change!

This blog is in the middle of an upgrade! Regular readers may have noticed difficulty leaving comments; last night it was impossible and now the comments are working, but the new spam catcher is mean and intolerant, so I have had to adjust the settings. (At least now I can leave test comments….)
But there will be more changes, so please bear that in mind.
Meanwhile, I am keeping my fingers crossed, while hoping and praying that everything works out. This blog is old, gnarled, twisted, and cluttered, and has been running on an older version of Movable Type for many years, and I am taking to heart what Dave said last night: “My 11 years as an IT professional have taught me the value of prayer during upgrades.”
As if fussing with the blog wasn’t bad enough, local weather has really done a number on me. Yesterday it snowed most of the day, except it wasn’t normal snow; these were huge wet flakes, coming fast and furious, but accumulating very slowly, because the snow was mostly melting as soon as it hit the ground. Temperatures were in the mid 30s. So when I went to bed there was only four inches of accumulation. But what I didn’t realize until this morning was that temperatures would drop to the teens. Thirteen degrees! Which meant that the bottom of all that wet snow had turned to the most solid ice I have ever seen. This morning I could not open any of my car doors, and finally with great difficulty I was able to pry open one of the rear doors to gain access. The windshields were so covered with ice that the ice breaker broke, and I did the best I could with a metal paint scraper, but this was just solid ice. The windshield wipers were buried deep inside the ice like fossils. Simply getting the car out of the driveway took over a half an hour. There is no way to remove the ice from the sidewalk. I spread out an entire bag of salt formula, and it isn’t working the way it did last year.
And technically, it isn’t even winter yet! Perhaps Obama and the Dems can claim credit for getting rid of Global Warming.
Meanwhile, I’m freezing and cursing. What else can I do?
Gaia won’t hear the prayers of a skeptic.
MORE: Damn! It’s now 12:42 p.m. and it’s now 11 degrees. Two hours ago I used an entire bag of salt on the sidewalk, and the ice is barely disturbed. There are a few dots and holes on top, but it’s not getting through to the sidewalk. I read somewhere that salt does not melt ice when the temperature is less than 15, although I don’t know how true that is. To call this inconvenient would be an understatement.
I think I’ll go out there and shake my fist at the heavens.