Post # 200

To celebrate the 200th post, I will provide the good news. I am alive. I have not frozen to death in this cold snap. This, according to the Globe and Mail and other reputable news sources, places me ahead of quite a number of other people in the last week. Two small children have frozen to death in Saskatchewan, three people were killed in a blizzard on the road between Edmonton and Jasper, and a cat was found, I am not making this up, frozen to the sidewalk in Edmonton last week.

In other news, the total loss people have finally told me that they are making an offer on my truck. I will be squeezing them for closer to what it is worth, but I might just be able to buy a working car with what they will give me. Fingers crossed, people.

Jenn Went back to work today. Apparently, it was...bleich. The kids were really happy she was back, and plenty of the staff. On top of that, her grievance has been formalized, and we are now at the start of the actual "under the collective agreement" thing. What that means is that if the timelines for the grievance process all go the maximum length, Jenn's problems might just get resolved by the end of the teaching year. Isn't that great?

Anyway, work has been going good for me, I have been rocking the whole practicing law thing, and I hope to actually be finished my thesis soon too, which would allow me to justify reading for fun.

You can get used to anything

Witness the fact that I was happy on my drive in to work because it was "Only" -38c WITH the windchill. The actual temperature was only -28c.

Next week it is supposed to go up near zero. I don't know how I will cope. I'll have to take off all my clothes and go tanning on the front lawn.

A weather update

The windchill this morning on my way to work was announced on the radio as -47c. My colleague spent an hour digging his car out of the end of his driveway, and had to go home with mild hypothermia at noon.

I am not looking forward to the drive home. I think I may leave early to take advantage of the daylight.

My weather forecast

Here is what environment Canada has to say about Spruce Grove tomorrow:

AN ARCTIC AIR MASS HAS SETTLED OVER NORTHERN AND CENTRAL ALBERTA. THE VERY COLD TEMPERATURES COMBINED WITH A BRISK NORTHERLY WIND WILL PRODUCE EXTREME WIND CHILL VALUES BELOW MINUS 40 TONIGHT INTO MONDAY MORNING. HIGH RISK OF FROSTBITE. EXPOSED SKIN CAN FREEZE IN 5 TO 10 MINUTES OR SOONER DEPENDING ON WIND SPEED. REDUCED VISIBILITIES IN SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW ARE OCCURRING IN THE COLD LAKE, FORT SASKATCHEWAN AND LLOYDMINSTER REGIONS. SNOWFALL AMOUNTS NEAR 10 CENTIMETRES ARE EXPECTED AND WIND CHILL VALUES WILL FALL BELOW MINUS 40. VISIBILITIES AND SNOWFALL ARE EXPECTED TO IMPROVE MONDAY MORNING HOWEVER WIND CHILLS WILL REMAIN BELOW MINUS 40 INTO MONDAY.

Doesn't that sound lovely?

Here are a couple of pictures of the tiny kitten. She is very tiny and very sweet.

Part two of the saga of the visit to the Edmonton Humane Society

As sad as we were to leave Mandy at the shelter for someone who can provide a ferret-proofed space for her, we couldn't leave a cat at an over-capacity shelter without doing our part to make us cat-neutral. On the way home, we were joined by Pet # 5174 (Shiraz). She was promptly re-named in the music theme: Billie (Bear) Holiday Cat-Kirkaldy. She is almost as snuggly as Banjo was when he was her age, but she hasn't shown any distinct preference for Jenn yet, so I have high hopes she might like me too.

I am not very happy.

Last night, Mandy, who has already had an ongoing problem for three years with chewing through string, has moved on to harder stuff. Electrical cords. This makes my cat a fire hazard.

So this afternoon, we are going to the humane society to give her up to the program for cats who are too difficult to live with and are adopted as barn cats. This means that my cat, who is the gentlest cat I think I have ever seen with people (although lethal to anything smaller than her) will have a new life where she will probably never get another tummy rub. After about noon, she won't be getting any from me.