No, This Isn’t a New Post

~ Jenny

It’s snowing again. It snowed again yesterday, too. It’s going to snow this weekend. It’s going to snow a lot more at the beginning of next week. I have ordered Cadbury chocolate from England (because England has not screwed up Cadbury the way the US has because, as SNL pointed out, the only thing that still works fine in America is Tom Brady) and Tate’s walnut chocolate chip cookies from Amazon even though they’re a dollar cheaper in my local grocery, which I would have to dig out my car and drive through the snow to get so, hey, an extra buck is fine with me (sorry about that Amazon driver, but since you just leave the boxes on the hood of my car, never mind, I’m not sorry AT ALL), and a heated pad for Emily to sleep on since she will NOT leave the sun porch although she does deign to accept head scratches now along with pricey cat food and a full water dish, and also from Amazon both thick and thin Chop Suey noodles, not for Emily but for me because it’s comfort food time . . .

Where was I?

It’s snowing again. I have a draft post on New Thoughts on Writing Sex Scenes which I might get up tonight but probably not because I will have spent the afternoon shoveling white stuff which is still coming down, albeit not as enthusiastically. In fact, you could call this latest snowfall “lackluster snow.” It’s going to keep going, but it’s not going to be sprightly about it. It’s snow shrugging its shoulders as it falls. Whatever, it’s thinking. Who cares? Even snow is tired of snowing.

I don’t mean to complain (yes, I do, I do mean to complain) but I’ve had enough winter. It’s beautiful and peaceful and I’m sure there are other positive aspects to it, but whatever they are, they’re buried under the latest eight-to-ten inches (man, there are a lot of Game of Thrones “Eight inches of Snow is a good thing” memes), so, nope, not seeing the upside.

Feel free to talk about whatever you want in the comments since this isn’t a real post. Actually, you can always feel free to talk about whatever you want in the comments on any post because we’re not Topic Nazis here. That’s the royal We; it’s just me, really, covered in snow, on the lookout for any personal attack comments which have happened twice in the past sixteen years here, so it’s not like I have to be alert, which is good because I’m covered in snow . . .

It’s still snowing.

67 thoughts on “No, This Isn’t a New Post”

  1. I will comfort you this summer when we’re experiencing 100+ degree temperatures and humidity set on sauna because you will have lovely weather again. One day.

    Although any time I’ve contemplated moving from here, I see snow photos from my oldest and think, “Nope. Not for all the delivered chocolate in the world.”

    hmmm. I am not really helping here, am I?

    I’m glad Emily the cat is staying inside (enough) and safe.

    1. You live in the French Quarter in NOLA. Why would you ever move?
      Also I plan on visiting you once the apocalypse is over, so you stay there.

      1. I only really think about it in August. But then I go sit on the deck upstairs and we get a nice breeze off the river, so even in the dead of August, it’s nice (mostly at night).

        And yes, come visit. I’ll have your own bedroom/bath/kitchen area read and there’s a stunning YARN SHOP right outside the building (well, I can see it from my door, so it’s probably 30 yards or so away). Gorgeous place.

  2. I managed to get bit by mosquitoes in February, albeit it’s 50’s/60’s above here. Also I am just that person.

  3. Mosquitoes love me…unfortunately! We’re getting nickel and dimes here with snow, unlike your area. We get a few inches here and a couple of inches there and it adds up, but the good news it that we’re not going to have any more after today until Sunday!

    I am so glad you got Emily inside and accepting gestures of affection. Now you don’t have to worry about her freezing or starving to death during all this snow!

    1. Emily’s way of accepting affection is to butt my hand with her head and then gaze balefully at me while I scratch behind her ears, clearly thinking, “Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you.” She makes Grumpy Cat look loving.

      Well, it’s been a tough winter for all of us.

      2. We catsit an ex-rescue cat sometimes. Her idea of a good time is to lay down in front of you for a tummy rub. Then if you don’t get it just right she bites your hand. Quite hard. Or scratches you. Maybe it’s just Stockholm Syndrome but I think she is a proper cat. It’s like having a small tiger in the house.

      3. If you want a pet who will express affection in predictable ways, stick to dogs. Cats, being the regal animals they are, prefer to bestow favor whenever or however they wish. You are just the servant who operates the can opener.

  5. You mentioned Tom Brady in your snow-post, seven time Super Bowl champion, but what really makes me happy is to see his oldest son finally on the stage/platform at last with his two sibs. I don’t know how many times I’ve felt terrible for him not being there to celebrate. Of course I blamed it on his ex, maybe she could see the faux daggers I was sending when I saw her on Blue Bloods and relented.

    I have bought Tate’s cookies when they are on sale and also getting attached to Pepperidge Farm’s Thin and Crispy anything cookies. Wish they made lemon. Maybe they are not available here.

    Snowing here too, better stop before tomorrow when we go to get our Covid shot.

    Looks like Emily has you right where she wants you. Have you found out if Emily is an Emily or Emile?

    1. Since the only way to do that is to grasp Emily firmly and lift her tail, no. We’re just not to that stage of our relationship.

  6. I’m looking forward to your musings on sex scenes. Just finished a book where they got pn like rabbits and frankly I missed the story in between the sex scenes. And the sex wasn’t hot al all. Reminded me too much of the little porn I’ve seen.

    They also smirked a lot (hero, heroine, little niece…). Though it was used as cheeky grinning…
    Very bland book, very hollow story. Bonk fest of beautiful yet boring people.

  7. All shoveled out-again. It stopped snowing and the temperature is above freezing and the plows have been through so the roads are good. But, I’m not going out grocery shopping today. I’ll do it tomorrow.

    Tantaka, the wonderful dog, was diagnosed with Cushings disease. So bad news but not cancer or anything else that can’t be treated.

    More snow on the way but one day at a time.

    1. One of the cat-fostering accounts I follow in Instagram (foxfosterkittens) just had a kitten diagnosed with osteogenesis imperfecta (rare bone disorder that has some symptoms in common with my own rare bone disorder, so I’ve met several OI patients). I tend to forget that domesticated animals can get “human” disorders. I know there are mice with my own disorder, but I’ve never heard of a cat with it. They probably exist but just aren’t diagnosed and the symptoms are attributed to some other cause.

  8. It’s supposed to be well below -40 C/F here tonight (and has been for the past 6 or so) and it’s supposed to snow tonight. Just a little but it’s still supposed to snow. That’s not the way it usually works, anything below -40 is supposed to be a no-snowing zone. This is our first real cold snap of the winter so I can’t complain too loudly. I can remember when we would have a -40 spell 3-4 times a winter for sometimes 2-3 weeks at a time. Being a rural kid and taking the bus, that meant no school as it was considered unsafe for the buses to run.

    The coldest I’ve seen it was -55 but it could have be colder, the thermometer didn’t go any colder.

    It’s so cold even Fred the Snow Dog doesn’t want to be outside.

    Having said that, cold is relative and I can’t handle the heat. Toni et al can keep their humidity and alligators and hurricanes and ginormous bugs.

    1. The lowest we’re going to get so far is 5F above next week. Still too damn cold but at least not -40.

      1. I can’t understand Fahrenheit any longer (I switched when I started work 40 years ago, because the radio forecasts in Leeds were centigrade only). Well, I get hot temperatures (‘it’s in the nineties’), but cold ones are really baffling.

        1. Forty below is the same in both systems, which makes a lot of sense to me. Once it gets that cold, it is all misery, any way you measure it.

        2. Thanks, Jane, for a learning moment. I looked up centigrade to celsius and discovered they were both the same thing. I did not know this. It sounds as thought – and correct me if I am wrong – that originally everyone said centigrade then at some time started calling it Celsius. Since Celsius is named after someone, I think, centigrade must have been the original metric name.

          1. Yes: forty years ago everyone (except possibly scientists) said ‘centigrade’, then suddenly (it seemed) that was wrong. But it’s the same system. I do think there’s a helpful everyday logic to freezing water being 0 and boiling water being 100.

        3. I had to switch moving from the US to Australia. I actively resist learning the temperature scale in the summer. I now have this odd blank spot in my head for weather. 40-45˚C is obviously too hot but if I had to think it’s 104-113˚F it would seem much worse. I don’t look up oven temps anymore but I still had to look up 40-45˚C to translate it to write it down.

          1. I was surprised how easily I adapted to kilometres when in Australia: had to, since I drove there. It’s a ridiculously mixed system in the UK. We still use miles for distance. I think everything else is officially metric (so you buy litres of petrol, although your car then tells you your fuel efficiency in miles per gallon. The NHS weighs me in kilos, but I weigh myself in stones. Food’s now sold in kilos and litres, although some milk is in odd litre amounts because the bottles are pints. You still buy beer by the pint. And I use whichever system works best for me when I’m designing a garden or a sewing project).

            It would have made much more sense if we’d just switched back in the seventies when the money went decimal, likeAustralia.

  9. I missed the Sunday snow because I was in the rain zone, but I have some hopes for tomorrow. Not that it matters. Telecommuting has taken all the fun out of snow anticipation.

    I was going to say I hope we get smacked with snow, but I don’t want anything to interfere with vaccine distribution. I got my first shot today (because of work–I don’t qualify otherwise), and who am I to want it to be difficult for others?

  10. We have snow here too. Followed by snow, plus bitter cold, some more cold, and some more cold. They are not predicting temps above 29 degrees F (and that’s the high) for the next 10 days.

    I too, am tired of winter. SOOOOO tired.

    Also, I keep getting this error message when I try to post here. Anyone else?

    Secure Connection Failed

    An error occurred during a connection to arghink.com. PR_END_OF_FILE_ERROR

    The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because the authenticity of the received data could not be verified.
    Please contact the website owners to inform them of this problem.

    1. I doubt we’ll get more than 19 here in the next 10 days and we’re farther South than you are. Go figure.

  11. We’re about to get snow here in WA’s wine country and I am not enthused. Although it will knock down the pollen, slow down the weeds, and discourage the bugs so there’s that. Hope you can keep the kitty warm, heated pet beds really are great for that.

    1. She’s in the bedroom I usually sleep in and there are thermal drapes and lots of blankets and her fur has gotten ridiculously thick, so I think she’ll be fine. If not, she knows where the space heater in the workroom is, and she can decamp to that.

    2. Charlene are you closer to Hanford or to Walla Walla or to the Horse Heavens? (Ignore this if it is more information than you want to share on the internet). I lived in Richland for 10 years – for the first 4 years in a B house. Plus we had family who grew up in the area.

  12. It’s getting colder here. I just had a really awful day at work. Just awful. And then realized it’s only Tuesday.

  13. Sneaking out of lurkerdom to say thank you for the laugh with this post. My day was filled with things not working as they should and all the frustration that brings, so I was very much in need of a laugh. This did the trick, as this blog often does for me, so thank you for being such a wonderful escape outlet. I am also within the continuous snow band that’s hanging around the mid-Atlantic, so I very much sympathize with you being completely over the snow. I think I need to go find chocolate now. Enjoy yours once it arrives!

  14. By the way, I’ve unilaterally stopped using the old Working Wednesday hashtag on Instagram, and switched to #ArghInk. Hope that’s OK, Jenny. Or if you’d prefer something different, could you let us know?

  15. The chickadees flit all around the bird feeders – even when it’s snowing which is comical and lightens my mood. But today, The fat male cardinal sat at the empty feeder picking at the empty sunflower seed shells while his mate flitted around picking up seeds on the ground and at the other feeders. They aren’t as easy to perch on for the larger birds, but the jays do fine and so does she, but he looked so grumpy that it made me laugh and yell at him to get off his but and go to a different feeder if he was hungry.

    I don’t think he heard me.

  16. It has so far been a very mild winter here, and the few times we’ve had snow forecasts of 1″-2″ or 2″-3″, we’ve gotten some fast-melting sleet or a very light dusting of snow that’s gone within a day.

    So when forecasters last night said 2″-4″, I went to bed expecting 0.5 inches at most…. But I woke up today to 7″- 8″ on the ground.

    OOPS.

    So I’ve been out shoveling and salting, since I canceled things today that I’ll have to go do tomorrow. More snow expected Weds night, too. So, more shoveling in my future, as it’s happening in a week when I can’t just stay home until it melts (and with temps dropping steeply, it’s also not expected to melt for a while).

    I’ve been learning to bake bread, but cannot warm up the winter nights with bread baking just now, because my oven has run mad. The stovetop and broiler work okay, but when I turn on the oven, the temp careens all over the place, from extreme to extreme. So “oven repair” just went on my “save $ for this” To Do list.

  17. No snow falling yet, but we have this weirdness: a neighborhood power outage that is affecting only half our house. Thank goodness the furnace and water heater and desktop computers are on; no oven, TV or fridge, but we can always put the freezer contents outside.

    Also, I finally put up pictures of this year’s winter picnic table photo shoot. Here’s a link to the whole album–you’ll know which shots are from this year!

    https://bit.ly/3cYL8Pp

      1. Thank you! Although I’m not sure everyone realized that in this year’s pic, I’m wearing a giant mask. My sister asked if it was an old bridesmaid dress.

  18. If the date/time stamp on this post says anything besides 7:30 PM, then Bah! Humbug! I go to work in a few hours, but since I never left the house this weekend, I may shop before then.

    I have a multitude of Murray’s sugar free chocolate chip cookies. I’m sick of them. I want some salty chips, instead. And easy microwave meals. And beverages.

    ,,,and, I’m back, 8:45. Salty chips and nuts.

  19. Well, video today reduced me to tears of sorrow (Raskin) and joy (the cat filtered lawyer). Also even though I spent 4 years avoiding video of Trump I really really wish I could see his face when his impeachment lawyer said American voters are ‘smart enough to pick a new administration if they don’t like the old one, and they just did’.

    I am planning to watch the video they showed to kick off the trial on Saturday. I need to do it long before bedtime and not at work.

    On a separate note, apparently we will get more snow Thursday and Friday but it probably won’t stick. I credit the newish snow blower with this —much like umbrellas .

  20. We are supposed to get our first snow of the winter at the end of this week. The school district I work for sent out a message to all families about how snow days will work, since elementaries are partially back in school but secondary is all remote.

    Ironically, Friday, the day we’re supposed to get the snow, is already a non-school day meant to be a make up day if we’d had a snow day earlier in the year. So we’re having a snow day on a no snow day.

  21. Hello from a sub-tropical zone in the Southern Hemisphere. It’s cyclone aka hurricane season here.

    We are mostly not in the direct path but climate change laughs at what we think we know now.

    Yesterday’s short downpour dried up so fast that it was hotter after. 29°C, hotter with humidity!

    Warm vibes from here to all the iced up people.

    1. Oh, god, windstorms.
      I grew up, and so did my daughter, in the northern part of tornado alley. New Jersey, I thought, did not have tornados. Then we had one. Mollie said later, when Josh told her there was a tornado warning, she said, “Where are the sirens? WHERE ARE THE SIRENS??” Evidently NJ doesn’t get enough funnel clouds to have sirens. As a tornado pro, she was outraged.
      Tell me you have sirens.

      1. I haven’t heard a siren in Prince George, VA. What I have heard is emergency broadcasts on my cell phone, that I thought was off/recharging.

  22. no snow here, never any snow but it is the coldest summer, and possibly wettest, in the 15 years I’ve lived here. Which I like, though I am sorry for those around that like summer to be sunny and warm

    My sympathies to the snow shovelers, I’ve never even seen that done other than in video. It looks like it could be fun the first five minutes. And then bad.
    At least with snow there won’t be really large bugs. Or spiders. Earlier this year I witnessed my second huntsman hatching. In our living room, on the wall that we project our video against. We stopped because all the people had tiny spiders crawling on their faces. They disperse, or eat each other, after about a week. And there were no spiders on me any of the times I checked.
    during that whole week.

    I’m spending my day picking up floor clutter, general clutter, and doing sweeping sorts of things for the Pest Control that comes tomorrow. At far too early in the morning

    I’m from Northern California where cockroaches … well I’d never lived with them before Australia, and I’d lived in some scruffy places. Here they tend toward the sort that grow as big as my thumb and they wander the streets. And sometimes fly(!) into the house through open windows. We started getting more than probably just wandered in but we’re moving in 5 months and I tried to keep them down to tolerable with store baits. I broke when one leaped out at me from the linen closet. No, of course it didn’t leap, but that closet has no food, no water, is up a flight of stairs well away from the kitchen and it was just before bed. Way too much adrenaline for sleeping.

    I know I’m lucky that we can afford to have someone come in but I hate that there will be poison spray even if it is just around the baseboards to back up the bait. Course sneak attacks from dark closets are also bad. Oh! comfort thought, much less likely to take them with us to our new home, professional baiting is supposed to last a year and last time it was more like four before I saw any.

  23. I am fretting because we are expected to get temperatures below 25 F this week. That is the cut off temperature for my geraniums and fuchsias to survive outside so I am busy thinking up survival strategies. Maybe cover them with paper bags? Old sheets (Won’t my neighbors in this neighborhood, which used to be marginal 35 years ago and is now upscale, love that. I have had some of those plants for 4 years and do not plan on losing them now. We may even get another snow. The first 1/2 inch lasted all of an hour. Of course, we have had snow for a week or more – just not recently.

    And speaking of cats. Dmitri the world’s most perfect kitten is now 5 months old and 8 pounds. I asked the vet if I should cut back his food and he said “No. He’s probably going to be a big guy” Dmitri is learning if he inadvertently scratches me while playing, I will stop playing with him. In general he goes grab, grab, grab with soft silky little paws, then he somehow nails me, then frantic little lick, lick, licks, “See it was a mistake” before I can walk off. Now if I could just figure out some way to convince him that “No. I do not want to wake up a 5 am to pet him. Not even if he washes my face very carefully.”

    1. When my last cat was a small kitten, I woke up with a red spot on the tip of my nose one morning. She had carefully and thoroughly cleaned it and had taken off several layers of skin. It took a few days to grow back. And I must say, 20 years later I have no wrinkles on that spot.

  24. No snow, no cats. I have chocolate anyway. Whittaker’s, really great ‘everyday’ chocolate. I’d say send me your address and I’ll send you some, but that possibly sounds a crazy fan alert.

    Also, I recommended Agnes and the Hitman to a friend in London (an angry friend, because London, and 2020/21). She thanked me (which means you, Jenny) for so much joy. And the pleasure of thinking about bashing people who piss her off with frying pans. (The bashing with pans, not the people with pans – what is the correct sentence structure there?)

    1. bashing with pans the people who . . .

      Basically, put the modifier with the word or phrase it modifies (former English teacher here).

      Tell your angry friend in London that an angry writer in New Jersey is very happy she enjoyed Agnes, please.

  27. Jenny, I had to tell you this. I went to the grocery store today after work and at one point found myself in the cookie/candy/snack aisle. As I debated whether to buy the Dove dark chocolate minis there or go to Walmart where they are a dollar cheaper (I bought them there, Walmart is a PITA to get into and out of) I remembered you mentioning the Tate cookies and thought I’d look to see if this store had them. And right in front of me was the shelf they were on! I picked up a package to try them and as I drove home, I succumbed and ate a few in the car. Thought you might get a chuckle out of this; I certainly did.

    1. It’s a slippery slope; I’m surprised you didn’t finish the whole pack (two packs to a bag). I am now trying to limit myself to half a pack (1/4 bag) at a time, but they’re like potato chips. Potato chocolate chips.

  28. LOL, I could easily have finished them except I got home and between unloading the groceries, feeding the cats, and trying on my new jeans (which have to be exchanged for a larger size!) I got past wanting to eat any more, for the time being.

  29. I can only eat Cadbury’s made here in Ireland. I know British people won’t believe me, but my Scottish co-worker did a taste test of Irish Dairymilk vs British Dairymilk and had to agree there’s a difference. I can’t really describe the difference apart from there’s a depth to the Irish one, almost as if they used unsalted butter in the British one? I dunno. Maybe it’s the dairy.

      1. I’m too scared to – after tasting Hershey’s, I’m traumatised! Fun fact which you may already know, but the reason European’s generally hate the taste of American chocolate is because it contains butyric acid, the acid found in… vomit and rancid butter.

        P.S. Have adored your books for over a decade now – thanks for many happy reading hours.

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