Cabin Fever

We've been hit with a hard freeze after having a warm weekend in the 70s. Our schools are closed again today for the 3rd day in a row and I don't think that's EVER happened where I am (Texas)as long as I can remember and I was born here. Due to the icy conditions, we haven't been able to get out and we are really suffering from cabin fever! How do you guys do it? There are only so many games and so much tv that we can handle! I am so ready to just get on the roads and drive slow. May even try hitting the mall today to get out for a bit! I'll just drive 5 mph if I have to! (Texas drivers don't know how to drive in these conditions.) We're supposed to get some snow tonight and I wouldn't be surprised if they keep the schools closed again tomorrow. We've had rolling blackouts throughout the day because the electric companies can't keep up with the demand. At least they're keeping the roads sanded down over at the Cowboy stadium so that the Superbowl can go off without a hitch. (Supposed to go above freezing starting Saturday.)

On the plus side, my girls have been able to completely heal from the flu and they only had to take one day off. The Tamiflu worked fast!

what fun (or not)

just been a windy sunny day in south yorkshire - England. I passed my first ever maths test at the age of 43. Though one question was a stinkler because it asked us to circle the appropriate measurement of the depth of a swimming pool. choices were something like 34km, 390cm, 390m and 40m.... I circled 390m as English pool depth are calculated by meters. apparently I should have chosen 390cm because that be only two or three yard sticks. 390m would be far too too deep.... HUH...:woohoo: :woohoo: I passed which is the main thing but what a stinkler for entry level 3... very basic adult ed maths test. the first one I think dunno. I kind of did maths at school but as was always off with hole-in-heart stuff they dubbed me as too slow for maths and never did any exam orientated stuff.
how you plan to fill tomorrow?

All I can say is...I'm jealous! I'd LOVE to be stuck at home!

I'm jealous too. Firstly because I would also love to be unable to get into work, but also because I am missing the cold and snow. We've not had snow since before christmas, and we are currently having a period of quite high temperatures (it got up to 9 degrees celsius today!). I don't know why but I am missing the cold - probably because, in this weather, I've got not excuse to light the fire and slob out in front of it with a good book.

HAving said all of that, its been lovely not to have permenently cold hands and feet this week!

Alison

Crazy weather hey! Here in Queensland we just got over the longest drought and strict water restrictions, to now being inundated with water. Inland tsunamies and a cyclone larger than hurricane Katrina. A friend of mine thinks it might have been through the collective conscious praying for water Would be nice if we could pray for good weather wouldn't it.

Hi Pauline,
Sending very warm thoughts your way - this last week we have been staying indoors as much as possible with 42 C (109 F)!
My suggestions for your girls: craft, using recycled junk; baking; sewing; rearranging their bedroom; a picnic in a make shift tent; a girly makeover; dancing to loud music.
Make the most of this special time together, & stay safe.
mj

the girls had the last 3 days off too. I'm glad they are back in school today! We didn't have electricty most of Wednesday. We have well over an inch of ice absolutely everywhere. We're taking our lives in our own hands just to walk down to the car! But we do it! I have 4 wheel drive. I know, in ice it doesn't matter, but we still try it! Came home Wednesday to find my computer was fried! I had to revert to factory settings, meaning.....I lost EVERYTHING! Oh, how I will back up my stuff when we get a new computer!

Well, we did end up missing that 4th day of work/school yesterday due to 6 inches of snow on top of the ice! It is beautiful out there this morning with the sun shining on the glittery snow! But, enough is enough and it's time to go! I want the Super Bowl fans to have a good experience here rather than having to deal with this mess! My family is super excited because my older brothers and sister were born in Pittsburg and my parents moved here just before I was born. My two older brothers were lucky enough to get tickets to go! I was supposed to work the game, but I'm so glad I decided not to! I work several games a year to help with fundraising and they asked me back in October to work the Super Bowl. Probably would have been a good experience, but it is long hours and alot of work for the money you earn for the fundraiser. (Tomorrow, we would have to arrive at 10 am and probably wouldn't get out until 1 am!)

Praying the temps continue to rise and the roads become clear! My family and I are supposed to go to a Cirque de Soleil performance tonight but it has been cancelled all week due to ice/snow on the tent. It will be soooo nice to finally get out! (I did get out to do some grocery shopping yesterday!) My girls were fine the last day and a half because they were with their friends. (Caitlin's friend and dog fell through a frozen pond yesterday but thankfully they are ok!)

I spoke too soon about the sunny weather we had thursday for by thursday evening we were having gales and rain which blew into friday. Today has been just rain, but it didn't stop me digging up a rose bush in my back garden. I have been moved in just over a year and am bit by bit removing all what is before because am wanting to grow vegetables etc. One quarter of the garden I have dug over as an allotment plot. Its hard work digging grass and chopping it up etc. But done it in the end and now looks quite good for growing food. Just waiting now for the frosts to clear up and then start putting some broccli and parsnips in. Though am not doing carrot because of the carrot fly issue....

I don't envy you all of snow though if you have it now, we might get it in two weeks approximately. We often do. though we missed the last lost. Well south yorkshire did or more to the point, barnsley did. :blink:

How I wish I could be in my garden even if it's raining - we have snow and the ground is frozen (although not bad compared to some ares of N America) and more forecast for tonight.
You mentioned carrot fly - an old gardener told me to save my coffee grounds (used!) and sprinkle liberally on my carrot seeds when I plant and periodically afterwards. I did it for the first time last year and it worked. Give it a try it can't do any harm and I'd hate for you to miss out on fresh baby carrots!
My sister in Dorset has started some of her seeds (but that's S England!)

Pauline - I'm from Pittsburgh and have lived in Houston. We moved back here a long time ago. It is a shame that the Northerners went to Texas hoping for a respite from the cold and snow. Sounds like it's worse down there! We had rain today.

Are the girls better?

That weather is not what the Dallas Chamber of Commerce would have ordered.

We lived in Texas 13 years - never Houston. I told my husband if he wanted an instant divorce all he had to do was come home and tell me we were moving to Houston - bad enough to live among the roaches, I wasn't going to have those things fly at me!!

Well lets see - after a horrible arctic front moved in & stayed a while [minus 21°, wind chills below -19° - just really nasty cold] we did reach just above freezing today and the driveway and sidewalk were once again concrete not snow & ice [in spite of using the snow blower]. Well it is snowing to beat the devil right now - and snow is in the forecast for the next 4 days - and another arctic front will hit in a day or 2. I tell you, if I could get my kids & families to move to Fiji with me & my husband [we didn't ever move to Houston so we are still married ] I would give that move serious thought.

Hope everyone is doing well Pauline.

Seeds - we can't think of planting anything until the end of May.

Yes it is a degree or so warmer than than north though am not in the real north of England. just the edge of the north... we never get coverage on the weather maps for they do south and north and the midlands may be but we are not the midlands and we are not the north but well..

might try coffee beans as I don't drink coffee I wouldn't be wasting any. egg shells are good against snails and will have to start remembering to keep them.

I'm originally from Dorset/Somerset and anything north of Salisbury is north to me!!

Melinda - the roaches are the reason we left Houston. I couldn't tolerate them. I had a few experiences with fire ants too....enough bugs! A year and a half is all we lasted.

The day we moved there, we drove 23 hours straight. I was 19, newly married and very naive. We hit the city and I started to cry. I'd never seen highways like that and it terrified me. I've grown up since then and could handle that now if I had to, but don't think I'd really want to.

Sandi that is a riot - we moved to Texas the day after we got married, drove. As we were driving there from Colorado the trees got shorter and fewer, it was like desert, I thought 'who is this guy I married and where is he taking me!!!!"
I cried too.

Yep - it was nice when we moved back to Colorado, no roaches!! And where we lived in Texas there weren't flying roaches. However we did like Texas - people and food and cost of living.

I loved the people too. Very nice. Got tired of buying roach motels though, and finding them in strange places (pant legs, food, drawers)...ugh.

LOL, thankfully in my house, there are no roaches, but we are very good about having regularly scheduled pest control visits! I can't stand roaches and I am probably more afraid of roaches than I am of spiders and snakes!! In my office at school, I do have a roach problem (when it's warm) and they are HUGE...I thought I had mouse droppings on the counter and it was roach droppings, ewww! Luckily I've only seen two alive and both times, I ran out of my office screaming and didn't go back in until someone killed them for me. So, I understand your feeling!

The highways....I'm used to it, but I don't like the traffic. I used to work in Arlington about 3 minutes from where the new Cowboy stadium is now and that was about a 45 minute drive. (I decided to quit when we had one bad weather day and it took me 3 hours to get home.) Now, I only have a 10 minute drive to work and it is all on regular roads!

We are all melted now and I'm smiling back at work! Have a kidney drs appt this afternoon though. Who knew that a few days off would really give you new respect for your job! Even the students are happy, which is so nice to see!

Pauline you have me smiling. When we lived in Hong Kong the lady from New York who lived upstairs said she didn't have roaches, she said she refused to have roaches. Well - every now and then a couple friends and I would gather up some dead roaches from our apartments and we would quietly go up to her floor [there were 2 apartments on each floor] via the stairs so she wouldn't hear the elevator door, and we would flick the dead roaches under her door. We were stinkers for sure!

We had roaches in spite of an exterminator.

We had roaches in Texas in spite of an exterminator coming regularly AND timing his visit so that it would be a few days after the house on the uphill side was exterminated.

You must live in a great place not to have roaches - everyone I know in Texas has roaches.

Good luck with the doctor today!

We lived in apartments back then and they did exterminate, but the roaches would just go back and forth between apartments. I think if you have a house, you have better control.

When we moved to MA after Houston, we moved in with my husband's sister for a few weeks. Then her house got infested since we brought our things there. We ended up throwing away nearly everything we owned. Bad situation.

Let me know how your appointment went, Pauline.

Sandi wrote:
When we moved to MA after Houston, we moved in with my husband's sister for a few weeks. Then her house got infested since we brought our things there. We ended up throwing away nearly everything we owned. Bad situation.

That's what they call "sharing the love." Thanks for the good laugh to start the day this AM. All this roach talk has given me the willies. Ewwwwwwwwww :lol:

Well, wouldn't you know it...we're off AGAIN!!! We Texans must be wimps when it comes to the weather! 5 days! We better NOT close tomorrow...we're losing too much valuable learning time with our students and I have a show to put on next weekend with very little practice!

We do live in a house, but when we lived in apartments when we were first married, we did have roaches and nothing we did could get rid of them. We are not immune from bugs in our house though...we do have a problem with ants and sometimes even flies when it gets hot out. Mosquitos are only a problem if we have a wet spring.

My kidney dr's appointment was cancelled because my dr was out sick with the flu. You can say it really hit everyone around here pretty quickly! But at least some people are getting days off to help with the recovery and keep people away from each other. Now, please...please let me have work and my kids have school tomorrow!!

Pauline,

We're wimpy about school closings here in Virginia also. We haven't had much snow at all this winter, but two weeks ago we were supposed to get a couple inches. We ended up getting closer to 10 inches Tuesday evening and in to the overnight. The kids missed school Wednesday through Friday and it was the end of the quarter, so bad timing. The following Monday and Tuesday were previsouly scheduled teacher workdays, so the kids were out of school for a whole week. We kept hoping they'd send them, but I guess they couldn't guarantee safety at bus stops, etc. SO frustrating! I know how you feel - you just want them back in school. Since our kids have been back the homework load has increased - I think everyone's feeling pinched.

Good luck - I hope they get back to school tomorrow and your family stays healthy!!

Beth - mom to Brady (age 14, diagnosed 1/18/02) and Matthew (age 17)

We have not been hit at all this year. A few storms just missed us. That is highly unusual for us! As I said, I'm jealous.

As for bugs, all I get now are spiders (and I hate them!) This year we had stink bugs which I have never heard of until the summer. I'd never seen one before, but everyone had them around here.

In Minnesota we are finally going to get a taste of the tropics tomorrow - it will be up to 30 degrees F! Yay - we've had below zero for way too long and I am so cold! When it gets above 30 our coats come off.
Erica