COLD - It's Darned COLD!

OMG it's cold, and I have to get gas, groceries, office supplies and a few other errands before I can come back home and clean, cook, do laundry, etc. It's so cold that the local grocery put out an Email yesterday saying it's closing at 7:00 pm instead of midnight both yesterday and today, and the US Postal Service put out a general notification that there will be no mail delivery today. Yeah - it's that cold. 

Mail delivery will be suspended in a large part of the Midwest
today due to the Polar Vortex. Our expected wind chill today
will be -58 F (-50 C) and the Post Office doesn't want to have
their employees endangered by being out in this cold. 

My phone is currently telling me that it's -27 F (that's -32.77 C for my Celcius friends), and if I had any choice at all, I'd stay home. I'd blow off the grocery shopping, skip getting the shop ready for the day, and just stay home and veg. But I'm down to 70 miles of gas left in Minion and I still want to get to the YMCA. My lifeguard said she'd be here if her car started (it's an outdoor car), so I'll see. If I have a guard, I'll swim. If I don't, I'll head back home and get my errands finished earlier before returning home. 

The Canon was exactly what I had wanted, but just
didn't load properly on my Windows 8.1 era laptop.
I notice that Epson has a similar item. I may give
that one a try after I get my refund processed. 

I bought a portable scanner from Amazon last week - a Canon, reliable brand with a good price. It arrived at the shop yesterday and I spent three hours trying to get it to communicate properly with my laptop. It turned into a total no-go, at least for my equipment to talk correctly with each other. Frustrated, I packed it back up again, got a Return Authorization from Amazon, and I'm shipping that puppy back to them this morning. I should have a full refund within a week or so. I wanted a scanner I could have at my desk when needed, but I guess I'll live with the one on my printer. It's not as good, and I have a lot of up and down to use it because it's in the next room, but it works fine. Oh well. 

These pigeons have the right idea. They're huddled near the
Eternal Flame in Chicago - a place that's also very affected by
the Polar Vortex cold that's hitting the Upper Midwest of the USA. 

I'm going to bundle up and head out. I have to put the garbage at the curb and get some gas into the tank before sitting at the gym. It's cold like this that allows me to call home the "Frozen Northlands", and I know how to bundle up. I'm grateful I don't have to gather firewood and huddle by a small fire in a lodge or tipi right now. BRRRR! Have a wonderful Wednesday and I'll be back tomorrow (if I don't turn into a frozen Popsicle by the time I return home later this morning.