Polar Vortex Stories - What did you do?

Here in Toledo, OH - many places shut down on Wednesday and Thursday. Some places will continue to be closed on Friday. No mail delivery on Wednesday and Thursday. At my new job (small candy store), the manager said the store would open at noon, and gave me the option of taking the day off - she didn't think there would be much business anyway. Yes, I stayed home and tackled some housework - stacks of stuff to sort through and organize. We've been using some kerosene heaters to help our old radiator system with heating the house (built in 1906) - don't want the pipes to freeze, of course! So far, so good. Also, we have quite a collection of working antique lamps, and some of those were lit at times to help with the warmth.

It was interesting to read on FB how some parents were dealing with spending time at home with their children. Were you affected? What did you do?

Strange how I'm in the state right next to you, and it's almost the complete opposite. lol

It's cold, but that's about it. I think it's about 8* as I'm writing this. We got some snow the other day.....big whoop....2''. I didn't even get out my shovel. I let the sun take care of it. lol I think the schools were 2 hours late that day, but were on time the next day.

I went to visit my mom at hospital on Wed, and I think I over dressed. I had on a sweater, sweatshirt, my extra heavy coat, scarf and 3 prs of gloves. The wind was a bit much, but I probably could have got away with 2 prs of gloves, and my usual coat. The wind had already blown the snow off my car, and I only had a little bit of ice to scrape off.

Roads were ok, except for some drifting. I just made sure I was home before dark, because I knew it was all going to freeze again.

I had a new furnace/AC installed last month, so it's been quite nice in here for a change. It runs more at night than it does in the daytime. In the morning, I open the curtains in the front of the house to let the sun in and that seems to help until around 3pm.

The only thing that really bothers me is the amount of creeking my house is doing.

We're under a 'winter weather advisory' until 5pm today.

Translation:
People will freak out.
Buy milk, bread, toilet paper.
Nothing will happen.

Accu-weather insists that it's snowing here. (They need to change their name).

Tuesday was a little dicey too - very cold and icy. I went to the candy shop, and it wasn't very busy. The manager was a little late because she slipped on some ice as she was leaving her house - a little bruised, but no other injuries. My sweetie took me to work so he could keep the car in the garage instead of having it parked out in the cold parking lot all day. After he picked me up, I had to go to the theater for a pre-production meeting, and some of the slush was turning into ice. The woman in charge of costumes slipped on ice before she got to the meeting, and had to go to the ER; luckily it was a sprained ankle and not a broken one. Now everything is going slushy, icy and melty for the next few days. But I'm sure we're not done with cold snaps yet.

Boy it got cold here and windy, my house said it was -16 but since the sun shines on it I'm pretty sure if was off by a little, yesterday when it was 40 something the house thought it was 75. LOL So much for the thermostat they put on the outside with a high efficiency furnace. I also hate it when the house pops like it's coming apart, my old house didn't do that but it was made of square tile 2 deep so if it started cracking the roof would have probably come down. Out here we are prepared for pretty much anything, have a stocked pantry, case of water just incase it freezes, cars were all gassed up but we didn't leave, we have a kerosene heater incase of emergencies, had hubby check and make sure the generator started before it got real cold and it runs fine, we get power outages when there is not a cloud in the sky and the weather is great so we were ready. Checked on our neighbors a couple of times but they know they can call us. HOT WATER HEAT, oh Lord I miss it, we used to put a box fan on low in front of one of the radiators to blow the hot air out and pull cool air from under and that could run you out of that side of the house. I miss those great big old radiators, looked for months to find another house with hot water heat not a week goes by where we are sorry we left the old house. We used electric throws and I had a heating pad on my back, yep moved wrong, we wear sweat pants and socks we don't crank the heat up, we have one of those space heaters with the wood cabinet I got several years ago at Menards because the basement got a little cold and that is where the TV is. To work in a candy store, I love the smell of chocolate in the morning, I'd weigh 300 lbs. I always laugh at the people who run to the store like it's Armageddon, everyone should have a enough that can get them through a few days of inclement weather, or illness, or whatever. I picked up a loaf of bread but have a box in the cabinet I could have thrown in an old bread maker, I really should check on the expiration. Glad to hear you made it through, sad to hear even in this day in age some people died due to the weather. They opened all the warming centers and some businesses were taking people in after they had furnace trouble, the hospitals opened some unused areas. So as always I believe people are basically good.

We got ice in Toledo early this week. Our trash didn't get picked up on Tuesday - I guess some of the neighborhood roads were too icy. A lady I work with at the candy shop had no electricity at her house for over 24 hours. Another acquaintance had a live wire down in her back yard that took over 18 hours to fix. She was afraid to even leave her place. Yet another friend suffered a broken window when a branch broke off a nearby tree from the weight of the ice. Wild winter happenings for February.

I'm still waiting for the big one. You know, the BLIZZARD! The one that's gonna dump 3-4 feet of snow on us, and shut down the whole state! lol

I know it's out there.........I can sense it.

It just hasn't found me yet.:gaah

I know what you mean! I don't think that last snow event was the last one. Sort of like waiting for the other shoe to drop...

Rain Rain, when will it stop!! All I can say is thank God it's not cold enough to be snow, with an avg of 1 foot for every inch of snow we would be buried up to the middle of the windows. Praying for those who lost everything, I can't imagine what they are going through, hoping for more sunshine and warmer weather but I'm afraid once it warms up we will all be complaining about the heat and having to mow the grass.

Yesterday when I checked the weather app on my phone, there was a possibility of snow at the end of the week. Tonight - the flake is gone, thank goodness. It's still going to be a bit chilly (lows in the 20s) but I think we may be clear of any real snow for the rest of the season. Come on Spring!