it is so cold

It is so very, very cold.
We were released from work early and I decided to walk Samuel. 
So very cold. 15 degrees F, with wind chill it feels -4 F. 15 degrees F = -9.4 C. 
I have three doves on my deck, feathers puffed, freezing. 

Thank goodness we aren't going photographing in Baltimore tomorrow. It will be just as cold as it is right now. 

I hope all the unhoused find a place indoors. 

We have more than 1.5 million without power. 

I hope everybody makes it through. 

Fortunately, my friends and coworkers who wanted to be with family left ages ago and have been working from there. Yet another wonderful thing about telecommuting. 

For five minutes we had snow. I think it looks abstract. 

Otherwise, I had such a weird tech day. This is the oddest example - I thought about Kate (I wasn't worrying, I wasn't worrying, ok, fine, I was worrying), and my watch called her. I thought her watch was calling me but I think my watch called her. I did not say her name out loud, which means the watch read my mind. You know that mind reading is just first step to mind control, right? 

My camera acted so weird I had to call tech support. 

I'm giving Karen an Apple Watch for Hannukah. Fortunately, given my weird tech day, she doesn't want to open it tonight. 

The undershield of my car is damaged. The woman I fell in front of pointed it out and therefore I'm finally doing something about it. Alas, it is not under warranty and what the car company would replace it with is the same crappy quality as the first one. Fortunately there is a local man who does aftermarket work. I have hired him before and adore him. He'll install metal. 

The Senate passed an amendment giving the US government authority to sell assets we seize from Russian oligarchs in order to pay for rebuilding Ukraine. "It's a matter of basic justice that Russian criminals linked to Putin should pay for this brutal, illegal, and unprovoked war against Ukraine." I think it is not only justice but also politics. Supposedly such assets could total in the billions. This is similar to the bill just passed by Canada. 

It is part of a bill passed by the House today providing emergency aid to Ukraine. 

The Washington Post said our treatment of Zelensky, as the hero he is, was a morale booster to Ukraine. 

The Orthodox Church in Ukraine announced member churches could celebrate Christmas on December 25, just like Western Catholics and Protestants. Other members of Eastern Orthodoxy celebrate on January 7. This is part of being more European. They don't want to celebrate when Russians do. 

Carol of the Bells was performed 100 yards ago in America on October 5 at Carnegie Hall and again this year. It is one of Ukraine's contributions to world culture. 100 years ago and today Ukraine was under threat from Russia. Beyonce once performed it, as did Barenaked Ladies. 

To keep Russian Grinches from stealing Christmas, Christmas lights at a train station in Kyiv are powered using an exercise bike. Men, women, and children queue to pedal.