Weathering the Storm

Today was one of those days where you could just see everyone reverting back to their childhood hope for a snow day.  Of course at Caterpillar, we move mountains, so a little snow isn't going to stand in our way.  So, unlike nearly everyplace else, we did not officially get work called off early.  I did have a manager swing by my desk and tell us that while he couldn't officially tell us to go home, he was going to be coming back by there in an hour, and would prefer for us not to be there.  You don't have to tell me twice. 

The drive home really wasn't that bad, but it had only been snowing for a couple of hours at that point.  I'm sure it would have been much worse later.  I was pleasantly surprised to find the wind had blown my driveway nearly clear of snow when I got home.  That is about the only good part about the vicious Easterly wind.  The first casualty of the wind was our grill.  It normally stays put pretty well tucked up against the house, but the wind was just right to catch the grill cover and start moving it. I braved the elements to put it back, and put the spare propane tank next to it to hold it in place.  While that did work for the most part, the wind was determined to move something, and when I looked out a short time later I found the grill cover in shreds. Once it started tearing, it began acting even more like a parachute, so I went out and took it off, and strapped the grill to the railing just to be safe.