Technically, it’s been a short week for me since I had Mon, Tue, Wed off. That was because one of my stepdaughters was in town and staying with is, so I thought I’d do her the honor of taking a couple days off to hang out. Of course, I’m not exactly a thrill a minute so I doubt she cared much, but I’m always happy to have an excuse to take time off.

She left yesterday and I guess managed to catch her flight prior to the onset of some pretty nasty weather. By the time I got out of work yesterday and headed to the bus stop, it was something like 12 degrees out, with winds somewhere north of 30 miles an hour, and plenty of snow. It was a whiteout as I waited for the bus, which was 40 minutes late. The wind had me caked in an inch or two of snow, and my hands were like icy stumps of frozen sausage by the time I got on the bus, and they were still partially frozen by the time I got to my sleepy little village – which is kind of surprising, given that it took over an hour to get there.

I was literally shivering as I brushed the snow off my car and drove at a snail’s pace (being still in the grips of a whiteout) to my house. Since the snow was showing no signs of abating, there wasn’t much point in plowing the driveway last night (plus I was too damn cold and too damn tired), so I sequestered myself in my office in front of a space heater and tried to thaw myself out as much as possible before finishing the process in bed with a heating pad (many thanks to Earl Richardson for inventing “El Warmo” – the first heating pad – in 1911).

The Warmo was one of Earl’s many “El” (for Electricity) products, which included El Perco (an electric coffeepot), El Chafo (chafing dish), El Tosto (electric toaster), El Stovo (hotplate), El Eggo (egg fryer), and El Teballo (electric teapot).

Earl’s first invention was an electric iron, and he also made a crockpot called “The Jug Cooker.” Not sure why he gave up on the “El” name for that one.

Anyhow, it did nothing but get colder all night long, and as I plowed the driveway at the 5:00 AM or so, the temperature was well on its way to breaking a 99 year old record cold for this date. It eventually got down to -2°.

So it was a little nippy standing on the corner waiting for the bus once again this morning, and there’s more snow in the forecast for next week.

I’d say I’m sick of winter already, except winter hasn’t actually started yet. It’s starting to shape up to be another shitty year like the one when we moved into our current house. That year started out cold with septic problems, too.

Right now, all I want is for this week to be over so I can go home and take a nap.