Ho Ho Humbug, Hm-m-m

My last post was just after we had arrived back in Wisconsin for the Christmas holiday.  We expected to have a good time with family and friends and to relax for a little while.  We were able to do both of those things. although not quite the way we had planned.

My immune system is down, so I heeded the advice of my doctors and avoided most places where crowds of people gather: church, restaurants, stores, and shopping malls.  (Luckily, shopping for Christmas items online is not difficult these days, and NOT going to malls probably added to a more serene Christmas holiday.)  Being away from most people, however, did leave us both a little stir-crazy after a while.

One major highlight of the trip home was watching the adoption finalization ceremony for our new grandson.  He legally became a part of our family forever on December 23.  What a great joy!  None of us really needed or wanted anything else for Christmas.

The judge makes Owen a legal part of my daughter's and son-
in-law's family.  What a wonderful blessing!

Yes, we have a new grandson; unfortunately, our time with him also was very limited since either he, our daughter, or our son-in-law seemed to be battling one or more illnesses throughout the holiday season.  We did spend a delightful Christmas day with them and with our oldest daughter, so Christmas itself was lots of fun.  I also was able to visit my 90-year-old mother a couple of times, so that was a good part of the Wisconsin trip, too.  Additionally, we met with my good friend Bonnie for a wonderful meal and conversation at her home before Christmas, and a delightful meal and conversation with our friends Rose Marie and Jack on New Year's eve.  All in all, the companionship we chose to have was great... just limited.

During this time, the ice and snow kept appearing.  Reports showed that we had half of the season's normal snowfall all in December.  At least we were able to witness how our snow removal service worked, and we were very pleased with the results.  Then, the worst cold spell to hit the nation since 1996 arrived just before we left.  We had record low temperatures from between -12 to -25 actual temperatures with wind chills that ranged between -20 to -52! When temperatures get that low, taking a deep breath outside actually HURTS.  No one ventured anywhere.  A weatherman took a tee-shirt, dipped it in warm water, and took it outside.  It froze  solid in 90 seconds.  School was cancelled in the area because temperatures at or below -35 are dangerous for children.  Schools were cancelled again today (Wednesday) because the diesel fuel in all of the school busses froze into an unusable gel. Although we could have purchased tickets to Ice Bowl II -- the playoff game between Green Bay and San Francisco -- we were smart enough to pass that opportunity and to watch the game from our warm, dry den.  Green Bay lost anyway at the last minute, and who needs frostbite in under five minutes?

While we miss family (the Ho Ho in the title above), we were not sad to leave a place that is certainly living up to its nickname of the Frozen Tundra (the Humbug).  We were concerned about the flight back to Florida due to all of the weather-related delays, but we were fairly lucky in the end (the Hm-m-m).

Flights had been delayed for hours or cancelled entirely due to storms, cold, ice, and blizzards in the Midwest and on the East Coast.  I am always amazed that mankind with all of our advanced technology and machinery is brought to its knees in the face of severe weather.  If horrible cold or a blizzard appears, our automobiles cease to work or slide helplessly into ditches.  Our airlines are grounded due to fog, ice, or white-out blizzards. Wind takes down power lines and disrupts Internet and satellite signals, cutting us off from communication to others in the world.  How we delude ourselves into thinking that we in control of our world.

Travel was not good over the weekend or on Monday of this week. We were hoping that by yesterday, Tuesday, travel would start to get back to normal... and it almost did.  Our day started with a snafu with the rental car we had picked up Monday afternoon to drive to Milwaukee.  Flying from Green Bay is cost-prohibitive, so we rent a car, drive to Milwaukee, and fly from there.  Even with the car rental, we save over $400 dollars.  We brought home a filthy Mazda (with a note of apology that it was too cold to run cars through the car wash), took dry rags to remove some of the dirt from the windows and lights, and put it in our garage so it would start Tuesday morning.  It started fine the next day, but we soon discovered as we ventured down the highway that the car was not equipped with cruise control.  I thought that all cars -- and especially a 2012 model -- would have cruise as a standard package.  Not this car.  We called Hertz and asked if they had a car with cruise available since Rick was not about to push an accelerator all  the way to Milwaukee.  They complied with a small, very dirty Chevrolet; our trip was delayed by a little over 40 minutes, but we were once again on our way.  Our plane was coming in from New York.  While that caused problems earlier in the week, for our flight the plane was only delayed about 30 minutes.  We were scheduled to leave at 2:40, and we actually left a little after 3:00.  The flight was uneventful.  Thankfully, I was seated next to an older lady who seemed to be very healthy, so our trip was relatively germ-free and serene.  The shuttle ride home, however, had a man in the back seat who coughed half of the way home.  I tried to avoid him and to not breathe in the germ-filled air. We'll see if I am still healthy in another week or so.

Today was a busy day.  We started by stocking the refrigerator, and then were off to Lowe's (my confirmation that we were, indeed, in Florida!) to pick up our ordered blinds for Gladys. That venture took over an hour, but we were happy that the entire order came in.

Happy birthday, Steve! You looked
pretty cool in the 1950's!

This afternoon we visited Steve and Chris since today was Steve's birthday.  We caught up on news, and then came home to hang two of the new blinds on the front doors.  We purchased privacy shades that not only give us that needed privacy in the evening, but they also will block 93% of the sunlight that beats through the doors during the summer months when we are not here.  We hope they will save us cooling costs in those warm months.

The new shades blend in well with the front doors
and give us privacy and protection from the sun.

While the cold spell actually came this far south, we were able to go out today with just fleece jackets.  The temperatures only climbed into the high 50's (and Rick and I laughed at the wimps down here bundled in winter jacket and stocking caps), but the 50's were wonderful for us as we started to thaw after our trip to the Frozen Tundra.