Delivery

I was supposed to have a delivery today.  The package should've been delivered by 8pm.  It's currently 9.30pm, I haven't got anything yet and when I track the package it still says it is out for delivery.  I have a feeling I won't get it tonight.  Of all the delivery companies we have here - this one, UPS, is by far the worst.  I've had problems with them before - from saying a package had been delivered when it hadn't, to delivering a package for me to one of my neighbors's homes instead of mine, to saying that the delivery address was incorrect when it wasn't.  It was probably them who performed the u-turn on my "front yard".  But unfortunately this is an Amazon order, so I have absolutely no say whatsoever over which delivery company they chose to use.  As far as I'm concerned, the sooner Amazon puts all these delivery companies out of business the better.

Song of the Week #91

I haven't heard this one for a while.

The Surge

As the US reached over a million new COVID daily cases this week, it seems almost inevitable that we’re all going to catch it at some point.  To be honest, I’d think I’d rather catch it now rather than later when the ability to fight the virus via the booster shot has waned.  Just before Christmas, we had our first case at work.  So an e-mail went out saying that someone tested positive who had been in the office on such and such dates and so you might have been exposed.  The dates were December 20, 21 and 22 – when I was on vacation, so I was absolutely not in the office then – so I don’t really know why I received the e-mail (it was only supposed to go out to those who were identified as being on site).  Also, apparently, our company has its own contact tracing process – so if I had been a direct contact, then I would’ve been notified separately about that (which at least I wasn’t).  Nonetheless, it was an interesting e-mail to receive – lots of legal talk, like no toleration of any of form of retaliation or discrimination against this employee who tested positive (we don’t know who it is, but the fact that they came into the office on 3 consecutive days does limit the possibilities), and that if you test positive and you think you contracted it at work then you may be entitled to worker’s compensation and additional benefits.  What is still bewildering to me is despite this massive surge in COVID cases, and what is sure to be the first of many positive cases at work, that we are still expected to come into the office 2 days a week.  I will continue to ignore that guidance – I find it outrageous that I’m expected to go into the office at all when we still have to wear a mask all day (clearly a guidance created by people who have offices and therefore don’t need to wear their mask all the time – without any consideration towards us cube workers), and even more so now with the rapid spread of this new variant.  The rule that we are allowed to work remotely 3 days a week was supposed to end in the new year, so at least that’s now been extended through to the end of February.  But I will continue to work remotely 5 days a week until such time as someone calls me out on it, with the occasional ½ day in the office every now and then (such as for a particularly enticing free lunch being served). 

Melt Out

As the temperatures continue to remain above freezing, and the lingering snow is slowly disappearing, a few more observations:

• Before the snow totally disappeared, I came across these animal tracks on my back patio.  These look distinctly raccoon like.  I'm extremely disappointed that my trail camera didn't seem to catch them though - I think the camera lens fogged up with the temperature change from very cold back to normal, which seems like a bit of a design fault.

• What I've noticed as the snow has gradually melted off is that my yard is covered with new molehills.  I mean loads - they are all over the place, on all sides of my house.  I'm guessing that the critters couldn't dig through the hardened ground when we had the really cold temperatures, but now the temperatures are above freezing then they're more than making up for it.  I fear it could be a long battle with them this year.

• Although my driveway is clear, and most of the surface roads (at least the ones I need to use) are clear, my landlord's driveway - particularly down by the mailboxes - is not.  Which makes going to pick up mail a bit of an adventure.  What I think has happened is that water runoff from my landlord's neighbor is now draining right across the driveway towards where the mailboxes are.  Unfortunately with this cold snap, all this water froze and has left a slushy and extremely slippery mess - especially after they've been driving across it to really harden the ice.  I remember my landlord telling me that this neighbor has had flooding issues, and they had been working on it a lot over summer.  Unfortunately, it seems that all they managed to do was to redirect the water so now it's affecting all of us rather than just them.  Great.

Around the World in 80 Days

PBS here have just started airing episodes of Around the World in 80 Days with David Tennant.  Too early to pass judgement, but seems like a classic big budget kid-friendly early Sunday evening BBC One type of show.  However, watching it made me only think of one thing - and that thing is that I'd rather be watching the following:

They may take our lives, ...

... but they will never take our FREEDOM!

This was how I felt when I was finally able to take my car out today and get some much needed groceries.  I guess in this scenario I'm William Wallace, the ice melt/all the work I did to clear my driveway is the Scottish army, and the weather/road conditions/driveway slope is the English army.  Or something.  Whatever.  Feels good to finally get out - though I was slipping and sliding on some of the surface streets.  Now we're dealing with this icy and slushy mix, on a lot of roads that have not been treated with anything.  Which is fun to drive on... not.  At least the 10 day forecast doesn't have it getting below freezing again soon.    

More Animal Tracks

Well, disappointingly, the new year has started in very much the same way as the old year - I'm still unable to take my car out.  I'm fed up with feeling so trapped and isolated for this long now.  The temperature got all the way up to freezing today - so absolutely no sign yet of the snow and ice melting away.  I think tomorrow is going to be a big day - temperatures are supposed to get above freezing and there is going to be a lot of rain, so let's see if that helps clear my driveway.  I've cleared all the snow off it today, so only need to get rid of that surface ice layer.  I've got a little bit of ice remover left over from previous snowstorms, so I need to apply that tomorrow.  If that doesn't work, then I think I'm going to have to take up my landlord's offer to take me to the store!  In the meantime, I found a few more animal tracks over the last week.

I don't know what the first one is (maybe a pair of deer?), but let's take a closer look at that second track that was going up my driveway:

That sure looks like a paw pattern - is this the elusive coyote?  I hope so.  I wish I was a better animal tracking expert.