Swiftly tilting planet...

OK, what is going on here??? I was supposed to go to Virginia for a long weekend tomorrow - but they are getting so much snow, ice, and winter that I am cancelled. No sense escaping the sunny, relatively mild midcoast winter of late to fly south into winter disaster. The power company had restored almost all of the tens of thousands of customers who lost power in the midatlantic storm last weekend.......but alas they are getting freezing rain to be followed by heavy snow and high winds tonight.  Not my idea of a February break. The temperature was 20 degrees warmer up here today! What a wacky winter. Of course it will also probably give fuel to the skeptics who don't believe in global warming, and of course swell the federal government when they bring out the extra snow plows, salt, and sand in DC. Sheesh, the pinheads are going to have a hard time arguing their way out of this one!
Weathering the weather. What a complex chore. I've been trying to master the balancing act of being a socially responsible energy consumer in this my first winter in Maine. Invested heavily in added insulation and new super energy efficient windows. Not enough, I discovered, to get the maximum credit when I invoice the federal stimulus package....so I'll get to buy more insulation and windows this year! My little house has three main energy sources - an oil-fired boiler, a little vented propane heater in my mud room, and a little jotul woodstove in the kitchen. And oh yeah, a little electric space heater up in the  attic type room above the kitchen where I go sometimes to watch a movie. So, stoking fires and balancing thermostats beomes its own little dance. Add to that the opening and closing of doors to keep zones cooler or warmer, opening and closing drapes and blinds with the rising and setting sun, and just keeping track of the various sweaters and throws that you keep around to take the chill off your shoulders or legs. Jeez, winter life here is complicated!  But I guess I shouldn't mention that to my friends down south who are actually getting pummeled with snow and cold. Go figure!!!!!
Winter or not, problems are getting old, and folks are getting short - tempered and ornery. February, the longest short month of the year. I've had my three bad luck charms back to back in the last month or so, and I sure hope that trend is over. The tree falling on my house is a fading memory. My badly sprained wrist is coming along, and, well....I'm still really ticked about my car getting rear-ended and the near $7000 damage to maybe my favorite car ever. Well, it used to be.    hopefully they'll put it back "good as new" like they promised, because we all know how easy it is going to be to sell a Toyota in the near future - especially one that was just in a wreck. OK, I'm pretty much over being bummed about all of that. What are you going to do??  Stick your head in the sand?  Well, OK, we do still have a little bit of snow...
Hey, but look at the bright sides. or keep your chin up, as my mother used to say. Where else but small town and a great work team would your program director show up at the scene of your accident while you're talking to the policeman and tow truck....with a thermos of hot tea. (It was cold that day). It's so OK here I'm going to take back my two scheduled days off this week, and just go to work because it's really not that bad of an idea.  I'll take the vacation time later when I really need it. Plus, I really like all the little people I get to play with. Although they too are swimming in problems what with their parents losing jobs and houses and such. They also of course have developmental delays and disabilities, but they're still too little and cool to have an inkling of all that just yet. Life is so rich.....even when it seems to be turned upside down.
OK, it's way past my bedtime. The dog stinks to high heaven from some critter he found out in the dark of night- and I have to move as far away from him in this house as I can. Any idea what might reek like a skunk, but have some little added dank and rank twist........more like I imagine a moose might smell??? Tomorrow is another day to deal with that one.......