Wow, I’m actually kept in by inclement weather, a rarity for me. It hasn’t happened since I was in grade school in a much more mortherly state!
However, the freezing rain basically turned into a nice coating of ice over the world, and my subdivision is covered in ice. I’m notsure I can eve get out of my driveway, and they’d I have to climb up and down some hills to get out. I have no idea what’s going at work. Earlier in the week, when it was mostly snow and the ice was only so-so, they had about a 50% call in as no-shows. We’d be lucky if anyone shows up today.
I’ve turned back once, and been snowed in at least once. As long as I have power (and I have a Honda generator) and cable, I can work. A couple of weeks ago they closed the office early because of the slippery streets. I was working from home that day, so I kept working.
And now that I think about it, last night they cllosed the library four hours early - which is almost unheard-of. It’s happened before, but it’s definitely about a 1/decade thing. They do not like closing down at the university.
Ice storms are awful because they tend to happen in places which aren’t really prepared. Outdoor ice isn’t much fun even if you expect it and I love winter, but I slipped last week in the parking lot at work and bruised my tailbone but good. Ouch. Hurts like a mother if I sit wrong. Be vewwy vewwy careful if you go outside!
We have a lot of ice around because we had snow and then had a weird warm snap so it started to melt and then refroze overnight for several nights in a row. On my road it’s about an inch thick, I think. Thank God for studs. I don’t think that ice is going anywhere until, oh, April. But I am in the mountains in Idaho where winter is sort of normal. We’re supposed to get a pile of snow today, it’s already started.
My street is still a sheet of ice. Unfortunately, since I work in a hospital, staying home is not an option. I was able to give my newly acquired Polar Trax a good workout however.
How’s that? If you honestly can’t get to work due to inclement weather, the hospital is just going to have to deal with the situation. Don’t risk your safety just because your employer is a jerk.
That certainly sounds awful, but in all honesty, statements like this bug the hell out of me. In essence, you’re saying “Hey, you got it bad? Well, STFU, because other people have it worse!”
So, I could turn that around and say “So, you were without power for a week? Hey, I know some people in NOLA who were without any kind of shelter at all for that long, so quite your kvetching!”
Let’s face it, no matter how bad things are, there are people somewhere who have it worse. That doesn’t mean we can’t bitch about stuff from time to time.
Regarding ice, we’ve already had a tough winter here, and, duh, it’s not even January yet! Snow doesn’t bother me too much, but the ice sucks. You can have front-wheel drive, 4-wheel drive, all-wheel drive, etc. Nothing really helps on a solid sheet of ice!
Can you post back about how effective these are? I’m terrified (irrationally so) of walking on ice and/or slippery snow. My daughter’s bus stop is only a couple of blocks away, but the path to the bus stop is downhill, which makes falling all that much more of a possibility when there’s ice involved. My sense of balance sucks, and to make things worse, I have a pinched nerve that already makes my left upper thigh hurt a lot without regular doses of Aleve. I was looking at something like these today, and thinking, if they can make me feel secure walking on the ice, they are worth way more than $20.00!
Hell, on solid ice, even my studs are only so much help. Four wheel drive does not make you invulnerable, I promise you. It might help, but not driving like an asshole will help you a whole lot more. I get around in a '97 Saturn front-wheel-drive sedan and have yet to have a major problem because I don’t drive like a moron.
I was without power for about 16 hours last year, from 10:15-ish Christmas Eve to 4:30-ish the next afternoon. Even though people in Tennesee are unlikely to be looking at lows of 0F and highs of about 15F, I’m not going to use having heat as a weapon. I’m still shocked my pipes didn’t freeze, and I live in a 60ish year old cabin built for this climate – temps in my house were down around freezing by the time the heat came back on.
It’d mean my coworkers would have to do more work and get yelled at even more by the doctors who don’t care why the turn-around time is longer. Also it counts as an incident if I don’t come in; too many of those and I can be written up although it’s somewhat at the manager’s discretion. I have an all-wheel drive and am pretty used to inclement weather driving by now. (One time I drove home at three a.m. during the middle of an ice storm because no way was I staying at work.) Once I got out of my street and onto the main roads it was fine. I did have to go out the back way though as a couple of cars slid into each other and blocked the front way out.
I’ve been clumping around on them for a few days and so far they’ve been great. They’re a little hard to stretch over my shoes (I wear clogs) but that might be because of my ginormous feet. My balance isn’t all that great either and I have a bad knee but I feel much more stable with the Trax. Of course I’m still walking like a penguin, not running or anything.