At long last, the plant opened back up for business today. I debated back and forth about whether to even try to go to work this morning, given the state of my road is still pretty icy.
I stood there for a long time looking out the window, then said, "What the heck, I'm going to work." So I got dressed and went on in. I figured getting off my own road would be the hardest part -- and I was not wrong. Enough people had driven done it yesterday and cut ruts into the slush that I wasn't worried about sliding off into the ditch. No, the part I was concerned about was having to stop end of the road, and not being able to get going again due to the ice. I pictured myself sitting there spinning my wheels...
Fortunately, there was no traffic on the highway -- 51 for you local folks -- so that potential disaster was averted. As I figured, the highway was clear of snow and ice, and traveling was easy, until I got to the road I normally turn on to get to the plant. That would be Riverdale Rd for you local folks. I could see it was still pretty slushy, and didn't even bother trying to drive down it. I drove on down to the next road -- Papermill Road for you local folks-- and turned there.
It was pretty clear as well, and I had no trouble -- until I got to the road in front of the plant. Air Industrial Park for you local folks. It was horrible. It was almost as bad as my own road. But I took things slowly and carefully, and made it safely to work.
They'd hired someone to come in and clear the parking lot, but I could still see how icy it was where I normally park, so I decided to park in the first row, closest to the employee entrance. I told a couple of coworkers what I'd done, and said, "I'll bet you anything at the end of the day, I'm going to be wandering all over the parking lot, not remembering where I'd parked."
As I predicted, half the employees didn't show up. I expect it'll be the same tomorrow, too. We only had 6 brazers there, and unfortunately, one of them was my Stalker. But the big news is we have a new supervisor. Our previous supervisor has moved to second shift, and our new supervisor has come from the engineering department. Or product development. I'm not completely sure.
When they told me who it was, all I could think of was, "God help us, we're in the hands of engineers."
I knew him pretty well from when I used to be an auditor some 20 years ago, but I don't know how he'll be as a supervisor. I guess we'll see.
On the way home, I drove down Riverdale Road, just to see what shape it was in. And the shape it was in is bad. In the morning, I'm not even going to try it. I'll just take Papermill Road again.
But the good news was, by the time I got home, my outside faucets had thawed. I'd gone out to drip them Monday evening, only I was too late. They'd already frozen. I was worried about my pipes bursting, but it doesn't look like they did. I turned them on, and they've got good pressure, so I'm taking that as a sign.
Now that Icemageddon 2021 is over, and things are settling down some, I'll stop boring you with my weather reports. Maybe something actually interesting will happen for me to blog about.
Who knows? We're heading into tornado season...wait, that's weather, too...
Nevermind.
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