Wow. They Actually Got it Right.

The forecasters, that is.

It started barely sleeting last night about 9:30 and I went to bed shortly after that.  When we got up this morning, everything was white & fluffy.  And cold!

Last night's sleet (which I was hoping was just rain) was followed by more sleet and then snow on top of that.  And a little more sleet/freezing rain/ice after that.  We watched the news coverage and they were reporting bad road conditions.  When they started showing the small town we live in and interviewing a police officer who said to stay off the roads if you can, I decided to take that suggestion and called in.  I'm blaming Younger Boss because this only seems to happen when he goes on vacation!  If he goes away during the Spring, we get Spring Storms.  If he goes away in the summer, we generally get what we called gully washers in S. TEXAS.  (Lots and lots and lots of rain.)  Anyway, Otter was supposed to be in at 8:00 and she said her boss called her and he was going to call the rest of the scheduled employees to ask them to come in if they could.  She had never actually driven in/on this stuff before, so she called me and we gave her some suggestions about what to do and what not to do do.  She lives very close to the police department and that is one of the areas that gets plowed first, and she also lives close to one of the major intersections in our area which is also one of the earlier spots that get plowed.  But the news reporter was actually standing at that particular intersection and that's the area the cop was pointing out as bad!

Otter decided to try and go in, she texted me after she got there - took about 40 minutes instead of the normal 5 or so.  She said it "Was.Not.Fun" but she got there safely.  She called me after she got to work.  Since some of the areas had been scraped already, some of the road was ok but some of it was still icy because they mostly just got the snow cover off - it takes several passes sometimes before they get the ice layer removed.  But she lives here and she needs to know how to deal with it.

We are out "on the edge of nowhere" and the plows very seldom actually get to us.  The neighborhood still looks pretty bad, and I'm not going to even attempt to get out.  There was not much going on at work, Younger Boss is gone this week and the Teenager had already announced that he was not going to come in at least today and probably not tomorrow due to the weather.  Besides, when the police tell me to stay off the road I figure that they are saying that for a reason and I'd better listen!

The fireplace has been going ever since we got up and it will probably be burning all day.  The dogs have been out once, but it took a little convincing to get them to actually go out the door!  They came back in pretty fast, too.  Then they went back to sleep, Maggie was in front of the fireplace on her blankets and didn't move for at least an hour but I could tell she was still breathing at least!  She's now on top of the afghan I was using.  Frasier was where she is now for a long time, but now he's moved to a spot in front of the coffee table and much closer to the fireplace.  Goofs!  But smart goofs.

I brought my birdfeeders in last night so they wouldn't be iced over this morning.  I went to fill them up this morning and discovered that I only had enough seed for one feeder and it's not quite full.  The bag I thought I saw in front of my workbench turned out to be potting soil.  I put out a suet feeder along with the one feeder.  IF we are able to get out later (which I don't think is even going to be attempted), I'll get more.  Most likely, I'll get it tomorrow.  If anybody has any left, it goes fast once the flakes start falling.

Today won't be above freezing and tonight will be very cold.  The streets may thaw out a bit with traffic today, but tomorrow morning may be even slicker.  But the temperature tomorrow should be in the low 40's so it might be better during the day.  Otter has to go in at 8:00 in the morning, she works until 1:00 today and also tomorrow.  She'll play it by ear in the morning like she did today, but she will probably go in.

Tonight's dinner plan is chili.  However...

It's about 9:30 a.m. now and they are still telling people to stay off the roads.  The current temperature is 21 degrees but our windchill is somewhere around 8!  It will feel like mid- to upper-teens this afternoon.