the mellow tigger's musings

As I warned about yesterday, winter is not yet done with Minneapolis.

Here's the view out of the patio door at the front of my house this morning. We have sub-freezing temperatures forecast for tomorrow morning too.

P.S. I wanted to mention somewhere that while I was digging with a shovel in the front yard yesterday, a lady from next door (public housing unit) stopped to thank me. "For what," I asked, genuinely confused. "For the air conditioner and the whistle," she said. I replied while smiling, "Oh, sure!" Not very eloquent, but I'm not exactly the master of human interactions. When I finally ordered a new smaller air conditioner unit last spring that would fit properly in my bedroom window, I offered the older/bigger unit to them for free, so it wouldn't go unused. Plus, they got one of foeclan's 3d-printed whistles when I delivered notes to my neighbors back in January.

Minneapolis seems to be in the lull before a storm. Our weather prediction includes, "WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 9 AM CST MONDAY" (emphasis in the original, scroll down to bottom). I see snow falling outside my bedroom window right now. That's good. The forecast was rain first, followed by snow, which would cause terrible ice conditions on sidewalks and roads for everyone. Only-snow is much better for everyone. It's still 2.5 hours until that noon arrival time.

I'm currently in between shifts of work today. Most people at the university have 1.5 weeks away from work. I, however, work on an "essential" team, so we have a skeleton crew during that time. We were actually and truly closed only on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day. I volunteered for shifts on Friday, Saturday, and today. If nobody volunteers, then somebody gets told to work, which is unpleasant stuff for the holidays, so... I volunteered on several shifts that were still empty.

I'm supposed to do an annual review of my Bingo 2025 card. I planned on it. I'm not sure that's going to happen. The thing about this job, where I'm constantly asked questions for which I don't know answers but have to find them on short notice, is that I don't have mental bandwidth to spare for other stuff after the work day has ended. I haven't done my annual tax review in a few years, for instance. It requires more thinking that my tired brain wants to avoid in favor of not-thinking to recover stamina.

I'll still do a Bingo 2026 card, though. I find it very useful to avoid stressful topics for a year. I'll continue that practice. Maybe I'll write more on that idea tomorrow.

I woke up this morning wondering, "Why am I so cold?" I have the bed's heating mattress set on high, even though the temperature outside is only at freezing (well, 2C/35F anyway), but I'm still cold.

The cat demanded food, so I went downstairs to feed her. I checked the house thermostat. Ah! The batteries on the thermostat were drained, so the furnace was not running at all. I put the batteries in the recharger, but I have no AAA-sized batteries right now that are charged. It will be hours before I can get even a temporary respite from the cold.

I went back upstairs and checked the thermometer (the CO2 meter) by my bedside. It's 12C/54F in my bedroom. That's why I'm so cold this morning. Problem identified, and the fix is on the way.

P.S. The cat finished her meal, came back upstairs, and clawed her way under the sheets in my bed. I turned the heating mattress back on for her. I'm at my computer, wrapped in a thick bath robe for warmth.