We are expecting our first major snowfall today. They are predicting 4-8” but a lot of it may be slushy snow which is the worst in my opinion. It’s heavy and hard to clean off my car or drive in. I’m feeling a bit under the weather. I think I’m getting a cold. I wish I could just stay home today, but that’s not an option. My appointment to get my snow tires put on is today and if I were to cancel, it would be another month before they could do it, so come hell or high water, I’m getting my tires changed today. I’d wait at the place while they do it, but they don’t have a waiting area anymore. They did away with it during the pandemic. So, my boss is going to pick me up and take me to the museum where I will likely feel miserable all day. I hate feeling like this.
We’ve been getting a lot of rain lately, and it’s been terrible for my migraines. Yesterday, I had to come home at lunchtime because my head was hurting so bad. I will be seeing my neurologist on Monday, and we’re going to have to have a discussion about this.
I try to write something every day. On Sundays, it’s my devotional. On Mondays, it’s whatever comes to mind, if anything. Tuesdays are almost always a poem that I want to share. Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays are again, whatever comes to mind, if anything. On Saturdays, I usually take a break from writing and post my “Moment of Zen,” which is occasionally accompanied by a short explanation, though most are self-explanatory. Each night, I post a Pic of the Day, which is always whatever picture strikes my fancy for that day. I have kept to this schedule for most of the twelve years I’ve posted to this blog. There are days, though, when I just don’t know what to write. Today is one of those days. It’s days like today that I just ramble about different stuff.
I’m just glad that the week is half over. It’s been a hot week, and that’s not likely to change. Vermont has been lucky so far this summer. Most of our days have been in the 60s or 70s F (or about 15-25 C). It’s been pleasant, but like what seems like the rest of the world, our temperature is up this week. We are expecting near 90 degree high temperatures for the five days. I’m ready for it to be back in the mid-70s.
Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of the ‘Respect for Marriage Act,’ a major step toward protecting the rights of married couples who could face future threats from discriminatory forces eager to overturn U.S. Supreme Court precedent on the freedom to marry for same-sex couples and interracial couples. Only 47 of the 211 Republican Representatives votes with the Democrats to pass the legislation. It now goes to the Senate, where its prospects are uncertain, as it requires at least 10 Republican votes to defeat a filibuster. So far the same-sex marriage protections have only one GOP backer: Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. The puts GOP senators in a bind, caught between their minority culturally conservative base, which opposes same-sex marriage, and a large majority of the country that wants it to remain legal.
I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I slipped and fell on the ice again yesterday. This time it wasn’t down my stairs. At least when I fell down the stairs, I landed in snow, and while going down the stairs was still painful, especially hitting my arms trying to grab the railing, the steps were covered in snow and somewhat cushioned my fall. Yesterday, I hit a solid sheet of ice that was on top of our parking area.
I have a set of spikes that fit into he bottom of my shoes, which I thought were in my apartment but when I went to look for them as I was leaving, they weren’t where they should have been, so I knew they were in my car. I was doing my best to be very careful, but all it takes is one misstep and as slippery as the ice was yesterday (it was lightly raining which added to the slipperiness), it was way too easy to misstep.
I’m not in as bad a shape as the guy in the picture above (nothing seemed to be broken), but one butt cheek is pretty sore, since that’s what I landed on. I also hurt my shoulder and neck as I was going down. I’m either going to have to be much more careful or learn how to fall correctly. My poor body just can’t take this crappy winter weather.
Today is supposed to be a rather messy weather day. I wish I could stay in and just curl up on the couch and watch television, but alas, I have an appointment at the Headache Clinic this morning. I’ll have to be very careful driving down there. The National Weather Service issued the following warning (edited for brevity and clarity):
From 1 pm today to 1 pm Saturday, snow is expected with a total accumulations of 3 to 7 inches and wind gusts as high as 35 mph. The mix of snow and rain is expected develop this morning before transitioning to all snow in the afternoon and continuing through tonight. The snow is expected to taper off Saturday morning. It is advised that drivers slow down and use caution while traveling and allow extra time if travel is necessary.
My travel this morning is necessary. This appointment is my quarterly Botox treatment for my migraines. I am so grateful for these treatments as it seems to be working, but they are a pain, literally. If my headaches had not been increasing over the last two weeks, I might attempt to postpone my appointment, but I feel that this is something that cannot wait. As I wrote this last night, I had a bad headache. With the increased frequency and intensity over the past two weeks, I desperately need some relief.
On a totally different note, my Thanksgiving meal turned out pretty well, especially the cornbread dressing and the dessert I made. Here’s the recipe for the dessert I came up with (I haven’t thought of a name for it yet. Any suggestions?):
Ingredients
12 oz bag of cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 tsp orange zest
1/2 cup water
1 Granny Smith Apple (cored, peeled, and diced)
1/2 cup pineapple
2 oz. good vodka (I prefer Grey Goose)
4 Philadelphia Cheesecake Crumbles
1 can whipped cream (or make your own)
Preparation Steps
Empty a 12-ounce bag of fresh or frozen cranberries into a saucepan.
Add 1 cup sugar, 1 strip orange or lemon zest and 1/2 cup water to the pan and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves and the cranberries are soft, about 10 minutes.
Increase the heat to medium and cook until the cranberries burst, about 12 minutes.
With 5 minutes left, add diced apples and pineapple and stir to combine.
Add 2 oz. vodka and cool to room temperature.
According to what consistency you would like the cranberry mixture, either leave as is or place in a food processor or blender and pulse to your desired consistency.
Divide the mixture between 4 parfait glasses (or I used martini glasses). Top with one package of cheesecake, spreading evenly over cranberry mixture.
Top with graham cracker crumbles and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.
A week or so ago, it snowed for the first time this season, but it was barely a dusting of snow. The night before last we got about an inch of snow and it snowed all day yesterday, although none of it stuck and most of the overnight snow had melted by mid-morning. This seems like one of the latest first snow fall we’ve had since I moved to Vermont. Most years, we’ve gotten snow in mid- to late-October and if we didn’t get any snow before Halloween, it has snowed the first week of November. Whenever it snows, I always hear the above song in my head, especially now that I live in Vermont.
Snow It won’t be long before we’ll all be there with snow Snow I want to wash my hands, my face and hair with snow Snow I long to clear a path and lift a spade of snow Snow Oh, to see a great big man entirely made of snow
Once the snow starts, it’s here until May. And so it begins…
The sci-fi geek in me had to include this small clip from the show Babylon 5 because I always hear in my head the phrase “And so it begins,” in Kosh’s voice.
Last night, we had our first snow of the season. This makes only the second time since I moved to Vermont that our first snow has been after Halloween. I am not complaining. Honestly, I don’t know that I’m ready for snow just yet. Luckily, last night was only a light dusting. Other areas of Vermont, like Burlington, received a mix of precipitation yesterday morning and during the day, but we’d only had light rain intermittently yesterday. The mountains saw a fair amount of snow yesterday, but they had gotten a little bit of snow already.
❄️Winter is coming!❄️
🤬Dammit!🤬
Soon, we’ll be clearing inches of snow off our cars to go anywhere. I’ve been told that the stripes/coloring of the caterpillars are indicative of a mild winter this year, but I was also told that the caterpillars are sometimes wrong. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
I have been told that our wooly bear caterpillars look like the one in the middle and are mostly brown. However, I’ve never seen a caterpillar in Vermont, so I have no idea what they look like this year.
My heart goes out to those who are suffering from the aftermath of Hurricane Ida. Hurricanes can be so devastating, and the loss of electricity at this time of year for those in the hurricane’s path can be deadly. With a lack of air conditioning, the heat and the humidity can be overwhelming in a hurricane’s aftermath, not to mention the massive number of bugs that are pushed ashore from storms like these. In the days after Katrina, the love bugs were so numerous that you couldn’t always see more than twenty feet in front of you. The love bugs are the harmless ones. The mosquitoes and gnats and all the other creepy crawlies will be everywhere. They are mostly a nuisance, the devastation that comes from wind, flooding, and tornadoes is much worse. So, the people in the path of Hurricane Ida are in my prayers.
I had a really bad migraine day yesterday. I’m hoping to wake up this morning with less pain than yesterday. It was one of the worst migraines I’ve had in years. At times, the pain brought tears to my eyes. Thankfully, I go for my next Botox treatment on Thursday. I’m hoping I will see improvement because I think the last treatment has worn off. I’m not looking forward to the procedure, but I am looking forward to the effects of it. I really hope it helps. Migraines with the addition of the trigeminal neuralgia pain can be overwhelming at times, and I need some relief.
I had short periods when I was able to be slightly productive. I made the brown sugar pecan pound cake I spoke of the other day. I made one on Saturday, but it did not turn out as well as I expected. Putting the pecans on top as the recipe called for, caused me to mistakenly believe it was completely done (the toothpick did come out clean). As it cooled, I realized that it was not done in the middle, so yesterday, when I had a short time with tolerable pain, I made another one. It turned out much better partly because I cooked it longer, but also because I mixed all of the pecans in the batter. It’s almost too sweet for my tastes, but it was good. I wouldn’t have made another yesterday, except that I’d promised my friend and neighbor that I’d give her half the cake when it was made. I was embarrassed and wouldn’t give her part of the failed cake. I didn’t want to admit defeat, so I made another one.
It wasn’t the greatest of weekends, but I hope the week will be better. Work should not be too bad this week (fingers crossed/knock on wood). I’m off work Thursday for my Botox treatment, and I’m taking a vacation day Friday so I can be refreshed and have plenty of time to get ready for the Pride Ball in Burlington that night. Sunday will be the annual Vermont Pride Parade down Church Street in Burlington. It most likely won’t be a big parade. They never are. They only last about 20-30 minutes, but they are fun. So, I have that to look forward to this weekend.
It looks like today might be a very wet day in Vermont. According to what Tropical Storm Henri does overnight and what I wake up to this morning, we could get a lot of rain. In my life, I’ve been through a lot of tropical storms and a few hurricanes (Opal [1995] and Katrina [2005] being the most memorable), but I thought once I moved to Vermont, the most I could expect was the remnants of tropical weather. We’ll see what today brings. It looks like most of it will be in southern Vermont. Central and northern Vermont are expecting to get very little, if any. However, you never really know. Tropical weather systems, no matter how strong or weak, can be very unpredictable. Henri has basically changed course every hour, but as of last night, it looked like the storm would turn east and go across Massachusetts.
The thing about storms like Henri, I really wish I could stay home and not have to get out in it, but if it’s not too bad, I know the museum will be open, and I’ll have to go into work. Thank goodness for umbrellas.
Early Morning Update: It looks like Vermont will be spared from Henri. NJ, NY, RI, and CT will most likely continue to take the brunt of the storm today. It is tracking East heading out into the Atlantic, but it appears to be slow moving. Vermont could see some rain this evening, but nothing close to what was originally predicted.
A heat wave, high humidity, a storm front, and a cold front all passing through Vermont over the last few days, the weather has been crazy. The heat, and I know it’s much worse elsewhere, and changes in atmospheric pressure has gotten to me. I woke yesterday with a bad migraine that plagued me all day and into the evening. I had to take a sick day from work, and I spent most of the day in bed. I pray that I wake up today feeling much better.
Overall, my headaches have been getting better, but the damage done to my trigeminal nerve by that infected tooth is going to take some time to heal. My doctor told me it would likely be slow to heal. I am on medicine to calm the nerve pain, but major changes in the weather still trigger headaches.
Joe
The Closet Professor 