Litany of Woe

My annual litany of woe is starting. As I write, this is the view out my window:


It's blerry cold out there. We had a HUGE storm front hit this past weekend and it just won't go away. Excessive rain and wind, icy temps, not a whole lot of that sun thing. Apparently the first snow of the season has coated nearby mountains.

And I've got a new verse to add to my litany this year. Namely that both my jobs are now outdoor jobs!

The e-waste business doesn't involve a sheltered office and heater on the feet. The wireless business requires one to jump up in the middle of the day or night to climb into drafty ceilings, scale newly-washed-out mountain roads (with Favourite Man hauling trees out the way of the Landy as we go) to freezing wind-swept heights, and install antennas come rain or shine. We may have moaned about heat in summer - but we're getting a taste for the same job in winter and I vote for summer any time!

I get cold easily. My two best times of the day are the pre-bed boiling hot shower, and snuggling up to Favourite Man. I know those are the only times I'm going to be warm, so I revel in them deliciously. (The latter not just for warmth - Favourite Man is worth snuggling up to hot or cold)

But there's an upside to my work. It's very physical - and that by default warms you up considerably. Sitting in front of a computer, not so much (you should feel my mouse-hand now!).

Last week while Favourite Man fiddled with electronics on the high site, I pushed over pine trees and stacked them, giving the fynbos a chance to rejuvenate and fill in the blanks. YES, pushed over pine trees. As tall as some are, a fire a few years back killed them, and now their roots are decomposing. As we noticed this weekend when the wind came through and knocked a large number of them over like matchsticks! Throwing your weight around works up a decent sweat - before long I'd shed one of the jackets, then the jersey.

Loading e-waste on trailers - same thing. I'm fitter than I have been in years (a good thing) - and thinner (good/bad thing - that insulation layer has shrunk!). It didn't come through sitting around. A literal ton of monitors, computers, printers and cabling takes energy to shift! And it certainly warms you up on cold days.

I'm hoping the same principle will kick in tomorrow. We're back up the mountain to do some maintenance and network-expansion jobs. The weather's supposed to be partly cloudy - I'm not so sure.

So there's really only one thing to do... keep working!

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