Saturday, January 03, 2009

C-c-c-cold!



When I awoke dark and early—well, dark anyway; it was nearly 8 AM—the deck thermometer cruelly told me that it was -30F outside. Yeah, minus thirty! That’s pretty darn cold. That’s when your nostrils slam shut and your hands go numb in about three minutes, despite gloves. I gave a silent thanks to the furnace gods for a warm house to wake up in.

No running water in the kitchen again (it came back yesterday for a few hours) and now the downstairs toilet’s water line is frozen. It will flush, it just won’t fill; so I have to do it manually with pitchers of water from the tub. Four pitchers per flush—I’m back to the Bethel maxim “when it’s yellow, it’s mellow”.



By mid afternoon we had warmed up to -12F, which actually felt quite noticeably softer and warmer. It is not painful to breathe once you get above minus twenty. Our perception of cold really is relative, and it doesn’t take long to reset your definition. Once we get back to zero it will feel balmy.

I was able to take some photos of the front yard where the moose have been visiting. The sign is cast iron, a Christmas gift from Dad and Stepmom. This yard is the perfect place for it. The moose have said so.

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2 Comments:

Blogger Deborah M. said...

That's pretty cold. :-) i lived in Alaska a short time many yars ago (gosh - 30 years ago, can it be true?) and this makes me long for that beautiful but cold place. A moose in the yard - well worth it!

Sunday, January 04, 2009 2:25:00 AM  
Blogger Christina RN LMT said...

You are so right about perception. When I headed into work this morning, it was 35 degrees F. I found it VERY COLD. I was miserable until my car finally heated up. I think I'd die in Alaska, but it sure is beautiful!
And my daughter, who complains when it's fifty ABOVE, is going off to college next year to North Dakota. She's in for a very rude awakening!

Sunday, January 04, 2009 8:34:00 PM  

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