Rain is bad for my mental health

[Fod01]

I work in Information Technology. The technology isn't working.
Its 50 and raining, so there will be no fire to focus my blank stare on.

There's always beer I guess.

 

[LLigetfa]

I too work in IT. The technology is working for me. It was raining here so the stove sat cold most of the day and was only lit late in the afternoon. The rain turned to snow last night and so fearing a power outage, I kept the fire going overnight. I spent 2 hours this morning with the snow thrower so I could get to work. Overnight it's forecast to go down to -23°C. What a difference a day makes. At least I have dry wood.

 

[tiber]

I too work in IT.

Some days I pretend to have a stove fueled by the bones of my users.

 

[LLigetfa]

Last night I was enjoying my high speed internet delivered by Canopy 5.7 GHz wireless and the wife started nattering about the sat TV fading out. I offered to lay my 32 foot ladder against the 12/12 pitched roof so that she could climb up to the peak and sweep the snow off the dish. I even offered to hold the bottom of the ladder so it doesn't slide out from under her. She declined the offer, insisting that I go up and she will hold it. A lesson in physics and comparing her weight to mine failed to sway her so she held the ladder while I climbed up to the top rung and with the extra reach the broom handle offered just managed to reach the dish. I really need to buy a 40 foot ladder.

It continued to snow through the night so I left the ladder in place. The dish was caked in ice and snow this morning so I know where I will be going tonight to avoid marital discord. Problem is the broom alone won't take off the ice and I'm going to have to devise a different strategy. If I try to chisel the ice off it's likely to knock the dish out of alignment. What I need is one of those de-icing rigs they use at the airport or one of those SuperSoaker water guns filled with de-icing WWF. I wonder how long it would take for sublimation to remove the ice.

Meanwhile, right next to the sat dish, the parabolic reflector for the Canopy SM is doing fine and I still have at least 10 dB of fade margin.

 

[tiber]

This spring cover the dish in rainX, and again in the fall before the snow season.

Works like a champ.

I used to service those richochet relays (police data in ye olden days of UNIX) and we went through literally gallons of the stuff. The snow would start to build up, hit critical mass, and slide off. Lather, rinse, repeat. Some of the generic ones are opaque to radio, rainX is the stuff.