the ice age is coming, the sun is zooming in
It was a crazy, fun, wonderful weekend.
Friday, I stopped by CMU to pick up the last of my stuff, most of which was files and email on a portable drive. After I scan through the folders to make sure nothing obvious is missing, I will consider my separation from this relationship to be cleanly complete, and we can start working on a friendship again. Still haven't ruled out the possibility of trying to go back in some way or another, but whatever happens, it will be different.
xuth treedSaturday, there was a party with bouncy stilts and games. We had five (!) pairs of bouncy stilts to run around in along my driveway and street, and about 10 people trading them off and being extra silly. The weather was cold but thankfully dry, although there were a few fun moments upon noting that muddy or icy grass is indeed slippery. People bounced until the sun and temperatures dipped low, and even for a bit after, before moving inside for games. I foresee this being a regular thing at future parties...
Sunday, I woke up to strange car noises from outside. xuth commented that it sounded like tires stuck in snow. It does, I agreed, but that's impossible, since it wasn't snowing last night, and, being Pittsburgh, it couldn't have dumped that much on us in 8 hours. I peeked out the window, but aside from a drizzle, everything looked normal... except for a few cars seemingly parked rather oddly by the side of the road. Hrm. A few minutes later, the squealing came again, and a different angled window showed a car and four people all sliding comically on an obviously sheer-slick street, attempting to help the vehicle get to the top of the hill.
In the minutes that followed, I quickly realized several things: One, that there was no way we were leaving early for the science museum, as was the original plan. Two, as I dressed and came downstairs to tell the jboys about the delay in travel, that the ice could be really fun to play on while we helped some cars out. And three, with some horror while watching a couple cars slide sideways as I got my boots on, that I really wanted to move my car (which had been lent out the previous day and thankfully returned the previous night, and not that morning) out of the street and into my driveway.
So xuth and I jacketed up, acquired a bucket, a half bag of wet sand and my leftover salt, and went out to play. The ice was hilarious on foot. One edge of the road was overall friction-y enough for use, but the rest was random chance encounter with black ice that would slowly slide us two-footed downhill, anywhere from a couple steps to over a car length. Happily, we saved my car without too much trouble, thanks to the sand and salt as well as some amount of pushing and slipping, so then we went further downhill to help out a couple other stuck cars (and a stuck tow truck).
We got one parked and another free, but in that time, several cars had attempted to turn down the top of the hill, and one more had started sliding, so I sent the jboys inside to make a large sign to try to block the turn. A couple stacked boxes and a sharpie was enough to warn another dozen cars away, which probably helped keep any actual accidents from happening. After a bit, with the rest of the cars who wanted to move maneuvered free, some chatting with the tow truck driver, some comical sliding, and a couple falls later, we decided our work was done.
Some dry clothes and a shower later, I heard the truck finally manage to squeal off. Slowly warming temps made everything usable by noon, but I still drove us around with a whole lot more caution, and a great deal of thanks that the morning had been full of entertainment and only a slight bit of bruising and wet rather than any number of much worse options.
Friday, I stopped by CMU to pick up the last of my stuff, most of which was files and email on a portable drive. After I scan through the folders to make sure nothing obvious is missing, I will consider my separation from this relationship to be cleanly complete, and we can start working on a friendship again. Still haven't ruled out the possibility of trying to go back in some way or another, but whatever happens, it will be different.
xuth treedSaturday, there was a party with bouncy stilts and games. We had five (!) pairs of bouncy stilts to run around in along my driveway and street, and about 10 people trading them off and being extra silly. The weather was cold but thankfully dry, although there were a few fun moments upon noting that muddy or icy grass is indeed slippery. People bounced until the sun and temperatures dipped low, and even for a bit after, before moving inside for games. I foresee this being a regular thing at future parties...
Sunday, I woke up to strange car noises from outside. xuth commented that it sounded like tires stuck in snow. It does, I agreed, but that's impossible, since it wasn't snowing last night, and, being Pittsburgh, it couldn't have dumped that much on us in 8 hours. I peeked out the window, but aside from a drizzle, everything looked normal... except for a few cars seemingly parked rather oddly by the side of the road. Hrm. A few minutes later, the squealing came again, and a different angled window showed a car and four people all sliding comically on an obviously sheer-slick street, attempting to help the vehicle get to the top of the hill.
In the minutes that followed, I quickly realized several things: One, that there was no way we were leaving early for the science museum, as was the original plan. Two, as I dressed and came downstairs to tell the jboys about the delay in travel, that the ice could be really fun to play on while we helped some cars out. And three, with some horror while watching a couple cars slide sideways as I got my boots on, that I really wanted to move my car (which had been lent out the previous day and thankfully returned the previous night, and not that morning) out of the street and into my driveway.
So xuth and I jacketed up, acquired a bucket, a half bag of wet sand and my leftover salt, and went out to play. The ice was hilarious on foot. One edge of the road was overall friction-y enough for use, but the rest was random chance encounter with black ice that would slowly slide us two-footed downhill, anywhere from a couple steps to over a car length. Happily, we saved my car without too much trouble, thanks to the sand and salt as well as some amount of pushing and slipping, so then we went further downhill to help out a couple other stuck cars (and a stuck tow truck).
We got one parked and another free, but in that time, several cars had attempted to turn down the top of the hill, and one more had started sliding, so I sent the jboys inside to make a large sign to try to block the turn. A couple stacked boxes and a sharpie was enough to warn another dozen cars away, which probably helped keep any actual accidents from happening. After a bit, with the rest of the cars who wanted to move maneuvered free, some chatting with the tow truck driver, some comical sliding, and a couple falls later, we decided our work was done.
Some dry clothes and a shower later, I heard the truck finally manage to squeal off. Slowly warming temps made everything usable by noon, but I still drove us around with a whole lot more caution, and a great deal of thanks that the morning had been full of entertainment and only a slight bit of bruising and wet rather than any number of much worse options.