News from the frost front

I started a new job at a hospital today. Yay! Much to learn. One of my tasks today was to do a 'back screening' with a physical therapist. All my new co-workers moaned and said it's awful but I won't get fired for failing and I only have to do it once.

I didn't think it was that bad. After I explained about my history of back problems and the bad knee, he found ways to work with me. The funniest part was the wall squat, which is what most people do the worst on. I kept my bad knee straight so most of my weight was on one leg, but had no trouble holding the position. The PT commented on my strong legs and said I did better on that test than the other parts. I chose not to mention that my legs carry a very large amount of weight every day so they better be strong.

We're heading for the worst cold snap of this winter. The forecast calls for tomorrow's high to be -10F and a brutal low of -34F. Wednesday is supposed to be worse. These numbers are before the winds are factored in. Yikes.

Is it spring yet?

Friday we received 12+ inches of snow; dry, light snow at least so easy to move around. Which is exactly what the wind proceeded to do. It's also been bitterly cold and the chickens are tired of being shut up in the coops. It's supposed to reach 15 F today so I opened the pop hatches, they can at least look outside even if none of them want to venture into the snow.

Odd thing at work yesterday. Customer was upset that $60 of k-cups weren't coming off her ebt card (food stamps). She ended up not buying them, instead only getting the $40 of 'food' items: chips, pop and two boxes of cold cereal. During the conversation she showed me her $350 ebt balance. Normally, I don't pay any attention to what people buy with ebt, but this struck me as odd.

I remember getting WIC when my son was little. Cheese, milk, and a few varieties of cereal; nutritious and very welcome. Something about the current ebt program seems a bit off track.

Brrr, I need to put more wood on the fire. :)