February 02, 2019

Of Work And Weather And Wonderduck Too

Even for the way 2019 has been going thus far, the past week deserves special notice.  To start with, it began to snow Sunday afternoon.  And it didn't stop until mid-morning on Monday.  The weather nabobs suggested we got five or more inches... and I'd agree, if you go with the "or more" part.  


Amusingly, Pond Central's parking lot was in horrible condition... there was some evidence that a plowtruck had come through, but may not have had its blade down... but the Duckmobile was almost totally clear of snow.  No question about going to work, probably could have made it... or maybe not.  Weather nabobs were later saying that Duckford's squadron of snow removal equipment had been badly surprised by the intensity of the snowfall and even major roads had yet to be attended to.  Soon enough, I came to the decision to not risk it and just call in.  Apparently, many people did the same and the office was kinda empty.

Tuesday was chilly, with the forecast calling for record low temps overnight through Thursday.  We'll see.  Got in the Duckmobile, started it up, got my stuff in place (two canes make walking easier, but they're clumsy as hell to put away), and the RPMs slowly died to zero.  Hm.  To be fair, it had been cold-soaking for three days... or maybe it needed oil.  Either way, it started on the second try and kept running.  Sounded a little rough, but when it's cold it always does.  By the time I made it to work, everything seemed fine.  Crossed fingers.  The day at work was... it left something to be desired.  The claims weren't great, but worst of all was my chair.  It was causing me quite a bit of pain... pain that had nothing to do with my leg injury.

See, once it became obvious that I couldn't sleep in my bed, I took up sleepytime residence in a once-comfy wing chair in the living room.  For just a few days short of a month, my days would be spent sitting at work, then coming home and sitting in front of my computer, then sleeping in a chair, then repeat.  I don't know that I've got saddlesores on the back of my legs right where they meet my duckbutt, but there's something back there that'll do until the real thing comes along.  Indeed, that's part of the reason I haven't been blogging much... it's hard to sit at my desk without those hurtin' bad.  The good news is now that I've returned to sleeping lying down, they're starting to not hurt as much.  Anyway....

...leaving work on Tuesday night was something of a shock.  Yes, I know it's going to be cold soon, but I didn't expect there to have been so fast a change in temps. When I got to work, it was rather comfortable.  Leaving work?  Cold, approaching zero in a hurry.  In a surprise manuever however, The Powers That Be at work acknowledged that it was going to be stupidcold the next couple of days, and gave us permission to work from home.  Well!  Cool.  It'll make the morning commute faster, that's for sure.

Wednesday morning my internet connection was dead.  On the plus side, it wasn't just me but a large portion of southeast Duckford, as part of the fiber optic backbone had just up and died, probably from hypothermia.  While it would come back, it wouldn't be until 8pm or so.  So now, instead of working from home, I had to take PTO for the second time that week... and, as it turned out, I didn't have enough to cover both days.  I'm literally not getting paid for one of them.  Wednesday was cold, with a high of -13F.  Thursday was worse.  The low for Thursday was -37F, the coldest Duckford had ever been, period.  Go outside?  Me?  Man, screw that noise.  I had an internet hookup, I could do work!

Friday morning, it turned out that, indeed, it was still assfugly cold (-9F at 9am).  I hobbled my way to the car, got in, cranked it up, and... coughsputtersputter.  Tried again... putting it in gear helped not at all.  Right.  Oil it was, then.  I started her up one more time, hit the gas in reverse, and popped out of my snow-covered spot.  At which point, she died.  Okay, at least I can access the front of the car now.  I then proceeded to put a quart of oil (all I had) into the car... with bare hands... when it was nine degrees below zero.  By the time I had everything buttoned back up, I couldn't feel my fingers... I later found out that the wind chill was -20 at the time.  Started her up one more time, and... presto!  Quieter running, no stalling, problem "solved", at least for the time being.  And it's supposed to be warmer on Monday, so I can drop some more oil in without my hands turning black.

By the way... unexpected problem has cropped up with my canes: they're metal.  Even just driving to work gets them nearly too cold to touch.  Which, considering their job and everything, is unfortunate.

So, my conclusion regarding this week?  

Posted by: Wonderduck at 05:20 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 878 words, total size 5 kb.

1 I think it's fair to say that it sounds like an epically bad week.  On the other hand, it sounds like it was hugely better than the last month or so.  I think I can speak for all of the loyal pond scum when I hope you have some actual good weeks coming.

Posted by: David at February 02, 2019 11:04 PM (JMkaQ)

2 Metal canes in sub-zero temps! Gaaaah.

Posted by: GreyDuck at February 04, 2019 08:32 AM (rKFiU)

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