I tried very hard to ignore the news websites and TV yesterday because the weather hysteria really annoys me. All the news outlets around here were losing their minds over nothing. Yes, there was a blizzard moving up the east coast. Yes, conditions in North Carolina are treacherous. A friend of mine who live in Aiken SC [on the Georgia/SC border] said they have snow there.
However here we were dealing with.... a RAIN EVENT. It just rained all day.
Even this morning, after the big "snow" I watched a poor reporter up in the very north of the state, Dahlonega, where there was merely a dusting of snow and some ice patches. Poor guy looked like he was freezing, and there was nothing worth reporting.
My big activity yesterday wasn't getting ready for a blizzard or even a real "snow event." Nope. It was dealing with the mailbox.
A few years ago my daughter knocked over our mailbox. I set it back up but it has been wobbly ever since then and spending money on a new post and box right now, when money is tight, seemed stupid. However, yesterday around noon I walked Lola outside for a quick weewee and the poor old mailbox was totally on the ground. Not leaning. On the ground. I put Lola back in the house and stepped gingerly [avoiding the puddles] up to the mailbox. The ground around it was soupy mud. No wonder. I walked over to it and tried to prop it back up. It wouldn't stay propped. So I walked back up and got a heavy hanging basket off the front patio, and walked back out there and used the weight of it to shore up the mailbox. I figured that was done. Mailbox fixed.
A bit later I again walked Lola outside, and the mailbox was leaning over the other way, dangerously close to falling over. I put Lola back inside and went out and got ANOTHER heavy pot and put it on the other side of the mailbox.
Now, Lola HATES being in the house and me being in the front yard, no matter what the reason. She barked like a maniac the whole time I was out there.
I then researched online and resolved to get a new mailbox, and set it in concrete. There are videos on YouTube about how to set up such a mailbox.
I have had a rough week, dealing with a stomach virus of some kind, but yesterday I felt a good bit better, thank goodness. For dinner I had some pasta and spinach. I ate a normal portion. Then I felt yucko again, but not as bad as I had been feeling. Note to self: tiny portions until 100%.
Right now there are big fat snowflakes dancing around outside in the stiff winds. High today will be 36-38 so no accumulation. Michael has to go to work. He looked at the snow with great disgust. "In Kazakhstan, when it snows it MEANS SOMETHING. Here, it melts on the ground." Yup. That's right.
Below, my yard this morning at 8:30:
note the only snow is around the base of that tree -
the back yard - note the almost non-existent snow...
Michael went out to a friend's house last night, but at my urging he was home early, before 10 p.m. That meant I didn't have to worry about him driving around on slick roads. When he got home we started watching Avengers Age of Ultron. Wow, what a confusing movie. We missed the first 15 minutes and that was a huge mistake. I have NO IDEA what was happening or why. I thought the first Avengers was a bit hard to follow, but this new one?!? HUH??
Thank goodness I didn't go see this Ultron movie in the theater. I would have been asleep through most of it..
Dear people who write these movies: try writing an actual STORY, instead of just sticking in a few exchanges of flippant or confusing dialogue between explosions...