I’ve been at work all day. Since the gym wasn’t open and I wasn’t running, I got here earlier than usual. Most of the non snow-fighting peeps were in on time. One came an hour late, another at noon, and the poor new guy didn’t come in. I feel sorry for him. He lives 1:30 away under normal conditions - north of us too. And he’s young with little kids… and drives a Prius. He doesn’t get any leave time for a couple more months, so it’s LWOP for him.
Someone wrote an ugly letter into the newspaper about our policy, how unsafe it is, especially since we are closed to the public. Only signed it “John.” We got a good chuckle out of that. I sort of understand where he’s coming from, but it’s been this way forever. Show up on time, or use vacation time. And now we get a lot more vacation time than we used to in the old days, except for new people on probation, who get none for 6 months.
And then we get all the ugly letters about people who are mad the plows just plowed their street and now there’s a big snow/ice bank in front of the driveway… SMH
Gym opened at 3 today. H will work as usual (6-1) tomorrow. I’ll go in as usual at 5, though I’ll likely do the cardio portion inside before lifting.
Reminder to be careful when hand shoveling snow- it is strenuous exercise. I’ve seen some shovels that have wheels which pushes the snow rather than having to lift it.
I checked into a downtown hotel a few hours ago as it seems that while some close to my home have had power restored, NES has been unable to get ours back up. D suggested a hotel over me coming to her house as they no longer have a guest room since GS was born and SIL came over to drive me here. Heat, connectivity, tv and a “free” drink coupon to use after my hot shower in a bit - I am in heaven right now! We are having the biggest outage that Nashville has ever seen and evidently our area took the bullseye of the freezing rain/ice. I’m not in a particular hurry to go home, but I would like to avoid having to dump the contents of my fridge. It’s going to be so cold here tonight and I worry for those who will have no heat and who are literally trapped by fallen trees in their neighborhood. I know I am lucky to have a comfortable option.
Glad you are cozy and warm in the hotel. We were really worried about H’s 87 yr old mom and her 80-something year old boyfriend in Charlotte. He had a hotel reservation for them but lucky for them they got mostly sleet instead of freezing rain. I really worry about the old folks and disabled folks who don’t have power. Just not a good situation.
But it was early in the game and they could have easily kicked a field goal….what happened to “always take the points” philosophy! That actually works out about 90% of the time (I just made up that %).
Well it turns out that when either the power or xfinity went out, it fried our modem. Fortunately the roads were pretty clear today so DH wend out and got a new one, and got it installed with the xfinity folks over the phone (had to give the new serial number, etc) and we are up and running again.
Dh and one of my sons spent two hours trying to dig our cars out today. Most of the snow they cleared yesterday before the sleet even arrived. Our driveway is about 2.5 cars wide and barely two cars deep and all four cars were in the driveway! So not much area to shovel, but dh said we had nearly 3” of ice on top of the leftover snow so it took a lot of effort with a heavy shovel to whack thru the ice. A regular snow shovel was useless.
Our schools have already decided to remain closed thru Wednesday. Today was apparently the “warmest” day of the week. Temps will stay in the 20s all week with much colder wind chills.
NYC public schools were remote today, open tomorrow. Most students take regular NYC transit buses and subways to school free with Dept. of Education scan cards.
Just got texts from NES and one of my condo neighbors at same time. Power restored at my house. I’m enjoying the hotel and happy that I won’t have to dump all the food in my freezer since it’s been less than 48 hours.
Made a fatal error and paid three men to shovel my driveway, right before 3” of sleet. So, I now have a very smooth driveway with 3” of undisturbed ice.
You know how the plowed part is usually the hardest to shovel? Now it is the easiest. I have no idea how I will get the driveway clear.
Ugh. I would rather have 20 inches of snow (which we do have).
However, there are three options with black ice.
One is to wait for nature to melt it. Unfortunately at least where I live the predictions are that this will take quite a while. It looks like you are in a cold spell also. Someone might slip and fall before that happens.
Another option is salt. If you really have 3” of ice, it is going to take a lot of salt. You might need to skate over to your nearby hardware store and buy some, if they have it in stock. Assuming that you actually drive a car, be very, very, very careful. Drive as if you have a goldfish bowl, with water and an actual goldfish, on the seat next to you with no one holding it.
Another option is sand. This has two features. One is that it makes the ice way less slippery. The other is that it most likely increases the ability of the sun to melt the ice.
Edit: @kelsmom ’s answer below made me think of one more option. Sometimes when the sun comes out, even if it is slightly below freezing (but more so when it gets up to or above freezing) there can be a bit of melting right at the surface of the pavement. There are tools that can slide under the ice to lift it and break it up. I think they might be called “ice scraper” (but a big heavy one, not the thing that you use on your car which is way, way too small and light). I have an old one that I think might be called a “mutt”.
Sometimes the salt and the ice breaker can be used together. You sprinkle salt and wait. The salt eats its way down to the pavement, and starts to melt the ice at the surface with the pavement. Then the ice scraper can be used to lift the ice and break it up.
I think that we just described what I might be doing tomorrow afternoon.
3” is thick. You should be able to chop it up (with an ice chopper or similar tool) & move it off the driveway. The internet has good information on this. Of course, if you have a long driveway, that could be very painstaking and time consuming.
Ugh I agreed to change my doctor appointment tomorrow from 3:45 in the afternoon when the temperature would be 36° to 9 AM when the temperature will be 15°, and the roads may still be icy. What was I thinking? I should’ve told them no when they asked me to change my appointment.
Thank you for your ideas. I spread some ice melt yesterday afternoon, with slight effect. But I have more! I also have kitty litter (and some brown rice that I’m willing to sacrifice).
I do have a variety of good tools, but my wrist is hurting already.
A neighbor in the “beginning” of the neighborhood seems intent to help me find someone to help. It seems the shovelers get to her area and haven’t worked their way down to mine.
I’m also going to look on Next Door to see if I can contact someone to help.
I keep seeing stuff online about a combo of boiling water, dawn (or similar dish detergent) and rubbing alcohol. I have no idea if this actually works, but if you have all that stuff at home, maybe it can at least penetrate the ice enough to make it more chop-able and then easier to lift?
