Making Tracks


 It is still well below freezing.  Bella and I have been making tracks in circles around the place here, doing circuits of the driveways with her on leash, or letting her run in the fenced garden off leash.  It is still super cold.  At almost 5 PM it is currently 8 degrees out.  This morning I think it was -1.  Ellen has taken her for walks and made some tracks, too.  We are all getting cabin fever...well, except Gary.  He has been making tracks of another sort; up and down the roads. 

Gary has fielded numerous calls from people who don't have water for one reason or another.  Most of them he has advised heat lamps or heaters in their well-houses and hasn't heard from them again.  Presumably they thawed out and have water again.  Several people, including his aunt, have heat and water in their well houses, but no water in their actual houses, so the pipes are frozen up underneath the house somewhere.  I believe there are also several who have broken pipes; which will need to be repaired.  But Gary can only do so much.  I am hoping he doesn't get some sort of frostbite or something out in this weather.  If he has to be out in it for an extended period at a specific well site, he does have a propane heater he set up to blow on him and Doug when they are working.  They did that Saturday, or Friday it may have been, at an assisted living place out east in the county. 

This is Monday evening and they are not predicting temps above freezing until Wednesday.  The school has already called off classes for tomorrow. Ellen came prancing out of her room all excited.  This will be AMI day #4.  AMI being alternative method of instruction.  At the beginning of the school year the children who do not have access to internet get a packet of busywork to keep at home to do in case of snow days.  The rest of the students have online work. Ellen says for most of her classes the assignments are to read an article and write a couple of paragraphs about it. The state only allows 5 AMI days per school year, so if they go beyond that limit they have to start making up days of school at the end of the school year.  They are getting close to that.

On Facebook, in the community pages, there are multiple, multiple people asking for help; either out of wood, out of propane or with frozen pipes.  Fortunately there are many people who are willing and able to help.  Joe, from Joe's Hardware, has been open today (Today is MLK Jr,  so a few places are closed) and has been helping people get propane.  Yesterday, Donnie Melton, who owns a gas/fuel station at the corner of 64 and 73 highways, stayed open to sell propane too.  I know there are many other Good Samaritans who have been helping others, as well. 

With temps like this we are all going to have extravagant heat bills coming.  I hate that for so many people; especially the older folks who are on fixed income.  

*********

There is an inkling of good news today, but I am not going to let on what it might be for now.  I have a potential new project in the works.  Something I have always wanted, but never expected it to be like this.

Stay tuned. 

Comments

Donna. W said…
We are finally going to get above zero today! Alexa says 11°. It's a heat wave!
January 16, 2024 at 4:55 AM
Calfkeeper said…
Woohoo! It is supposed to get in the mid to upper 30s here Wed and Thurs, then plunge below freezing again, with lows in the single digits. I'll be so glad to get through this polar vortex system.
January 16, 2024 at 6:21 AM
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