I am sure that you have all been seeing the news reports so I am not going to mention the quickly dropping temperatures we have been getting hit with today. Actually, the temperatures have been dropping pretty much straight through the day. It actually proved to be quite interesting because we were hit with pretty strong rainstorms last night. The cold temperatures, pretty much turned everything to ice as it got colder. As a result walking has proven to be quite a challenge.

It actually led to some tough times at work. When I got there, it took me about 15 minutes to make it from my truck to the front door because our parking lot had pretty much turned into an ice skating rink. We kept trying to use melting salt, but the water pretty much quickly refroze as soon as it melted.

At about noon, the second Reference Librarian came in so I decided to take it on myself to try and improve things. I went out armed solely the shovel and did a hatchet job ... literally. I spent about 20 minutes chopping and scraping away, which allowed me to get rid of most of the ice.

The big problem was that our plow guy did such a crappy job after our snowstorm on Sunday morning. With the cooler temperatures this week, there wasn't a ton of melting, and with the rain turned to ice, it created a nasty layer of crap that just seemed unbreakable.

We have had pretty consistent trouble with the low quality of his work. I am not sure why we stick with him other than the fact that he is a regular patron and is also one of those people every community has. You know, the folks who always have something to complain about and have no trouble with taking it before the local government. Meanwhile the staff has to pick up the slack by shoveling where he didn't. We even had to call in another guy to put sand down in the parking lot before we had an ice-induced car accident.

Things are supposed to get even more interesting tomorrow. Not only are temperatures supposed to continue dropping, but we are supposed to get some snow. Some local districts, in a panic, have cancelled school already. I am not sure I understand why since we are only supposed to get 1-3 inches. Maybe it is the combination of the snow and the cold.

I have to say, I am not sure why there seems to be a panic about the cold whether. It is winter, and it is normal for it to get this cold. Granted, none of us are thrilled, but it is a part of life. Watching the news, I feel like the end of the world is coming. Hell itself isn't exactly freezing over.