Things I Hate

[lydy]

On my rather extensive list of things I hate, right at the top are being cold and heavy physical activity.  Guess where snow removal falls on my list of hated activities.  

Pamela did some shoveling yesterday, and David and I did a bunch of snow-blowing and shoveling today.  And it's snowed at least three inches since then, plus a lot of blowing and drifting.  So it's all to be done again.

I am not going to do more today. But tomorrow, I will probably have to get out the snowblower again.  WTF, April.

Even though I dress appropriately, in layers, if I spend much time outside, when I come inside my legs, especially my thighs, develop cherry red and fish-belly white splotches.  Sometimes big splotches, sometimes little ones that look like a rash.  After a while, they start to itch.  Sometimes, this also happens to my face.  I find that if I get into a hot bath as quickly as possible, that deals with the problems, and I usually don't get the itches.  I have no idea what causes this.

I am so done with winter I could scream.  So much snow! 

Comments

[graydon]

Have you seen the bit about Demeter being a bit too snarky about Hades and Persephone stomping off in a huff, back down to the underworld? Poor Hades is caught between "I love you" and "there are rules".

There are a bunch of evolutionary responses to being out in the cold observed in white people. One of them is reducing blood supply to skin capillaries to cut the rate of heat loss. It sounds like you've got a version that's a bit all-or-nothing, and which doesn't adjust to getting back into the warm all that well unless you club it with a hot bath.

You're getting snow; where I am is getting glop. (freezing rain, ice pellets, a bit of actual snow, bursts of sleet...) It's also nudging-a-fresh-gale windy. I've been watching ambulances and the odd other vehicle approximate turns round the corner here all day; the folks heading through straight seem to have having less difficulty, but then again I can't see the stoplights half a km down the road.

Current forecast has the "precipitation transitioning to mainly freezing rain" with five to ten millimetres of ice accumulation this evening, with power outages likely; "travel is not recommended". Then it turns into regular rain and there's a flood warning. I suspect I shall have to head out tomorrow and get something that will let me get the ice off the sidewalk. (I was going for a "won't need a shovel until November" approach. Oops.) But not doing that tonight!

[lydy]

I have seen the Twitter thread, and it is just lovely. Always had a soft spot for Persephone.

Failed evolutionary response, that's me. For most of my life, my internal thermostat has been wonky. I get chilled and stay that way for hours, get hot for no good reason. I used to be prone to nap attacks presaged by an uncontrollable chill. Haven't had that happen in a while. And all this was well before menopause -- which I presume I am engaging in or am past.

I think you win the Terrible Weather Sweepstakes. It is supposed to snow here again on Wednesday. Why, April, why?

[graydon]

The east-west temperate air circulation of the northern hemisphere which has pertained for the entirety of human civilization (even if that runs back thirty thousand years on the now-drowned tropical continental shelves...) is being replaced by a north-south wind pattern as the hemispheric climate zones shift from tropical, temperate, arctic to tropical, not-tropical.

That might not be why this particular weather system is happening, but as a thing, that's what's happening.

(I do realize that was probably a rhetorical question.)

Power didn't go out. Still precipitating away out there; roads looking clear. My chunk of sidewalk is currently a reproach.

[pameladean]

You are a hero of the revolution. I just shovelled the front porch and steps and the walks in front again, but depending on how much comes down, it may or may not be worthwhile using the snow blower on those. You can decide when you get there.

I guess there will be a monstrous plow ridge by then, too. Argh.

It will be warmer tomorrow.

P.

[lydy]

And then snow again on Wednesday. Seriously, this is spring?

[julian]

Chillblains? (Try epsom salts, next bath.)

[naomikritzer]

That was my armchair diagnosis. My sister has this problem.

[lydy]

Is that what chilblains are? I thought they were a thing extant only in the nineteenth century.

[julian]

They seem to more frequently happen in extremities (ie, hands and feet), but the description (of itches and splotches and baths helping) fits, so...

[naomikritzer]

My mother had heard of chilblains only in Victorian novels until we went to the UK and my piano teacher suggested that was what was giving my sister so much discomfort and handed off some sort of soaking salts or cream. People in the UK in the 1980s viewed them as a routine problem that people ordinarily had and there were lots of products out there that were supposed to be helpful, much like in Minnesota you'll see a billion products for chapped lips that are varying degrees of helpful or not.

We got back to the US and Abi could find NONE of these products, some of which had been super helpful, until about 15 years ago when they started showing up again.

[naomikritzer]

Anyway, the cold/pain/itching/splotches aspect of the problem sounds extremely chilblain-like so I would suggest trying out a bunch of remedies and seeing if any help. Hopefully this will rapidly become a mystery for another year, though. THIS WEATHER IS RIDICULOUS.

[julian]

We had sleety snow all day, but you guys and your two feet of snow beat that all hollow.

[naomikritzer]

Right there with you. Shoveling/snowblowing absolutely wrecked me today. We have a high-quality large snow blower but I swear it weighs approximately as much as a Volkswagon Bug, so it's still exhausting to use.

I hate snow shoveling but can put something of a good face on it for a few months a year. Not when we get 18 inches in April.

[lydy]

We have an adorable electric snow blower, light and useful, but it does require managing long extension cords. I didn't want a gas driven one, as those tend to be the devil himself to start. A battery powered one with multiple batteries might be better, but this does the job. Mostly.

[naomikritzer]

We have a battery powered lawn mower. Worked fine on our dinky Minneapolis lot but our St. Paul lot is bigger and it's pretty dysfunctional. But I hate it VASTLY less than I hate our snow blower.

Electric start?

[lsanderson]

A lot of smaller gas snowblowers have electric starters that run off 110v. They involve no actual work to start other than setting the gas, choke, pushing a gas primer a few times, engage the safety, and pushing a button once it's plugged in. They cost $50 - $100 more than a manual start, and are well worth it (At least to me).

[brithistorian]

I got all of our shoveling done yesterday in 3 chunks over about 2-1/2 hours, and then it started snowing again. I've got to take L. for an allergy shot today, so have got to get the van out, so it looks like I'll be shoveling more this morning. Whee! Apparently Mother Nature forgot what "showers" are.