Not much has happened that is noteworthy, at least in a strongly positive sense. At least I am mostly healthy, only fighting a cold, and not hurting much at all. I am pleased February has finally arrived. While the month can be truly defined as one of winter, at least improvements continue and the possibility is greater for nicer days. After a milder than normal January (4.4 degrees warmer than normal) - although with nearly 13" of snow through the month and ten of the 31 days below normal (seven straight from 23 to 29 January) - one can only hope for a repeat or even better February. Normal February highs range from 38 to 43 degrees and normal February lows range from 15 to 20 degrees, just a few degrees of improvement as compared to January. But it is slowly but surely improving, and one can see it in the final week to ten days of the month clearly. The monthly daily average temperature during February in Cheyenne starts out at 27 degrees and ends at 31 degrees.Sunrises improve from 7:1o am to 6:35 am, a gain of 35 minutes in the morning; and sunsets go from 5:15 pm to 5:48 pm, a gain of 33 minutes, which means the length of days increase by an hour and eight minutes by the time February is through. Cold spells and snow are certainly probable, but record highs can reach the 60s every day and a 70 degree day has happened twice in history; so some nice days are minimally possible. Unfortunately the wind continues to blow ferociously most every day, and if one can get three or four calm days, that is about as good as one can hope for. I hope the outlook for a slightly warmer and drier month comes to fruition and then some.
On a more recent perspective, the last several days have been uneventful. Most of last week was filled with bad weather as snow fell four straight days from the 23rd to 27th, and little melting started until Friday the 30th. This week much of the snow should be gone as it is forecast to reach the mid 50s on Tuesday the 3rd through Thursday the 5th. It seems like all I do is drink lots of water and other beverages as I am constantly thirsty and beset with a dry throat and other breathing canals in my head. I think somedays I am putting away about 3 gallons or more.
I tried to get out a few times during the last week to try to alleviate cabin fever and my chronic winter depression and malaise. I partook of the 2-for1 chicken fried steak dinner at Village Inn; went to McDs twice to read papers while enjoying the winter sun coming through the windows; and spent some time at the local bookstores. Mostly I stayed home, rested, and watched some hockey, hoops, movies, and some of my preferred programs.
This is always a tough time of the year for me as the winter and cold seems endless and takes away much of my spirit and positive outlook. Not working is not helping either, and the inevitable demise of the White Knight(the photo above is not one of my vehicle or one similar to it as mine is two-wheel drive) is weighing heavy on me. The truck has transmission issues and is increasingly becoming difficult to move. Getting it going from a stop is problematic. There just is no power and I have to gun it to get the truck to move. Once the truck gets going its generally okay but sluggish. Hills and slopes are nightmares and hassles. It seems to perform better in warmer temps during daytime and once its warmed up, but I see a trend of decline in its performance and strength, and I am having doubts about whether its going to make it through the month. It would be devastating to have the truck bite the dust, but I am facing the real probability of it occurring sooner than later.
The looming demise of my POV is all but for sure going to keep me in Cheyenne through the summer and into the fall much to my dissatisfaction and dismay. But not working is drawing down my financial reserves I worked hard to build in the second half of 2008, and the need to buy another vehicle which is at least a $2000 commitment will keep me here six additional months, if not longer. I am very unhappy about this prospect but a somewhat perfect storm of challenges is requiring this sacrifice of time. Its to a point where I really cannot justify paying $3000 to $3500 for repairs for the transmission, exhaust system, and clutch for a 31 year old vehicle that gets a woeful 10 to 13 MPG and most certainly has other looming issues as would be expected for a vehicle of this age. It is a troubling circumstance but the reality is that I need to move on and get something newer. To have gotten over 21 years out of the vehicle is already an accomplishment and one that I can never hope to achieve again given the quality and complexity of vehicles of today and in recent years. It just comes at a inopportune time, but I guess there is no good time for one's vehicle to reach a point where replacement becomes a requirement.
Enough mournful and sad musings. I did receive a package of shirts and other apparel from my sister M. Combined with what I received earlier from my sister L and I am set on casual clothes for many years ahead. Thank you very much for your thoughtfulness and generosity. The only apparel and clothes I may need to purchase in the next couple of years would be possibly some nice business attire depending on what kind of future employment I have.
I have not been eating anything of any particular excitement recently. I did make two casseroles for multi-meals in the last week or so. I made a beef tomato macaroni casserole last weekend, and then in the middle of last week I made my chicken vegetable cheese rice casserole that is a Campbell's Soup recipe that I have made three or four times before. One of my goals is to try to eat up as much of the food that I already have in the coming months so that I have virtually none remaining when the time does come for me to leave here. I still have rice, mac & cheese, and some other items that date back to 2003 or 2004 that went into storage upon my time of homelessness that I have yet to consume. Some of the food from that period has been eaten such as tuna, relish, rice, instant mashed potatoes, and gravy mixes by me since I reclaimed it back into my home in the last 19 months.
Today (Sunday 2/1) was a cool day as temps reached only 35 degrees under bright sunny skies with a persistent but lighter winds than would be expected. I had made plans earlier in January to watch the Super Bowl at Todd's, so I headed over towards his home. I made a stop at Albertsons for some milk, Coke, the newspapers, and a cherry pie before having a burger at McDs while reading the papers. I arrived at Todd's around 4pm and we, like millions of others, were treated to a great game that was truly entertaining and one for the ages. This may have been the best Super Bowl game ever. After the game, we caught a special one hour episode of The Office which has its funny moments before I struggled home in the cold for a few hours of solitude before retiring.
The upcoming week offers little to be excited about. I need to pay the rent, check the post office box, and putter around the place to work on some long standing projects. If its nice enough outside, the long procrastinated task of doing the full load of recycling is something I should endeavor to complete.
Perhaps, just perhaps, I may get called to go back to work this week or next. That would be nice, although I am thoroughly unexcited to be back to the mundane and brain deadening repetitive workload. But as I keep telling myself, it is a means to an end. But it now appears that end will have to be delayed by about five or six months, if not longer, due to the already seven weeks long layoff, the collapsing economy, and the seemingly imminent demise of The White Knight.
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