01-28-2026 — Will it end?

Howdy all. The Arctic Blast continues. Day after day of temperatures 15-20, or more, degrees below normal. And winds above normal. After yesterday’s snow, I was wondering if Weaver’s would make another pass at the driveway this morning. Well, while I was still trying to convince myself there must be a reason to get out of bed, around 8:30 am, I heard the plow out front.

The “walls” of the walkway are about 18 inches now. There is still a layer of ice under the snow on most of the driveway. But the areas for delivery drivers to walk, are clear. It was about 4 degrees Fahrenheit at this point. Notice the clear skies.

He tossed some salt down as he pulled away. Oh, and notice that he once again cleared around the mailbox for the USPS deliveries!!! Good Job.

The salt had started working within minutes — even at 6-8 degrees.

We may see the 20s next week. Somehow that is going to feel warm, if the winds stay away. Oh, do notice the Air Quality at the bottom 56 is what they refer to as Moderate. Other sites say that is “Poor”. Either way it means it is not good for "sensitive” people to stay out there. Yeah, that’s me — poor lungs. It has been in the above 50 range quite a few days of this mess.

I had Sam’s Club make a home delivery of groceries yesterday. It had been like 3 weeks since the prior one, and I last drove to the grocery store before Christmas. Shoot, not even sure when it was. Wow, checked and it was December 12th I last went to Giant Eagle. Sam’s doesn’t have everything I need/want, but it will do. The only way I can get delivery from Giant Eagle, or another grocery store here, is using Door Dash or InstaCart. Both get bad reviews in this area. Things like, “didn’t deliver to my address, but says delivered” Or worse!!.

Also, Sam’s has mostly large volume grocery items, and can be out of stock. For example, since I was certain they would be out of stock on one of these, I ordered both “fresh” mild sausages, and a box of frozen ones. There were 14 sausages in the fresh package, and 12 in the frozen. Either would be more than enough for 3 weeks for me. And, of course, both were in stock. Now I had to put the frozen box in the freezer in the garage, and when I open the fresh package, I’ll need to re-bag the many that are left, and freeze them by their “best by” date.

The volume packages do save on costs, but are hard to store. Overall, I’d guess total cost are about the same, especially when you add in delivery tip costs for Sam’s. And I do tip extra when the driver has to make that 15-20 mile trip in weather like yesterday. This driver was using a 4x4 truck at least. Frequently the delivery drivers are in some inexpensive Honda or Toyota mini car. That’s a tough drive in a small car.

I guess that is the Bright side to this weather experience. I’m seeing the extremely hard work being done by those forced to earn a living in this frigid tundra. Makes me realize, I have it pretty decent, and should realize I can Enjoy Life