Saturday the temperature reached a high of 68. Yesterday, Monday, it was 40 and snowing in Centreville when, at at 1:20 PM, I headed off to work in Ashburn 10 miles away to the north. It wasn’t snowing there but apparently it had been. There was hardly any accumulation though. There was about a half inch to one inch on the ground at home when I returned from work…nothing on the road thankfully. It has been too warm.
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I think Lionel Ritchie said it best. Oh what a feeling! I just got off what should have been my last regular mid-watch in my old position at Lockheed. I start my new position tomorrow. That’s going to be a bit rough…going back to mostly day working after nearly eight months of working 12 hour mid-watches. Oh, the sacrifices we make… Oh, the footprints on the ceiling! Today I had my second paddle on Lake Prince and it was as enjoyable as the first. There are a few very nice houses on the lake but not so many as to make it feel too civilized. I saw two Piliated Woodpeckers, a number of Belted Kingfishers, Canadian Geese, Double-breasted Cormorants, 3 or 4 Bald Eagles, one of which sat in a tree and preened himself while I watched and ate my lunch, and numerous Mallard ducks. The weather was crystal clear but at this time of the year it seems like the sun is always going down so, with the breeze, it was a bit nippy but still comfortable paddling. Lake Prince is definitely a spot I will return to. Unfortunately, I left my cameras at Kim’s, thinking they were still in the car, so I don’t have any new photos of the lake.
 I went from point A to point B. It is done. I have officially, according to my body, moved over to the dark side. Nearly seven months of working midwatches 1800 – 0600 have taken the toll. I now officially sleep during the day, even on my days off, and have to wear suntan lotion when I go out into the light so I don’t waste away like an errant Dracudude. Ironically, today my promotion takes affect. The position is a day job M-F if you ignore the on call duty required occasionally. Sadly, I am still on the schedule for midwatches until we get some new bodies trained to flesh out the watch schedule. If all goes well, I will be off the watch and into my new position just in time to have to retrain my body to get used to working days instead of nights. |
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Copyright © 2012 Chappy Old Man - All Rights Reserved |
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Drive Me Snow Blind Crazy
Pulling in to my apartment complex tonight I got blocked by a van in front of me. The driver got the front wheels over the first speed bump but seemed to have a problem getting the back wheels over it. Now take into consideration that we had a wintery mix going for about 30 minutes w/ an accumulation of perhaps 0.2 inches. It was a moderately sized speed bump so of course I wasn’t surprised that the dumb ass had to stop before he tried to take his rear wheels over that Mont Blanc of an obstacle.
I figured he was going to get out and put on the snow chains but he was wise to that realizing that putting them on the rear tires of a front wheel drive van would have been pointless. Accordingly, he put his vehicle in reverse probably figuring to return back over the speed bump, put the chains on his front tires, and then motor his way over the speed bump using his chained front tires to pull both front and rear wheels over it like Hannibal crossing the Alps.
Dumb ass…I passed on the left and pulled into my parking spot. I was a bit breathless from the high altitude when I got out of my car and had to wade soul deep through the “wintery mix” to get to my lofty, snow graced apartment but after a strenuous 30 seconds was able to successfully make my way to warmth and safety. Thankfully, I did not get stranded in a “wintery mix” drift and have to chew my arm off and drink my urine to survive.
Wasn’t there a movie?