Tuesday, January 29, 2019

My trip to Walmart netted me hunter's version of thermals for my legs.  I didn't have any. I'm not standing out in that cold without leg warmth, too. I am also not going to risk driving through all of that region without enough warm enough clothing to stay warm if the truck were to break down, or perhaps get caught in a traffic snarl and run out of fuel, or whatever.  $30 worth of insurance well spent in my view.  It also netted me these hand and feet warmer things. I was hoping they had them.  You just break them open and they keep your hands and toes warm for about 20 minutes per pack.
And I bought a much larger cap for my head, fully insulated.  I got what I could that I don't already have and unfortunately, they didn't have anything remotely close to a ski mask and I wasn't driving 40 miles to get one.  I'll survive.  As long as the rest of my body is amply warm, I'm good. 

I have thermal tops, sweatshirts, small jackets and very heavy duty winter jacket.  I have both thermal and other types of extremely heavy duty sock that will keep my feet warm when coupled with normal socks.  I have gloves made for cryogenics - they are heavily insulated to keep your hands from burning if that 150 below liquid hits your hands.  I have everything I know that I need to have besides that face mask. 

My biggest concern, as always, being in extreme cold isn't how warm I'm going to stay. That's a high priority of course, but inside the truck it's warm and cozy while driving. It's the potential for ice on the road.  I've seen video after video after video of cars, pickups and trucks all bent out of shape on the sides of roads after hitting ice - including several jacknifed trucks. 

Jacknifing big no-no in trucking world. You do that, you are going to have a hard time finding another job unless it's proven it was someone else's fault that cause you into that position. 

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Dinner and laundry.  I make dinner when I'm home - I mean real dinner.  Like cooking roasts and spaghetti and such. I made them spaghetti yesterday at the same time making my own version of it. They scarfed 2 whole bottles of the stuff including an entire box of angel hair noodles.  Anyway, I made a large pork roast with some nice heavy whipping cream gravy made out of the drippings of the roast, very nice and no carbs.  A pan of potatoes for them - they were at the verge of going bad, not there but you could tell eat them now or throw them out.  That was very nice - I didn't eat any of them but they enjoyed them.  I had enough pork left over to have 2 days worth of meals for the road.  It's a 3 day trip - if I"m lucky depending on this weather.  Wait, no it's a 4 day trip.  2 up  2 back. 

We'll see. 35 plus below with wind chill factor, crazy.  My mom? Sent me numerous texts about - everything cold - after seeing my post on Facebook lol.  Mom will always be mom : )  Gonna have to make sure I make it back somewhere around mid year.  I've been derelict in making trips back, I just don't like doing it but once I'm there I certainly am enjoying myself. 

Anyway, my bag is packed.  I have several coats in the truck already.  But, thermal top, microfiber heavy "shirt", then a sweat shirt and the a very heavy coat. That should do it.  Finger and toe warmers.  I'm as ready as it's going to get. 

And with that, I"m offa here. 










Tuesday morning.
Blahhh.
It's cold (my version of it) and I don't feel like doing anything.
34 degrees - and yes I know how cold it is up north, that's their business, I don't live up north for several reasons, that being one of the major ones.  It's cold enough here for my bones. 
But, I'll likely get out front to rake leaves in order to get some exercise in. I might even pull the fire pit out there to warm up.  But that's not right now, I'm "busy" drinking morning coffee lol.

Upon checking this morning, my weight hadn't budged. Up or down.  I'll take it.  The way it's been going lately, it goes down, stays down for a bit, goes back up and then it takes  a dip to new lows.  It's just hard to swallow that I'm .9 pounds away from 199. 

And last night, I found out Shiratake noodles? Are disgusting.  They are a "great keto alternative to pasta". Gross.  Might as well go eat rotting food out of the trash can.  It was that bad.  I bought a box of the stuff, it comes in plastic pouches, stored in liquid until you open it. You drain the liquid, dump the noodles into boiling water for a couple minutes, then drain it again and wash it with cold water and then.....you put it in a pan to try and dry it out.  I did all of that. GROSS.  I mean, just plain nasty.

There are some odd recipes for Keto and at least half of them that I have tried end up being disgusting dishes that I won't repeat.  But, fortunately, some of them are delicious. It's not a particularly easy diet to follow just because of the limitations of foods that you can eat, but since I've had such great success on it - down 28 pounds now and lots of fat gone - I'm going to keep with it. 

Today, I haven't figured out what to make yet.  I have a full pork roast in the fridge, but I'm not sure I want pulled pork.  Maybe a recipe I found that just cooks it in a crock pot for 4 hours, then put on certain spices and put it in the oven to finish it out and give a nice texture on the coat and then, a nice gravy made solely with heavy whipping cream and the juices from the roast. 

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And so I finally got a run - and of course it would be going up north/east.  It's not as bad as Minnesota but it's still cold and it's driver unload so I"m going to have to be prepared to wear a lot of layers of clothing to stand out in that stuff for 2 plus hours.  Stryker, Ohio, btw, a small nothing town out in the middle of nowhere, but east of the really bad arctic vortex they are saying is coming further west.

Well I take that back, it's going to be minus 16 there tomorrow but I won't be there tomorrow. I will be there on Thursday - Lord willing - and it will be "warmer" at minus 1 degree - we unload up there early morning, before the sun comes up, it will be bitter cold and if it's windy, it's really going to suck.  I think they sell these warmer things to keep your hands warm, like you break them open but I doubt they sell them around here.  Well the weather forecast says "bitter cold" yeah I believe that actually, out in the dark, windy, -3? I think I'll go to walmart and at least see if they have any ski masks.  I have thermals at least, and other various layers of clothing I can put on to help from getting frost bite.  But yeah, before it gets too late in the day, I'm going up there now. 















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