Wednesday, January 30, 2019

No Exageration-We Are in a Polar Vortex

I'm not complaining. I chose to stay living here. Still, this is weather that is not fit for man nor beast. Here's what we have right now. That's Fahrenheit folks. 


I had an evening work event, social hour followed by a screening of a documentary on early childhood education followed by a panel of speakers. It was a lovely and informative event that I attended with my boss, the only other person from our office brave enough to keep the appointment. We also saw a few colleagues from our field. It was a warm 11 degrees when I got back to my car, according to the dash board. Of course I was parked on a lower level of a parking ramp. After paying and pulling back onto the street, it was a fun game to watch how quickly the dash board monitor dropped.  from 11 to 0 instantly, then -4,-8, until a mere minute later to -18 which it stayed at, but as you can see, later dropped again. I think this will be our low. We do like to go on about the weather and our bravery in Minnesota! 

I'm working from home today as there is no reason to drive into the office when I can get everything done. Staff have the choice of teleworking, if an option, using vacation, or if applicable, sick time. I would not be a fair judged of whether my staff could use sick time or not-the cold does get into the muscles and bones and can cause real pain. I feel it, but then I have a job I can do almost anywhere-including meetings with the advantage of Skype, so do not have the dilemma. Not all do, and  I would hate that they use vacation to stay safe. My direct reports all have enough work they can do off site, so fortunately, I don't need to verify time off as sick or vacation. 

DD2 has no school-third day in a row. I doubt they'll even risk having show choir later, but if they do, I'll drive here and pick her up, and I can stop for milk and bread. I laugh at myself typing that. How can I, a Minnesotan, not stock up on milk and bread before being winter home bound! We would be just fine without either. I'll leave you with this silly YouTube video about a man that just had to find his provisions before impending  vortex doom. Keep warm, and if you happen to be reading from Australia, send some of your weather to the other side of the globe. 

12 comments:

  1. That is truly cold! Stay warm & safe with your family.

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    1. We all did fine. Poor pup though. He wants to go for walks, but we just take him out long enough.

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  2. Man that is cold. Right now here in Mount Vernon Ohio it is a balmy -4 degrees, but real feel is -33 degrees! We are under a wind chill warning as well. The kids have no school today or tomorrow as our wind chill warning goes through tomorrow afternoon. I have one of my babysitting kiddos today. I have NO plans to go anywhere today! Hope you stay warm!

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    1. Today was less cold windchill wise even though it hit -31. Last night was brutal.

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  3. Love that bread and milk guy.....always makes me laugh! Stay warm!!!

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    1. Seeing real life people act like this makes me laugh.

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  4. Having come from ND where I lived as a child I remember the cold. We played all the time when it was below zero, but when it got into the teens we stayed inside.

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    1. I don't remember many days in the winter that we didn't get outside, but I remember the 77 freeze!

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  5. Yikes, stay warm. That works out to -33 degrees celcius, a temperature I've not seen since we lived in the dark cold winters of Alberta. Stock up on tea while you are buying that milk and bread!

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    1. I've a good stash of tea-and it came in handy.

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  6. I feel you, I am up towards Fargo and yesterday the news reported our town as -61 windchill. Of course car won't start today. Thank goodness a coworker picked me up for work. I'm a RN so work does not get cancelled:). I don't think I can take this much longer. So depressing!

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    1. Bless you and all the people who still go into work to keep the rest of us safe!

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