thoughts on newly arrived winter weather

[mellowtigger]

For the historical record (same week as last year), I pulled the air conditioner from my bedroom window yesterday. I should have done it the week before, but I was lazy. It would still turn on once or twice during the afternoons, only because my bedroom is hotter than the rest of my house when it's warm outside (and colder when it's cold outside).

This morning, the temperature is exactly freezing, and we have snow. It melts on contact with asphalt roads, and I don't expect it to remain in my yard even through the end of today. But it'll kill most of the vegetation and strongly mark the transition to a brief autumn season here in Minneapolis. It's been almost exactly 6 months since we last had snow here.

This is what the homeless here are now facing without any shelter at all. It's what I knew was coming when I protested the evictions last week.  What they did was vile.  Again, this is what I faced that morning. That's me with the bright stripe of white sole on my shoes on the left in that first group photo in this news story about that day.  Why?  Why choose to do this?

Bonus viciousness: They deliberately chose to empty 3 homeless camps on a Thursday when they knew people arrested could face 6 days in jail (due to weekend and busy Monday holiday) for a 36-hour police hold, before finally seeing a judge on Tuesday. Luckily, people in Minneapolis were being ungovernable, so I got "street release" early on Friday because the largest jail in Minnesota was full.

My covid test today is negative again, on day 7 after jail. I'm starting to feel really, really lucky. I've got 1 more "free" test from the US government here, so I should go buy some more at the store today.

Comments

[oracne]

Glad for the negative test.

[shimmerwine]

I don't know if other states do this, but we can get a box of 5 free tests through the DOH (you have to search for the info under the COVID tabs), and the order is fulfilled by Amazon, so super-quick. I've ordered twice.

[mellowtigger]

That's a good idea. I've also heard that some insurance companies will pay for a test kit each month, but it has to be pre-approved. I should look up these details and post them sometime.

[shimmerwine]

We're going to need a lot of tests this winter.