Winter this year has been cold from early on, with slight breaks where the temperatures get up into the 30s for a a couple of days. That was New Year's week. Boarshead festival wrapped up on December 30th. It was pretty chilly. We celebrated New Year's at home with board games, a video, popcorn and sparkling grape juice. Mike made his black-eyed pea special on New Year's Day, so we should be set for good luck in the New Year, right?
I worked Friday and Saturday and was scheduled to fill in at the downtown branch on Sunday for someone who was out sick, and then back to my own branch for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I figured it would be a long week. It was a long week, just not in the way I had anticipated. The weather forecasters had been saying that it would be bitter cold on Monday and Tuesday and that we would have a really big snow storm over the weekend. I shopped on Friday and Saturday so I knew we were covered in the food department. Saturday was actually quite warm (in the 40s) and it was nice to get outside at lunch time. Mike and Pete trekked down to the farmer's market and got a nice selection of lettuces and greens. But no apples, they were all done for the year.
The snowpacalypse was supposed to start Saturday night. Nothing happened.
I got two calls on Sunday morning telling me that the library would be closed on both Sunday and Monday. I was hoping for the Monday closure, but I was really surprised by Sunday's. ACPL doesn't close unless there is a red-level travel ban. Turns out we were about to have one. Sunday morning when I left to go to church, the snow was coming down in pretty flakes and it was in the 30s. I had to take my jacket off halfway to church because I had dressed to warmly.
That afternoon Mike had to go into work two hours early so they could get the paper out early. Pete and I shoveled our walk and our elderly neighbor's. The snow was coming down pretty heavy by then, at least 6 inches on the ground and still coming. As the afternoon wore on and we walked dogs and played in the snow, the temperature was dropping some, but it was still quite comfortable. I did things like take the composting out, and the recycling and trash. I brought in some food from the garage freezer to put in the house so I'd have that food readily available. I made sure the computer and cellphone were charged up in case we lost power. We were as ready as we were going to be. Mike rode home with a coworker and got dropped off on the main corner a couple of blocks from home.
Monday morning the temperature was well down into the double digit negative numbers and the windchill was recorded at -43 that day. We stayed in.
Tuesday the library was closed again. Three days in a row? That may be unprecedented! But no complaints, it was still down in the double digit negative numbers. We stayed in.
Wednesday the temperature broke 0 and might have made it all the way up to 19. It felt like a heat wave. I bundled up in lots of layers and headed out to work. The buses were running a bit behind schedule, but only by about 10 minutes.
I came home and we decided to head out to Meijers for some groceries. It should be a one bus trip. Because I knew the buses were running late, we didn't head out for the corner at the usual time. We got there and still only had to wait a little bit. The bus was really late, but so far so good. When we got downtown, the driver was told to not continue the usual route out west (where we were going) but to turn around and run the route back east again. Those of us who were going west were put on a different bus. Citilink was trying to keep somewhat close to it's scheduled times. Because our bus had been running so late, they had sent all the other buses out and used a smaller bus, usually used for taking handicapped passengers door to door, to pick us up and run the route. It also turned out there was a major accident on Jefferson that backed up traffic on the route 2 (our bus). So a bunch of us climbed onto the smaller bus and we were off. We started off with more passengers than seats. The bus has lots of room left for wheelchair passengers, so it is light on seats. I started off standing, but decided I felt safer sitting on the floor. We didn't follow the usual route, but detoured around the accident site. We got dropped off at Meijers and picked up some produce and a couple of other staples. So far so good. It was just nice to be out of the house and among other people.
We headed back out the usual bus stop and saw about a half dozen others waiting for the bus. They had been waiting awhile. One woman called Citilink on her phone and found out that the bus was coming, but had gotten stuck in heavy traffic. There is a flexlink bus that meets the route 2 bus at Meijers. That driver showed up and invited us all to get on his bus. He drove us down the road a mile or so to meet up with the 2 when it finally got there. The route 2 driver detoured around the accident and we ended up back downtown by a circuitous route. By then the bus was so late that the dispatchers just held them at the station so they could all leave on time for the 6:15 runs and the 5:15 runs just never happened. It's on days like that that working for the bus line is just a no win proposition. You have the buses running, but with bad weather and not all roads well plowed your usual schedules just aren't going to happen. Toss in an accident or two and you have riders standing out in the cold and snow wondering when their bus will ever come. (One woman had been waiting outside an hour, she was rubbing her feet trying to get some feeling back in them.). Adventures in bus riding!
Thursday, the temperature never got very high, but Pete and I did go out and shovel the snow that had fallen that day and walked the dogs. But other than that we stayed in.
By last night we were sick of the food we had in the house. (Why did I only get one box of pasta at Meijers she kept asking herself?) So Pete and I had oatmeal for supper.
Today Pete had his homeschool program at the library and we decided we were getting out! So here I sit at the library while Pete is learning about Australia. (Summer there!) But today is very gray and foggy here in Indiana. Why? Because the temperature has broken 32 and the snow is all starting to melt. Tomorrow we may have rain!
Last night I started re-reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's book the Long Winter. I guess I shouldn't feel too sorry for us after reading about a bad winters worth of South Dakota blizzards. But I won't be sad to see this cabin-fever week come to an end either!
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