Hi there m'dear! I guess you know that parts of the US have no power at all..Texas has been especially hard hit with 10 degree temps. So far 20 have died...a few from carbon monoxide poisoning. I guess people don't realize that running car to keep warm in an enclosed space is one way to commit suicide.
Also I read this morning that 73.2% of the US has snow on the ground, breaking a record. In 2011 70.9% of the US had snow on the ground. Meanwhile you're in summer. Isn't that an abacus? Thank you for your reply R and Happy Wednesday/Thursday to thee and thine! :)
It is indeed an abacus, one of the earliest types of digital calculator and still used in some small shops today, particularly in Asia.
We've had an unusually mild summer, by this time we've usually had at least a week of temperatures over 40 Celsius (105F), more likely two - this summer we've had 3 days of it and not in a row. Today was the warmest for the month, 38C/100F, it's forecast for the same tomorrow and Friday before dipping back into the twenties C. "What did you do last summer?" "I went swimming that afternoon."