Texas = strange

So you know how in my last post it was all sunshiny, and I was in a tank top and flip flops, and the patio door was open for the warm breeze to come in? Well, two days later we had an ice/snow storm. And the temperature dropped from 75F (24C) to 15F (-10C) with a wind chill factor near 0F (-18C). And, two days later, the temperature is still 15F and none of the ice has melted. The whole of Dallas is an ice-skating rink. It's super fun to drive on the ice... slight note of sarcasm there... but it is kinda funny to see everyone driving at 10 miles an hour, especially because Dallas drivers are usually fast and furious.

Apparently, we are getting more snow tomorrow. That should be fun.

Here are some pictures from Tuesday as I was trying to de-ice our car. 

It may look like white fluffy snow, but it was actually rock solid ice.

I turned the car on, blasted the heat on the windscreen, and turned the back window heater on.

And chipped away at the ice with an expired Starbucks car. It was very effective. *not*

It took a good hour and a half.

And I was very cold. We're not exactly prepared for cold weather down here, but fortunately I managed to find some gloves and a warm scarf and an old warm jacket of Thomas's.

I can see out of the front and back windows. Success! Now to brave the icy roads... hmmm.

Our apartment, covered in a sheet of ice. It actually looks like winter in Texas now.

Thomas's office might have been the only one in the city that didn't have a snow day... boo. He went into work with one of his coworkers who has a big pick-up truck [better for driving on icy roads]. At least he didn't have to get up at 5am to de-ice our car.

So we had a little snow day party when he got home from work.

With Starbucks, tortilla chips and homemade salsa, and Mac 'n Cheese, and a movie.

Yesterday we had rolling power blackouts throughout the day. I guess some of the power plants were down and they didn't have enough power for the whole city or something. Every so often the power went out for half an hour or so. Not a big deal.

But today our central heating has decided not to work. Kind of a big deal. Our apartment is about 50F (10C) right now and dropping quickly.

I'm wearing lots of layers and waiting for the maintenance people to get here to [hopefully] fix it.