of you, I may need to borrow equipment from New York City. Do you know how embarrassing that is?"). And back to the Globe, this graphic illustrates why the sudden progression is, shall we say, disconcerting.

So does this, from one of the local network news stations (last night or today, when I saw it on Facebook).

Five and a half inches through January 23rd, 71 inches since then (in Boston, anyway, my little city is probably slightly different). This is why I'm still talking about the snow.

Also seen on Facebook, this illuminating picture from Coveted Yarn, up in Gloucester.

Yes, they have a side door. Fortunately.

But there other things to look at, truly. Like flowers, even in winter.

And cats, keeping me company in their own weird ways.

"Why would you take pictures of the touchy thing*, when you could be doing things for me?"

*The iPad.

"What? I waz sleepin."

Looking at them is preferable to looking out there.