Saturday, January 17, 2009

Snowy day, interview me!

Look at this week's weather forecast for my part of the county:

Forecast for Coastal Hancock
Updated: 3:16 p.m. EST on January 17, 2009
Winter Storm Warning in effect from 7 a.m. Sunday to 7 a.m. EST Monday...
Tonight
Increasing clouds with snow likely after midnight. Little or no snow accumulation. Lows zero to 5 above zero. West winds around 5 mph...becoming north late this evening...then becoming east after midnight. Chance of snow 60 percent.
Sunday
Snow. Snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches. Brisk with highs in the lower 30s. Southeast winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 35 mph. Chance of snow 90 percent.
Sunday Night
Snow...mainly in the evening. Snow may be heavy at times in the evening. Additional snow accumulation of 7 to 9 inches. Total snow accumulation 10 to 14 inches. Windy with lows in the mid 20s. Southeast winds 20 to 30 mph... becoming southwest 15 to 20 mph after midnight. Chance of snow 90 percent.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Mostly cloudy. Snow likely in the morning...then a chance of snow showers in the afternoon. Highs in the lower 30s. Northwest winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 70 percent.
Monday Night
Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of snow showers. Lows around 17. North winds 5 to 10 mph.
Tuesday
Mostly cloudy with a chance of flurries. Highs in the upper 20s.
Tuesday Night
Mostly cloudy. Lows around 10 above.
Wednesday and Wednesday Night
Partly cloudy. Highs in the lower 20s. Lows around 10 above.
Thursday and Thursday Night
Partly cloudy. Highs in the mid 20s. Lows 5 to 10 above.
Friday
Partly sunny. A chance of snow in the afternoon. Highs in the mid 20s. Chance of snow 30 percent.
Friday Night
Cloudy with a chance of rain and snow. Lows around 10 above. Chance of precipitation 50 percent.
Saturday
Mostly cloudy. A chance of snow showers in the morning. Highs around 30. Chance of snow 50 percent.

The upshot of this is that the snow and clouds and flurries and all the rest NEVER FUCKING END!Holy crap. I'm going to be shoveling for the rest of my life. No cutting metal. No welding metal. No really cool naughty thing. Just me and a shovel and some buckets of sand.

Today I went over to the local Congregational Church where I am the new snow-removal contractor. Not my regular rate, but I figure if I do a decent job, it will work in to more work down the line at my normal rate. Plus I plan to leave a stack of fliers in the vestibule. That can't hurt.

So I went over to see what was up and to clean up a little before tonight's church supper. The person who had the job before me apparently missed entirely that slushy snowstorm we had last week before the current five-day freeze-a-palooza we've been enjoying so much. With three inches of fresh slush on the ground before the Sunday service, it seems that people just tromped through, hoping the kid would come back to clean it up before it froze. He didn't. So now the walkways are covered with packed, solid-frozen ice. Lumpy, bumpy ice from all those footprints when it was still slush. Yeah. So I got there and with a metal roofing shovel, an ice chopper and two different snow shovels AND a broom, I set to work. I chopped what I could, swept the crumbs away and spread over 50 pounds of ice melt stuff on what was left. That and just over two buckets of sand from the town pile. Nobody will slip coming out of the supper tonight, although they might turn an ankle. I worked from about 2 p.m. until well after dark when L. came and we went in and enjoyed the supper. Now I am pooped. More snow is coming. I have three accounts now, and while that doesn't sound like much, one of them is a big, public church where lots of people come and go. It is important that I be there, be visible and be responsive when people ask if this can be shoveled or that can be sanded. Which means I am going to have to get up in the morning (like 5 in the morning!) to see if there is snow on the ground that needs to be addressed. Shit. I'm pooped from all that chopping, shoveling and sweeping already. Damn.

So, I am going to post an interview that asthmagirl over at Is My Cape Fluttering? did of me. She got tagged with an interview in which someone asked her five questions. Then she accepted five "interview me" requests in her comments section. I said what the hell and signed up. So she asked five questions and I answered. Here they are. I do hope I was interesting enough without being scandalous this time:

1.. Why did you start blogging? What do you hope to accomplish with your blog?
I'm not sure why I started. Peer pressure, maybe. I've got a couple friends who kept saying "you oughta have a blog." I thought they were nuts. I still think so. Accomplish? You mean I'm supposed to accomplish something? Shit. Actually, I think the writing exercise is very good, and the mental work I have to go through to make sure my thoughts are in order before I put them down on the page is very helpful. I guess you could say that I hope to better organize my thinking and writing efforts.

2. Do you think gays will be victorious and attain the right to marry across the board (all states)? When?

Dear god, I hope so. I have no idea when this will happen. I think it will take several states having very good marriage equality laws and then a shift in the SCOTUS to the point where a case can be brought and argued to enforce the free faith and contract clause in the Constitution. The people on the court right now don't seem all that concerned with the Constitution and what is says and mean.
3. Why did you get into the building trades?

I was burned out (fired) in the newspaper world and found myself doing what I always did between jobs - working hanging wallpaper, painting, building this and fixing that. A friend suggested Women Unlimited, which at that time was offering a 14-week course in Bridge and Road Construction. I signed up, was accepted, got my dump truck license, learned how to read blueprints, learned how to weld, got certified in a 40-hour OSHA course and learned a bunch of stuff. I was accepted into the Sheet Metal Worker's International Association and became the first woman to enter the apprenticeship program in Maine. I left after three years. The work was not steady and involved a lot of travel away from home. I went back to newspapering for a while, but then migrated back to the trades. Today I am self-employed, and that seems to work best for me. I like the freedom, I like learning new things. I like the independence.
4. What do you like best about living in Maine?

The ocean is only a few hundred yards from where I lay my head to sleep each night. I can hear the harbor buoy bell in the evening. Last week an eagle soared in circles over my house, hunting for prey in the field out back. I am surrounded by natural beauty. It is a marvelous thing. In the summer we are overrun with tourists, but there are still places where we can go that they won't follow. I like that. But standing on the rocks and watching the surf pound after a February storm has got to be one of the most beautiful things in the world. Nature is a violent, beautiful force. She will have her way.
5. What do you think of the 'throwing the shoes' custom on tv not long ago? Who would you throw your shoes at? Would you want them back afterwards?
I love the shoe-throwing thing. But I am cheap enough that I have a problem with throwing something - presumably away - that is useful. Why throw away a perfectly good shoe? Throw an old ratty one, that's fine, but this business of throwing a new shoe is just wasteful. Unless you actually got to hit the shrub in the kisser. Then I'd give up my very favorite black leather DeWalt steel-toed work boots if I could do that. Shit, it'd even be worth six months of jail time to claim credit for that one. He could even keep the boots. If I did get them back, I'd auction them off to benefit some queer cause of my choice. Heh. Hit the shrub in the kisser AND raise money for queer stuff? That'd be just perfect!

OK, now I am going to do the same thing she did. The first five people who leave a note saying "interview me" in the comments section will get five questions from me that they can post on their blogs, etc. It really was not a bad writing prompt at all. Leave me a note and I'll e-mail you the questions.

8 comments:

A Spot of T said...

Sounds like you are getting the weather we just had. Now we are getting up to +8 C and even though it won't last we're enjoying it while it's here. The 'interview' was great, I enjoyed reading your answers. Do I dare sign myself up for such a thing. Hmmm. Ok. Interview me if you would like. But if someone else comes along who is much more interesting, then by all means pass me over and go straight to them!

Anonymous said...

Nicely done!

unmitigated me said...

Interview me, baby!

dolphyngyrl said...

Oh, hell, yeah! I'd love to see what kind of questions you come up with for me. :)

Anonymous said...

Interview me! ;)
And I feel so guilty about the craptastic weather everyone but me seems to be suffering through. It's been gorgeous here: 55 today, 58 tomorrow, 61 on Monday. I just know we're gonna get hit hard in March or April.

Robin said...

Holy smokes that's a lot of snow. Every time I hear something like this it reinforces my resolve to stay the hell out of New England in the winter LOL.

PS There's a little something for you on my blog :).

msladyDeborah said...

Dawn,

It is cold and snowy in the O-State. My saving grace is the actual geographic location of Columbus. We seem to get the least amount or passed over. However, it was below zero here on Friday in the double digits. And we have more snow on the way. I happen to be one of those crazy mid-western folks who love snow. I hate extreme cold. I went out during the snowfall on Wednesday and took black and white photos.

Great answers to your questions.

Th' Rev said...

Send me some questions....