In a Fog...

Yes, I do mean that. The weather alert popped up last night, talking about a "dense fog warning."

They weren't kidding. Here are some pictures from my drive in. PLEASE NOTICE, I WAS NOT DRIVING!! These are all at stop lights. Just wanted to make that clear.  :)



Driving at about 30 mph here.

My normal "zip up the road" to work was reduced to quite a scary crawl, as everyone was finally driving cautiously. Surprisingly, though it probably shouldn't have been, about 60% of the drivers did NOT have their headlights on.

Really??? Helloooooooooooooooo.... Especially you folks driving pearly grey or silver cars and trucks. Do you know that visibility is about 1/2 a block and we can't really see you?  Talk about in a fog. One guy was actually on his phone and doodling along with no lights, no wipers, nothing. Wake up, sunshine!



Behind that stoplight is the library.

See the rest of them... Can you believe it? It's supposed to be burning off by noon-ish but I'm not sure if that'll happen. It was interesting to see that people were actually obeying most of the traffic laws. It was about the only time that I drove at or slightly below the speed limit on my way to work. It took me about 15 minutes more than my normal commute.



Northbound Rt. 55 is behind the bushes.

Below we have some shots of the very busy Route 55 - normally a hotbed of traffic at this time. But you can't see it! And I can't see the bank across the lot from me.



My campus is behind here.

Hubby took the dogs for a walk this morning. He probably didn't see many deer, since they're all hidden in the fog at this point; I had to drive past several forest preserves and it's also rutting season - I was on high alert for any Bambis crossing the road.

On another note, I finished Baby Sweater Orange. Yay! I have to seam up the sides and get the buttons on. I've already cast on for Baby Sweater Yellow. It took 2 months, but remember, I work full time! Now, all I have to do is the two striped ones, and two crib-sized afghans. I talked with mommy and she says that they'll induce labor in late March. They won't let her go full term, even though she's very healthy. Since she's in her early 30s, they're treating this as a moderately high risk pregnancy. She looks adorable, and we don't know what the babies are yet; she says in a few weeks we should know.

I did get (finally) the backordered square Kollage needles and will transfer the Monkey socks onto those - it should make it easier to knit them, since the needles will now be aluminum and not wood which matches the yarn!

Speaking of "In a fog," let's chat about Social Security and Medicare. President Obama wants this "fiscal cliff" (a/k/a fiscal speed bump) taken care of, and he's signaled a willingness to "compromise." I maintain that cutting into SS and Medicare is NOT a compromise. WE paid into these programs, and they don't count as part of the deficit. Here's a handy-dandy chart on who exactly pays Social Security. I don't know about you, but I doubt in my lifetime that I'll reach a wage of $110,000 per year...

Initially, if I remember what I was taught in school, it was considered that anyone making over $100,000 or so was "rich." Remember, FDR instituted Social Security, so back in the day, that was a lot of money! Of course, that's when a decent-sized house cost about $20,000 or so, too...but I digress. So, if President Obama wants to make the rich pay more, how about they contribute to Social Security? Even at the "millionaire" level, it would help.

Please contact your legislators and tell them to leave Social Security and Medicare alone. I maintain they are NOT entitlements in the sense that they're "welfare" or a "hand-out." Remember, we paid for that!! So in the strictest interpretation of "entitled" -- yes we ARE entitled to get back what we paid in.

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday! We had ours on the Sunday before, which is tremendous! No in-law problems to deal with, and I have four whole days off! What am I going to do with myself???