Bill Roper's Journal

Happily, the big snow storm went south of us. This disappointed Ruby the Dog, but not me, as I was the one who would have ended up shoveling this mess.

Gretchen and I ran out to Charcoal Delights for lunch today ahead of the not-a-snow-storm up here. As I pulled into the parking lot, I looked at the sign on the door with dismay. Not because they were closed, but because they had posted new hours and were going to be closed on Sunday in the future.

This was a bit of a shock, because we had gone to Charcoal Delights for lunch on Sunday at least two or three or more Sundays every month since we moved to Des Plaines. But they, like many other businesses, are having staffing problems and when that happens, Sunday seems to be what gives.

So we're going to have to find a new place for lunch on Sunday.

Drat!

Gretchen was overdue for fasting blood work due to a previous snafu. After being reminded by our doctor yesterday that this really needed to happen, she scheduled a 10 AM appointment at a nearby Quest lab to get the fasting blood work done.

Because of the really crummy weather, I volunteered to drive and so we piled into my car (which was happily not covered in snow, because the snow had pretty much stopped by the time I got home from shopping last night) and which happily started in the minus 6 degree weather (although the battery asked what the heck I thought I was doing) and headed off for the lab.

As we approached the lab, I noticed that a traffic signal was out and proceeded cautiously through it. (No cross traffic, which was good.) We pulled into the parking lot, Gretchen went to the door...

And discovered that they were closed, because the power was out. Which explains the failed traffic signal.

So we went out for breakfast, since fasting blood work would not be happening.

At 11:03 this morning, Gretchen got a robocall letting her know that her 10 AM appointment had been canceled.

We'll try this again.

After Christmas.

We -- ok, I -- ended up making a Culver's run this evening to pick up food for the kids. Since my car was out on the driveway and covered in snow/sleet/whatever in a thin crust, I suggested that I wanted to take Gretchen's new van on this mission. She was fine with this, as long as it meant that she didn't have to go.

This gave me an opportunity to drive the van in functional hybrid mode for the first time, since it had been completely discharged on the trip home. It was interesting, but not really any different from having the gasoline engine running full time, which is mostly what I expected. But it was fun watching the little lights on the dash count down...

It's becoming apparent that I'm going to want to get a 240V charger once things sort out. Even sitting overnight won't put a full charge on the van unless it is an extremely long overnight. And what I see is that our overnights are not that long. :)

In other technology news, some time ago I bought a register fan for K's room with the intent of installing it there to improve the air circulation so that the room isn't freezing in winter. Then I couldn't get her to do it. But the weather recently turned cold and the fan was installed by K while I wasn't paying attention. I am told that the room is warmer now, so those of you who wanted to know if this would help can now know that the answer is "Yes".

This is probably a good thing, because the first gas bill of the almost-winter season arrived today and it was annoyingly high. Since it hasn't been that cold yet, I'm thinking that we are going to need to make sure that the doors stay closed, no matter what Ruby the Dog might prefer.

I went to the Cubs last night game of the season tonight with a friend from work. After seeing the Cubs score four in the fifth to take a 4-1 lead over the Phillies, I decided that I was just too cold to hang around. My friend concurred, so we headed home.

Arriving home, I got to see the Cubs complete their 4-2 victory on TV, which was much warmer than being there.

Still not warm *enough* though, as Gretchen asked me to go turn on the furnace, which I have now done.

We slept with the windows open and the fan on last night, but it was rather heavy out and I certainly could have slept better. Tonight seems to be cooler, so we'll see how things go.

If things don't go better soon, I'll end up turning the A/C back on just to try to drop the humidity.

Today is a new day, as they say. Happily, the weather has cooled off to the point where we could turn off the A/C and open up all of the windows, which has helped clear almost all of the remaining skunk smell out of the house. Ruby is no longer a mobile source of skunk scent, which makes *everyone* much happier.

With the temperature right around 100 degrees here the last two days, I am extremely thankful for our working air-conditioning unit. Otherwise, I would be hiding in the basement to survive.

I made it back from Marcon. If I counted correctly, the drive home took 6.25 hours, aided by the fact that I had a nice dinner with Trace before heading out, so I didn't need to stop for food. It was a fun con and I got to see and chat with a lot of folks I hadn't seen in a while.

While I was gone, we had a shift in the weather. We went from too darned cold, to opening the door for Ruby today, to turning on the air conditioning tonight in anticipation of a high in the nineties tomorrow.

*sheesh*

It is remarkably cold for this point in May. Tomorrow, it is supposed to rain, although it is also supposed to *stop* before I am planning to head out for the Cubs vs. Sox game.

Timing. Timing is everything.

The happy news was that the major body of this snowstorm passed to the south of us, so we only got around three to five inches here instead of triple that. The snow blower made short work of it this afternoon when Gretchen went to pick up the kids from school.

Julie would like to learn how to use the snow blower and I would like to encourage this. The timing just wasn't good today. Maybe tomorrow...