@rtjhnstn@yakkoTDI Spoken like someone who’s never had to shovel during a 3-foot nor’easter. I’ll take the alligators…especially in the cold when they slow down a little. And, if i could keep my shovel.
@ircon96@rtjhnstn@yakkoTDI
Same. I’ll fight a gator right now if I don’t have to shovel or snow blow for the next three months. Plus, then I could spend my heating money on my hospital stay.
@blaineg Yeah, i inherited a monster snowblower from my late husband, but it didn’t do me much good during that winter about 10 years ago when we had storm after massive storm, ice AND snow, & the temps were so consistently cold all winter that it never melted. We ended up with unbanked snow well over waist high, & the banks were just ridiculous. Good times…not. Yep, i LOATHE snow & ice.
@ircon96@rtjhnstn@yakkoTDI When it is just above freezing you can broadside alligators with a canoe and they are very slow to respond. There is a certain Dutch student and a certain Italian student who probably don’t want you to ask them how they know the answer to this.
@Kidsandliz@rtjhnstn@yakkoTDI If i were piloting a watercraft in a body of water where there might be a chance of broadsiding an alligator, no matter what the ambient temperature, i think I’d opt for a more stable vessel. Just a personal, purely hypothetical, preference!
@ircon96@rtjhnstn@yakkoTDI If the students weren’t so interested in taking a photo of the alligator they wouldn’t have broadsided it. Canoeing through alligator country is safe.
@Kidsandliz@rtjhnstn@yakkoTDI I’m sure it’s generally safe, but I’m an unlucky klutz & don’t like taking any chances that I’d end up tipping said canoe & happening across a hungry resident of the local waterways! I’ve heard too many stories about people walking their dogs near the water’s edge & coming back with just a leash or not coming back at all. No thanks! Lol
@ircon96@rtjhnstn@yakkoTDI Well I wouldn’t walk up to one, but in an aluminum canoe it is safe. One did bite off the end of my canoe paddle once but that was my fault (well sort of). Brown water (due to tannic acid), it sank completely below the surface as I was coming by and I accidentally hit it in the face with the paddle as due to the brown water I couldn’t see it. Duh. Going to bit it. (The babies were cute though as they’d sink with just eyeballs showing and their entire back ends rather than just eyeballs as adults can do.) It then swam off. They are not aggressive normally. Also had one swim under the canoe as we were passing by and its back went bump bump bump against the shallow keel on the canoe (the back of gaiters have a ridge with scale things sticking up).
@ircon96 Trips like that are interesting. A little too “interesting” with kids or young adults along when they do stupid things, but generally speaking you see so many things you can’t see from a road. Tons of bald eagles, bold raccoons…One coon tried to take off with a big garbage bag of food - and was also in the outhouse chewing on the wood seat - I guess the salt. You’d have to kick that outhouse and yell at it before it would waddle out looking at you like, “this is my outhouse” (you know - the way a cat looks at you when you evict it from a chair, bed…)
The best ever though was the Florida panther fishing off the end of the canoe (tied on shore but on the water). Kids were still sleeping in their tents (adjudicated youth) and so I got to watch it for a long time as they weren’t awake to scare it off. Beautiful, sleek creature.
@katbyter For me, it’s the exact opposite because DST robs me of an hour of productivity out in the shop on days when it’s a bit chilly. Below a certain temp, the ink gets really stiff. But with a 5PM cutoff for both FXG and USPS, I often have just four hours to get the day’s printing done and shipped.
@katbyter@pmarin@werehatrack since normal jobs are 9-5 id prefer more sun after 5 so I can do things. But not every works in their own time zone. I don’t and things very anyway. Some flexibility is nice. You don’t need to be “in the office” to do most work but you need to be “in the office” to collaborate
January and into February. The grey sameness that creeps in and smothers the bright lights and celebrations, and the warmth of family getting together; the end of the leftovers, cookies and treats, egg nog, mulled wines and ciders, the requirement to take down the decor, the tree, the lights and pack them all away. How dull and drab the house looks inside and out once that is done.
Then going back to work the day after New Years day and have an unspeakable person say something like ‘ok no more goofing off and silly holiday stuff, time to get back to work’ as if we haven’t been working our asses off through the holidays because customers saved up all their last minute crap to dump on us the last two weeks of the year so they could take off.
Cold, snow, sleet, ice, blizzards, meh. Those aren’t much.
But the prevalent illannoy drivers who only have one brain cell for driving and have to retrain it every time the weather changes… those can be pretty bad too.
@duodec@Tadlem43 Professionals can’t get the other drivers off the roads, and (in my experience) there aren’t any professionals that can get rid of bad managers legally. Though I’ve heard about a guy who can make it look like an accident…
@Tadlem43@unksol The work part has become normal since the company changed from a professional computer consultancy to an MSP. Some customers just drop doggy bombs the last two weeks of the year and it has cost people their scheduled extra days off to meet those demands.
@Tadlem43@unksol I actually kind of like winter overall. I grew up in Las Vegas, snow still has an aire of fun and beauty about it, though shoveling is a PITA.
@duodec my Mom decided to mix snowflake and snowman decorations in with the Christmas décor. Then after Christmas she leaves that part up through the doldrums of Jan-Feb so it doesn’t look so desolate and sad.
Not going to help with inconsiderate customers and bad drivers, but at least the domicile is not depressing to come home to.
@duodec@Tadlem43 I think it’s pretty in general. When we get a nice hard freeze and snow . And with work from home I can mostly ignore the shoveling and slush.
@katbyter We actually do similar from fall through spring. Autumn decor goes up in September, Halloween overlays it for a week or two in October, then gets put up but Autumn stays up until the weekend after Thanksgiving. Then Christmas (with some generic winter) goes up and stays until at least January 15th, where Christmas comes down but winter decor remains through March or so (Easter/spring).
I keep a few holly floral sticks and bits and pieces out amidst the winter stuff (which tends to white/silver/blue) to keep some bright colors out until spring.
Also this year, time allowing, we’re going to make a large batch of extra cookies and treats and freeze them. Then once every week or two we can pull out a vac-pak of them to enjoy through the late winter.
@xobzoo You’re not alone. I hate having to go to most of the stores at this time of year because of that and the rest of the baggage that my personal history has brought to the season. I’m generally Not Fun To Be Around for about six weeks leading up to New Year’s Day.
@xobzoo my mom says you are not until you are 104 so you can claim that for quite a while. On the other hand the 8 year old says you are old at 17 so you might not want to use his marker of old age.
@ahacksaw I agree that they are the worst. Where I live, the question is about how many there will be
and how much damage they will do. A year without one is rare.
All of it. Cold humid weather, snow, ice, no sun for days to weeks just grey. Stuck inside bc it’s so fucking cold outside you have to put 60 layers on just to go out. Should have stayed in Daytona although right now it’s 67 in MI and I don’t know it’s ever been this warm for for November.
@phendrick Funny, I’m the opposite, i crave the fresh local produce in the summer, which is the only time we can get it up here in the north. The rest of the year, it seems like a pale imitation of something vaguely edible.
I like cross country skiing, down hill skiing, dog sledding making snowmen (made one once under the cover of darkness for the elderly in an independent living apartment complex. Made it so they could see it from the livingroom - when I was visiting mom someone had mentioned they missed seeing those so I made one), sliding down icy sidewalks on purpose, throwing soft snowballs in the air for the cat to jump up to bat at and then get knocked on it’s back in the snow, repeat over and over…
I HATE shoveling snow, chipping ice off the car, thawing the keyhole of the car, driving in icy weather with idiots who tailgate and go too fast, hosing salt off the car as soon as it is above freezing to slow down rust (and then you have ice where you did that)…
@Kyeh Twice, very briefly… city only has 2 salt trucks and I am not sure they know how to use them. The off ramp goes uphill right at 2 major hospitals that have adjoining properties. Why would they possibly salt that? Over 100 cars got stuck at shift change. In the end two male nurses who had a big ass pick up truck pulled cars up that ramp over and over. Salt truck showed up hours later.
@Kyeh In this case the issue is having NO plan I am sure. Place #1 to salt is the 1 highway exit that has a steep hill right by the hospitals since wrecks will be a huge problem since speed and tailgate is how you are supposed to drive in ice and snow.
Place #2 to salt is the other side of the one hospital where there is a hill so people can get up and down that.
I am sure both the governor and mayor think place number 1 to salt is by their houses and the next places should be on the roads they drive on.
Shoveling the driveway(especially a 5:30 in the mprning).
@rtjhnstn Better than alligators in your driveway at any time of day.
@rtjhnstn @yakkoTDI Spoken like someone who’s never had to shovel during a 3-foot nor’easter. I’ll take the alligators…especially in the cold when they slow down a little. And, if i could keep my shovel.
@ircon96 @rtjhnstn @yakkoTDI
Same. I’ll fight a gator right now if I don’t have to shovel or snow blow for the next three months. Plus, then I could spend my heating money on my hospital stay.
@ircon96 @rtjhnstn @yakkoTDI My snow removal technique was to buy a really fancy snowblower. That caused a drought for the last three years.
@rtjhnstn @yakkoTDI @thebigtverberg
Amen!
@blaineg Yeah, i inherited a monster snowblower from my late husband, but it didn’t do me much good during that winter about 10 years ago when we had storm after massive storm, ice AND snow, & the temps were so consistently cold all winter that it never melted. We ended up with unbanked snow well over waist high, & the banks were just ridiculous. Good times…not.
Yep, i LOATHE snow & ice.
@ircon96 @rtjhnstn @yakkoTDI When it is just above freezing you can broadside alligators with a canoe and they are very slow to respond. There is a certain Dutch student and a certain Italian student who probably don’t want you to ask them how they know the answer to this.
@Kidsandliz @rtjhnstn @yakkoTDI If i were piloting a watercraft in a body of water where there might be a chance of broadsiding an alligator, no matter what the ambient temperature, i think I’d opt for a more stable vessel. Just a personal, purely hypothetical, preference!
@ircon96 @rtjhnstn @yakkoTDI If the students weren’t so interested in taking a photo of the alligator they wouldn’t have broadsided it. Canoeing through alligator country is safe.
@Kidsandliz @rtjhnstn @yakkoTDI I’m sure it’s generally safe, but I’m an unlucky klutz & don’t like taking any chances that I’d end up tipping said canoe & happening across a hungry resident of the local waterways!
I’ve heard too many stories about people walking their dogs near the water’s edge & coming back with just a leash or not coming back at all. No thanks! Lol
@ircon96 @rtjhnstn @yakkoTDI Well I wouldn’t walk up to one, but in an aluminum canoe it is safe. One did bite off the end of my canoe paddle once but that was my fault (well sort of). Brown water (due to tannic acid), it sank completely below the surface as I was coming by and I accidentally hit it in the face with the paddle as due to the brown water I couldn’t see it. Duh. Going to bit it. (The babies were cute though as they’d sink with just eyeballs showing and their entire back ends rather than just eyeballs as adults can do.) It then swam off. They are not aggressive normally. Also had one swim under the canoe as we were passing by and its back went bump bump bump against the shallow keel on the canoe (the back of gaiters have a ridge with scale things sticking up).
@Kidsandliz Sounds like a blast!
@ircon96 Trips like that are interesting. A little too “interesting” with kids or young adults along when they do stupid things, but generally speaking you see so many things you can’t see from a road. Tons of bald eagles, bold raccoons…One coon tried to take off with a big garbage bag of food - and was also in the outhouse chewing on the wood seat - I guess the salt. You’d have to kick that outhouse and yell at it before it would waddle out looking at you like, “this is my outhouse” (you know - the way a cat looks at you when you evict it from a chair, bed…)
The best ever though was the Florida panther fishing off the end of the canoe (tied on shore but on the water). Kids were still sleeping in their tents (adjudicated youth) and so I got to watch it for a long time as they weren’t awake to scare it off. Beautiful, sleek creature.
@ircon96 @Kidsandliz
Inserting a comma there, because at first I thought “panther fishing?? Who would do that?”
@ircon96 @Kyeh details details
the “the Florida panther who was fishing” - there fixed your fix for you. You are welcome (smirk).
@ircon96 @Kidsandliz
@ircon96 @Kidsandliz @yakkoTDI https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/investigations/2022/11/14/going-undercover-to-expose-why-abandoned-alligators-are-being-found-around-metro-detroit/
@ircon96 @Kidsandliz @yakkoTDI To fight gators in Detroit? I thought the gators would have the sense to migrate south.
People asking me if I am cold just because I am wearing shorts. I am an adult people, if I was cold I would wrap myself in dead hookers from my trunk.
@yakkoTDI dead hookers would be cold. You’d need live ones to stay warm and ‘heat you up’ .
The horse that stares at me through the window. Go away, Reginald.
Ice Ice Baby
The end of the season
For me, it’s the wild swings between cold and damp, cold and dry, and warm and humid. But that’s the Gulf Coast for you.
The lack of the color green outside.
And, often, blue too (since, gray skies).
Just not a fan of drab.
As long as I don’t have to drive in snow and ice, nothing. I love winter! Fall is better, winter is next.
@Tadlem43
/giphy This is the way
@tinamarie1974 LOL For sure!
That time between when the time falls back and when it springs forward again. That part is the worst.
@katbyter For me, it’s the exact opposite because DST robs me of an hour of productivity out in the shop on days when it’s a bit chilly. Below a certain temp, the ink gets really stiff. But with a 5PM cutoff for both FXG and USPS, I often have just four hours to get the day’s printing done and shipped.
@katbyter @werehatrack For me too. Wish we would stay at “standard” time. Plus there is now increasing medical evidence supporting this.
Daylight time even in Winter? Depending on location, Sun might not come up till 9-10AM!
@katbyter @pmarin @werehatrack since normal jobs are 9-5 id prefer more sun after 5 so I can do things. But not every works in their own time zone. I don’t and things very anyway. Some flexibility is nice. You don’t need to be “in the office” to do most work but you need to be “in the office” to collaborate
January and into February. The grey sameness that creeps in and smothers the bright lights and celebrations, and the warmth of family getting together; the end of the leftovers, cookies and treats, egg nog, mulled wines and ciders, the requirement to take down the decor, the tree, the lights and pack them all away. How dull and drab the house looks inside and out once that is done.
Then going back to work the day after New Years day and have an unspeakable person say something like ‘ok no more goofing off and silly holiday stuff, time to get back to work’ as if we haven’t been working our asses off through the holidays because customers saved up all their last minute crap to dump on us the last two weeks of the year so they could take off.
Cold, snow, sleet, ice, blizzards, meh. Those aren’t much.
But the prevalent illannoy drivers who only have one brain cell for driving and have to retrain it every time the weather changes… those can be pretty bad too.
@duodec damn dude lol
@duodec Have you considered talking with a professional? They can often help…
@duodec @Tadlem43 Professionals can’t get the other drivers off the roads, and (in my experience) there aren’t any professionals that can get rid of bad managers legally. Though I’ve heard about a guy who can make it look like an accident…
@duodec @Tadlem43 I assume you are just doing an extremely thorough, colorful description of life. Cause those all track.
However, if it’s more than that for anyone, seasonal affective disorder is an actual thing. Despite it being “SAD”.;
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/seasonal-affective-disorder#:~:text=Seasonal affective disorder%2C or SAD,antidepressants can help treat SAD.
@duodec In some places, llannoy drivers are referred to as FIBs.
@Tadlem43
@Tadlem43 @unksol The work part has become normal since the company changed from a professional computer consultancy to an MSP. Some customers just drop doggy bombs the last two weeks of the year and it has cost people their scheduled extra days off to meet those demands.
Hopefully won’t happen this year.
@duodec @Tadlem43 well that sucks. Just sounds very bleak. I think I felt some of the life trickle out of me lol. Good luck
@Tadlem43 @unksol I actually kind of like winter overall. I grew up in Las Vegas, snow still has an aire of fun and beauty about it, though shoveling is a PITA.
@duodec my Mom decided to mix snowflake and snowman decorations in with the Christmas décor. Then after Christmas she leaves that part up through the doldrums of Jan-Feb so it doesn’t look so desolate and sad.
Not going to help with inconsiderate customers and bad drivers, but at least the domicile is not depressing to come home to.
/giphy snowman
@duodec @Tadlem43 I think it’s pretty in general. When we get a nice hard freeze and snow . And with work from home I can mostly ignore the shoveling and slush.
@katbyter We actually do similar from fall through spring. Autumn decor goes up in September, Halloween overlays it for a week or two in October, then gets put up but Autumn stays up until the weekend after Thanksgiving. Then Christmas (with some generic winter) goes up and stays until at least January 15th, where Christmas comes down but winter decor remains through March or so (Easter/spring).
I keep a few holly floral sticks and bits and pieces out amidst the winter stuff (which tends to white/silver/blue) to keep some bright colors out until spring.
Also this year, time allowing, we’re going to make a large batch of extra cookies and treats and freeze them. Then once every week or two we can pull out a vac-pak of them to enjoy through the late winter.
The part between the Winter Solstice and the Vernal Equinox. Though pretty much any part that the night is longer than the day is pretty meh
All the Christmas music.
Though I guess that’s confined almost entirely to Fall. It just feels like it drags on forever.
Yes, I’m a grumpy old man. Technically more grumpy than old.
@xobzoo You’re not alone. I hate having to go to most of the stores at this time of year because of that and the rest of the baggage that my personal history has brought to the season. I’m generally Not Fun To Be Around for about six weeks leading up to New Year’s Day.
@xobzoo there is an entire radio station that I normally listen too and just don’t till December 26th.
@xobzoo my mom says you are not until you are 104 so you can claim that for quite a while. On the other hand the 8 year old says you are old at 17 so you might not want to use his marker of old age.
That it’s not Summer
@2many2no Down here in Houston, what we like about Winter is that it’s not Summer.
@2many2no @werehatrack I would to if I didn’t have your power grid
Ice storms. We rarely get them where I live, but “rarely” isn’t “never,” unfortunately. They are the worst.
@ahacksaw I agree that they are the worst. Where I live, the question is about how many there will be
and how much damage they will do. A year without one is rare.
Those piles of gag-inducing, ‘cinnamon’ pine cones at the entrances to most grocery stores.
All of it. Cold humid weather, snow, ice, no sun for days to weeks just grey. Stuck inside bc it’s so fucking cold outside you have to put 60 layers on just to go out. Should have stayed in Daytona although right now it’s 67 in MI and I don’t know it’s ever been this warm for for November.
@Star2236 it’s been a very nice week. I think I saw snow last year. Next week is looking pretty good too.
@unksol
Yeah but the snow didn’t stick. (And I was still in Daytona on vacation)
shortened daylight hours.
The ice.
All of it. Fuck winter.
@llangley Amen!
I only eat worst during the summer.
@phendrick Funny, I’m the opposite, i crave the fresh local produce in the summer, which is the only time we can get it up here in the north. The rest of the year, it seems like a pale imitation of something vaguely edible.
I like cross country skiing, down hill skiing, dog sledding making snowmen (made one once under the cover of darkness for the elderly in an independent living apartment complex. Made it so they could see it from the livingroom - when I was visiting mom someone had mentioned they missed seeing those so I made one), sliding down icy sidewalks on purpose, throwing soft snowballs in the air for the cat to jump up to bat at and then get knocked on it’s back in the snow, repeat over and over…
I HATE shoveling snow, chipping ice off the car, thawing the keyhole of the car, driving in icy weather with idiots who tailgate and go too fast, hosing salt off the car as soon as it is above freezing to slow down rust (and then you have ice where you did that)…
@Kidsandliz Do you ever get snow where you are now?
@Kyeh Twice, very briefly… city only has 2 salt trucks and I am not sure they know how to use them. The off ramp goes uphill right at 2 major hospitals that have adjoining properties. Why would they possibly salt that? Over 100 cars got stuck at shift change. In the end two male nurses who had a big ass pick up truck pulled cars up that ramp over and over. Salt truck showed up hours later.
@Kidsandliz Yeah, hard to prepare for something that happens so seldom, I’m sure.
@Kyeh In this case the issue is having NO plan I am sure. Place #1 to salt is the 1 highway exit that has a steep hill right by the hospitals since wrecks will be a huge problem since speed and tailgate is how you are supposed to drive in ice and snow.
Place #2 to salt is the other side of the one hospital where there is a hill so people can get up and down that.
I am sure both the governor and mayor think place number 1 to salt is by their houses and the next places should be on the roads they drive on.
@Kidsandliz Yeah, probably.