Cabin Fever Reprieve (Truly Grateful Series)
It was kind of strange at work this past week. The warmer temperatures melted ice and snow rapidly on the roof of our building which caused several leaks in the ceiling of my office and out in the hallway. I worked to the sound of constantly dripping water hitting buckets and wastebaskets around me (which for a while advanced to a steady stream as if a faucet were running).
On another day, I put a new ink cartridge in the printer in my office, but the printer refused to recognize that it was there. It just kept telling me to install a new cartridge even though I already had. I did all the troubleshooting I knew to do, but nothing worked. I called in the computer tech guy for the library who tried all the same things that I had tried--none of which worked for him either. After doing some research and checking things out thoroughly, he decided that a new printer was in order. He shopped around to find the best deals and ended up ordering me not one new printer, but two! He ordered one that is designed to handle the heavier card stock weight paper that I use for bookmarks, business cards, and name tags and another that is a laser printer for higher quality printing jobs like brochures and such.
The next day at work, the hard drive on my computer failed--crashed for no reason at all that we knew about. All of my work on that computer is backed up by another drive, fortunately. Still, it meant I would be unable to use my computer to do anything until a new hard drive could be purchased and installed. I spent the rest of that day going through and cleaning out some old files (of the paper variety) in the file cabinet. However, almost all of the work I do with my job involves using the computer, so I was rapidly running out of things to keep me busy. The director, knowing how much of my job requires the use of a computer and knowing the new hard drive would probably not be installed until Monday, generously gave me the day off on Friday telling me that I deserved it anyway! Well, he didn't have to tell me twice!
So Friday morning greeted me with this pretty sunrise filled with yellows and golds, blues and purples and pinks.
In the morning I got lots of chores done around the house and ran some errands around town. In the afternoon it had warmed up to 49 degrees and the sun was shining. I couldn't resist going for a walk in the park even if it was a little on the chilly side. Actually, the temperature by itself didn't feel too bad, but the wind was biting and relentless, so it turned out to be a very cold walk in spite of the sun. I was glad that I went, though. The fresh air and sunlight did me good.
As you can see looking down our street, much of the snow has melted except for the places where it was left in big piles from the plow going through.
Perhaps you can tell a little bit about how much the wind was blowing by this picture I took of a flag in one of my neighbor's yards. It was really noisy, flapping away at the top of the pole.
Because of the melting snow, and because the ground is still mostly frozen, there were lots of puddles around where the water couldn't soak into the earth below. I liked the way this picture came out with the flag and stop sign both reflected in the puddle by the side of the road. Can you see them there?
I liked the reflections of the tree branches and the blue sky in this one.
The quality of this picture isn't great, but I still liked the way the sun managed to toss those red and purple streaks into it to surprise me. I didn't see those colors when I snapped the shot. It was a nice change from the black and grey and white and brown.
There were many broken tree branches lying on the ground under the trees in the park along with the puddles and mud.
A tree had been cut down in the park recently. The remnants of the trunk were lying neatly on the ground. I don't know what the orange numbers painted on the ends mean.
It's a little early for the softball and baseball fields to be put to use yet. There is still snow on part of this softball field.
In just a few short weeks, the trees lined up along this street will burst forth in pinks and whites in a flowery shout to spring.
Then they will look something like this,
and these trees which are now hiding behind this huge pile of dirty snow...
will soon look like this!! I can't wait!
On the walk home, I am always amused by this particular stretch of the sidewalk. Someone went to all the work of putting in some new sidewalk blocks, but apparently no one told the cat that they weren't to be walked upon until they were dry and hardened. I just love these little paw prints nonchalantly stepping along, etched into the sidewalk, and greeting me and all others who pass here. In my mind, I can almost feel a little furry head rubbing against my leg and hear a contented purring when I walk by here.
The weather man is predicting a wintry mix of snow and freezing rain and a possible chance of an ice storm for us here tonight and tomorrow. I'm so glad circumstances fell into place so that I was able to take that walk in the park yesterday.
Lord, for a helpful coworker and generous boss, for the much-needed reprieve from winter and cabin fever, (even if it turns out to be short-lived), for colors and reflections, for the promise of spring, and for the little cat tracks left behind from the past that make me smile whenever I see them, please let me be truly grateful.
On another day, I put a new ink cartridge in the printer in my office, but the printer refused to recognize that it was there. It just kept telling me to install a new cartridge even though I already had. I did all the troubleshooting I knew to do, but nothing worked. I called in the computer tech guy for the library who tried all the same things that I had tried--none of which worked for him either. After doing some research and checking things out thoroughly, he decided that a new printer was in order. He shopped around to find the best deals and ended up ordering me not one new printer, but two! He ordered one that is designed to handle the heavier card stock weight paper that I use for bookmarks, business cards, and name tags and another that is a laser printer for higher quality printing jobs like brochures and such.
The next day at work, the hard drive on my computer failed--crashed for no reason at all that we knew about. All of my work on that computer is backed up by another drive, fortunately. Still, it meant I would be unable to use my computer to do anything until a new hard drive could be purchased and installed. I spent the rest of that day going through and cleaning out some old files (of the paper variety) in the file cabinet. However, almost all of the work I do with my job involves using the computer, so I was rapidly running out of things to keep me busy. The director, knowing how much of my job requires the use of a computer and knowing the new hard drive would probably not be installed until Monday, generously gave me the day off on Friday telling me that I deserved it anyway! Well, he didn't have to tell me twice!
So Friday morning greeted me with this pretty sunrise filled with yellows and golds, blues and purples and pinks.
In the morning I got lots of chores done around the house and ran some errands around town. In the afternoon it had warmed up to 49 degrees and the sun was shining. I couldn't resist going for a walk in the park even if it was a little on the chilly side. Actually, the temperature by itself didn't feel too bad, but the wind was biting and relentless, so it turned out to be a very cold walk in spite of the sun. I was glad that I went, though. The fresh air and sunlight did me good.
As you can see looking down our street, much of the snow has melted except for the places where it was left in big piles from the plow going through.
Perhaps you can tell a little bit about how much the wind was blowing by this picture I took of a flag in one of my neighbor's yards. It was really noisy, flapping away at the top of the pole.
Because of the melting snow, and because the ground is still mostly frozen, there were lots of puddles around where the water couldn't soak into the earth below. I liked the way this picture came out with the flag and stop sign both reflected in the puddle by the side of the road. Can you see them there?
I liked the reflections of the tree branches and the blue sky in this one.
The quality of this picture isn't great, but I still liked the way the sun managed to toss those red and purple streaks into it to surprise me. I didn't see those colors when I snapped the shot. It was a nice change from the black and grey and white and brown.
There were many broken tree branches lying on the ground under the trees in the park along with the puddles and mud.
A tree had been cut down in the park recently. The remnants of the trunk were lying neatly on the ground. I don't know what the orange numbers painted on the ends mean.
It's a little early for the softball and baseball fields to be put to use yet. There is still snow on part of this softball field.
In just a few short weeks, the trees lined up along this street will burst forth in pinks and whites in a flowery shout to spring.
Then they will look something like this,
and these trees which are now hiding behind this huge pile of dirty snow...
will soon look like this!! I can't wait!
On the walk home, I am always amused by this particular stretch of the sidewalk. Someone went to all the work of putting in some new sidewalk blocks, but apparently no one told the cat that they weren't to be walked upon until they were dry and hardened. I just love these little paw prints nonchalantly stepping along, etched into the sidewalk, and greeting me and all others who pass here. In my mind, I can almost feel a little furry head rubbing against my leg and hear a contented purring when I walk by here.
The weather man is predicting a wintry mix of snow and freezing rain and a possible chance of an ice storm for us here tonight and tomorrow. I'm so glad circumstances fell into place so that I was able to take that walk in the park yesterday.
~ ~ ~
Lord, for a helpful coworker and generous boss, for the much-needed reprieve from winter and cabin fever, (even if it turns out to be short-lived), for colors and reflections, for the promise of spring, and for the little cat tracks left behind from the past that make me smile whenever I see them, please let me be truly grateful.
