Winter, winter; wherefore art thou, winter?
As we’ve enjoyed our unseasonably warm and spring-like days I have said to anyone who will listen (and several who would not) that I feared winter’s arrival, because I’ve lived in the frozen north a long time, and I happen to know that winter WILL arrive. With a vengeance.
Of course, I was picturing something more along the lines of a couple of feet of snow. That’ll come later, I suppose.
Today was something. Hello, ice!
The kids are off school and hanging out with their dad, so I slept late, puttered around, and thought about starting on painting the ceilings downstairs. I’ve been trying to get to this particular task since before Christmas, and it just keeps not getting done. But today, today I’d have plenty of kid-free time to take care of it! I mean, look outside! Freezing rain as far as the eye can see. A great day to stay in and paint.
I got some work done and was giving myself the mental “just 5 more minutes” to poke around online when everything went dark.
Oh. Right. Here in what has been the land of perpetual summer, I forgot about some things. Like that ice is heavy. Like that sometimes heavy ice makes things fall down.
A quick prowl around the premises didn’t reveal anything obvious; no power lines twitched on my front lawn, all of the trees appeared to be upright and intact, if somewhat glassy and other-world-ly in their armor of icicles. Oh, well. I would read for a little while. With a flashlight. Surely the power would be back on soon.
I tried not to flinch every time I heard a great shattering of too-heavy icicles detaching from the trees and exploding on the ground below.
After an hour passed, I called the power company. The recording that greeted me started out: “We are currently experiencing widespread outages due to extreme weather in the following areas:” after they listed about a dozen towns, I hung up. Hmmmm. I went back to my book.
My hand started to cramp from holding the flashlight. I decided to take a nap.
When I woke up, I still didn’t have any power.
Somewhere between four and five hours after it blinked out, the power did eventually come back on. By that time, all inclination to paint the ceiling had passed (what if I started and the power went out again? did I really want to be on a ladder with paint dripping in my hair if that happened?) and I accepted that the day would be a wash.
So naturally I sat down and started Googling people I used to go to school with a million years ago.
The bad news is that I didn’t find the person I really wanted to find. I wonder where she is, and what she’s doing, but she seems to have vanished off the face of the earth. The good news is that I discovered that the drama department I attended in college has an alumni page.
Oh, how I chuckled to start flipping through the directory. So many people I hadn’t thought of in years. So many of them actually making livings as actors and actresses. So many of them… not.
[And I especially like how they have Taye Diggs listed as location unknown. Yes. Totally unknown. If you live UNDER A ROCK.]
As I was scrolling through, I wondered if they knew where I am. I mean, no one has contacted me, and I didn’t know of the page before today, so probably they had no—
Oh. There I am. Current location: Los Angeles, CA.
My gaze wandered over to the window, and to the shiny, icy trees outside.
I have never lived in Los Angeles in my entire life.
I started to fill out the form to update them, and then stopped. What the heck. Let them think I’m in LA. Amongst a registry of theater students, the location fits right in. I might be working steadily as an extra, for all they know. I mean, what are the chances that anyone reading down that list is going to say, “Oh, Mir. I remember her. I bet she’s living in New England with a couple of kids and making her living glued to the computer in her pajamas.”
Hey, Los Angeles is nice. I just hope I haven’t gotten any Botox or anything… that stuff is scary.
We got the same ice storm…I took some purty pictures though if you want to see. Just scroll down past my monkeys on this page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/karenrani/
Unfortunately, the ice storm brought bus cancellations. Sigh.
Oooh, Botox. I hope you haven’t gotten that either.
I will need some liposuction if the ice storm here doesn’t abate soon. Because you know that one of the cardinal rules of ice storms is that you MUST KEEP EATING. At least, that’s what I’ve been telling myself for the past four days.
LA? Nice. And I *love* that Taye Diggs is “unknown.” Any other known unknowns from your school?
I recently painted a ceiling – the power stayed on *pout*
Be thankful you don’t have “freezing fog” like we’ve got out here in the Northwest. What is it? Who the heck knows!! It’s one of those mysterious weather conditions the meteorologists make up out here in lieu of actually, you know, forecasting the weather.
Seriously, the weather dude said “freezing fog” and we all thought, collectively, “HUH?” In the land of 45 different kinds of rain, this enterprising weatherman came up with a new one!! :)
Shoot, I’ll take a Nor’easter any day. At least it’s, you know, actual weather!
We thankfully have been free of The Ice, but, apparently, it was negative eleven this morning. That’s just uncalled for, in my opinion.
We’re iced over in Central Texas, too. School was already closed for most of the area since yesterday was MLK day. It’s closed today, too, and most likely tomorrow. I see myself with cabin fever pretty soon.
They’re actually forecasting SNOW for us. Snow. The reason why I choose to live here is because of the weather — usually it’s bearable during the winter. I don’t much like the cold.
On the upside, I’m looking forward to taking Jet outside to play in the snow if it happens! We went out and plucked icicles (“popsicles”) off the railing on the deck yesterday, and he thought that was great fun.
Well, when you move to GA, you may miss out on the annual snow and other typical winter-weather, but we do have a big ice storm every year or so, complete with power outages, etc. So you won’t be so homesick after all! Plus, at least you’ll have Otto to cuddle with in the dark down here! :)
Wherefore winter?
Because the earth is on a tilted axis, and so sometimes each hemisphere is tilted away from the sun.
I know you’re all California now ;) but as a theatre major, you should know that Wherefore means Why. Or maybe you do and aren’t as anal as I am. Yeah, that’s probably it.
I can’t paint ceilings…..makes my head ache….and my neck….and my back.
We’re in Indiana and actually got a tiny bit of snow last night. Thankfully, my second grader went to school on time this morning (Tuesday). WHEW!!!!
We’ve been having some of your winter weather here in San Diego. Usually, I’m resolute in my refusal to acknowledge any of the so-called weather here as cold, because… come ON. I grew up in Boston. People out here put on parkas when it’s 55 degrees outside. That is NOT cold. But this? That we’re having right now? COLD. 20s-cold. Brrr.
Tuesday morning — first day since Friday I’ve left my house. When they close the entire state down at noon and send everyone home, you know it’s gonna be a good weekend! A good part of the east part of OK is in really HORRIBLE shape. It’s still waaay slick in my neck of the woods, but I had power all weekend, which is more than some of my friends in Muskogee!
Everyone who got touched by this multiple wave storm: if you don’t HAVE to drive (as in to the Emergency Room), please don’t! It’s just icky!
Hey, 4-5 hrs of no power sounds like a cake walk to me! We just went 21 hrs, in a completely electric house, with 2 children under the age of 5 and 1 hyperactive dog, with no heat except what we generated with our bodies and a few paltry candles. I was actually prepared to evacuate myself and the children to my MIL’s house if it hadn’t come back on by last night. Thankfully it came back on late yesterday afternoon. And we feel lucky – my little brother who lives in the southern part of the state isn’t expecting to have power back until sometime Thursday at the earliest!
How ’bout collagen? Does your LA face sport big pouty Angelina-esque lips?
The ice storm looked so beautiful from pictures on T.V. but I was worrying about those of you who were attempting to actually live in those other worldly places. Here’s to hoping that the ice storms go far far away! Glad your power got back on before you froze.
Most of our ice melted yesterday. There’s still patches here and there along curbs. Our power flickered slightly on Sunday morning. After a few panicky moments we were safe. I don’t think our fireplace would have provided much heat…it’s more for show than warmth.
The dog’s water dish? – frozen over two mornings in a row. I live in Scottsdale ARIZONA. Sorry but it is WINTER HERE BABE.
Well, hey, Botox has come to the Midwest, BAY-BEE. Oh, not for me (although maybe I need it, but ewwwww), but for a youthful looking 43-year-old friend of mine. Who knew? I guess I’m a behind-the-times frumpster. Maybe I should jet to El-Ay also. With you. Mir, the Wonder Hollywooder. *Air Kiss*
I had to laugh when my dad told me that one of his fellow high school alums, Lindsey Wagner, also has a “location unknown.” Duh…she’s off (probably in LA) selling those Sleep Number Beds!! We still like to refer to her as the Bionic Woman.
We got our ice a couple of weeks ago, on the heels of a lesser one the week before. There are some people who are still without power, over two weeks later. I don’t have any pics up (yet), but I did talk about it some. http://pridemama.com/index.php?blog=2&title=icescapades
Zee…In Old Farmer’s Almanac provence, isn’t freezing fog referred to as ‘pogonip’?
I was almost envious of Denver’s snow — but I think I’m relieved that Wisconsin hasn’t been hit with the ice storms. That said, we’ll probably get one tomorrow. Stock up on firewood, mama!
we managed to keep power so far. yay!
I hope the ice melts soon up here. On the plus side, the high temp for today and tomorrow has gone up from 17 to 24 and 20, respectively.
I wish my kids understood how to dress appropriately for the weather (my 6yo is spending the day in a tshirt and shorts. *sigh* and that my body didn’t hate cold.
If you live in LA then I’ll put $100 bet down you have had botox AND a boob job. ;)
So, ehem, 7 days in a row without power last month. Maybe we should all move to LA. Winter may not be where youa re yet. It’s taking a vacation in Seattle and I want my rain back.
Well, 2.5 hours’ north of L.A., where I live, it was 5 degrees this morning. We’ve had record breaking lows for a week now. So don’t anyone rush out here too fast! It’s not exactly balmy these days. ;-)
And, just wondering… does anyone anywhere else get Botox? Here it’s like getting your nails done, I think! Only more scary.