days_unfolding

Today, it warmed up enough for the snow to partially melt, so I went out to the car to look at the wiper fluid. It was mostly full, so it was frozen the other day. So I started the car and kept the wiper fluid running for about five minutes, until it ran out. Then I filled it up with the stuff that won't freeze (although that will really get tested on Monday). Some of it had gotten on the car, so I wiped it off with some terry cloth rags that I had bought. Some got into the remaining snow on the ground, so I shoveled up the snow and dumped it down the storm drain so that someone's dog wouldn't eat it. (There wasn't a "no dumping -- flows to river" sign or anything like that). I'll have to hand it to my neighbors; they came by when I was shoveling the snow, and they didn't ask what the heck that I was doing.

Harlee is having a tough time adjusting to the move. She adjusted to the apartment in Springfield quickly, but it probably reminded her of the condo in California, where she spent most of her life. This place probably reminds her of my mom's house because of the stairs, and she was never entirely comfortable in my mom's house. She will go downstairs when I'm downstairs now. She was thrilled to find her cat tree; she was marking it like crazy when she first saw it ("Mine! Mine! Mine!"), and lies on it a lot. She will lie on the futon only when I'm sitting on it. I was petting her upstairs in the office, and someone slammed a car door, and she was off like a rocket to hide in the closet. Poor Harlee.

Zara has been handling the move much better, but now I've started unpacking boxes in the bedroom, and she doesn't like that. I'm going to leave "her" stack of boxes for last though to give her something to play on. (I do have a small cat tree for her, but it's definitely a lot shorter.)

I keep losing things in the house. The latest is a DVD collection of four Elizabeth Taylor movies, but it has to be here somewhere. Speaking of movies, I finally saw The Philadelphia Story last night.

ravengirl, do you still want to do simultaneous reviews? I'm thinking of watching another movie tonight, but haven't decided on which one.

I'm going to throw myself together and run a couple of errands while the weather is still decent. Tomorrow, it's supposed to be cold, and Monday, it's supposed to be the coldest depths of hell; they're now predicting -14 degrees F. That's not the wind chill, and who knows what that will be. I' m hoping that they will cancel work on Monday because I'm not thrilled about driving under those conditions. What if I got a flat tire? I doublechecked that I'm set up for emergency messages from the College, and added my personal e-mail because I've forgotten what my e-mail password is for my work account. I'm sure that I have it written down--at work. If work is still open on Monday, I'm going to take the heavy quilt that my mom used when she's here with me. I don't have long johns, but I'll look for some while I'm out. If I don't find any, I'll wear nylons under my socks and pants. I'll wear a shirt under my sweater. I'll wear a hat under the hood of my coat. I'll wear two scarves--one inside my coat and one over my face. (I wish that I had a face mask like

ravengirl does.) Someone once described the Midwest as a place where everyone looks like the Michelin tire guy four months out of the year, and it's going to be especially true on Monday. I have a full tank of gas in the car.

Maybe I'm being a wimp. I started the at the University of Illinois in January (of 1982?), and the wind chill then was -45 below. (I don't remember the actual temperature.) However, I was determined to explore the campus, damn it, so I piled on my tons of clothing, and explored when everyone sane was staying in the dorms and ordering in pizza. I was annoyed because they kept on canceling orientation meetings, but they had no way to contact us, so I'd walk over there to find that the meeting was canceled. I need to get some of that spirit back.