I hope the power company doesn't cut power to our neighborhood. They've had trouble turning the power back on in some areas and planned 15 minute to 2 hour outages have turned into eight hour nightmares. We're trying to conserve energy, but when the temperature is 5 degrees outside, turning down the thermostat to 68 degrees doesn't seem to make much of a difference. The furnace still runs all the time.
Dawn loves to race around in the snow for about two minutes and then run back inside to get warm. She definitely doesn't feel like taking a walk. Janet and I didn't think we'd take another walk after yesterday's experience, but we got bored sitting around the house and we went walking again. I was surprised at how much snow we got overnight. I was even more surprised at how many people were out on the roads. Today was a federal holiday and there weren't a lot of compelling reasons to drive anywhere. That certainly didn't stop anyone. Everyone with a Jeep seemed determined to see how it handled in the snow. There were almost as many cars in the park as there are on a nice day.
We didn't walk nearly as far today, so we made it home without getting wet and cold. It was actually beautiful outside. The sky was clear and the snow was a light powder that still looked clean and pristine. The only problem was the wind. There were wind chill warnings in effect for most of the day which made the single digit temperatures feel like it was 15 degrees below zero. I'm glad I have warm clothes.
The snow is gone for the moment, but they say that it's going to be even colder tomorrow. Then another storm system arrives on Wednesday, bringing even more snow and ice. I don't think that the temperature is expected to climb above the freezing mark until this weekend. All this makes me continue to worry about power outages. We'll be extremely lucky if we manage to make it through this cold spell without an outage.
I continue to start my car twice a day to keep the battery charged. I've been surprised at how long it takes for the engine to warm up to normal operating temperatures. All four tires are low, which shows that air pressure and temperature are related. I have an air compressor, but I'm not about to sit out in the cold and pump up my tires. When it warms up, the tire pressure should go back to normal.
Ice is starting to form all over the lake now, but I wouldn't walk on it yet. The ice still looks extremely thin. Someone will try to walk on it soon. It will probably be the same people who were convinced that they could drive their cars on icy roads. Janet and I wondered where all the ducks were today. There were none to be seen. The white Pelicans have disappeared as well. These birds probably haven't gone far. There is lots of undergrowth near the shoreline that probably gives the birds some protection.
I'm surprised that Dawn hasn't tried to get under the covers yet. Most Dalmatians seem to learn how to do this very quickly. She doesn't even seem to like having a blanket over her. We've been covering her with a light blanket before we go to bed and it's always off when we wake up in the morning. I don't seem to have this problem. The more blankets I have on top of me, the better I sleep.
I hope we wake up in the morning with heat. As long as we have electricity, gas, and running water, the weather can do whatever it wants. Even today's wind has been kind to us because it's been blowing a lot of the powder snow off the roof. I think we're reasonably well prepared, but a lot of surviving a storm like this depends on luck. So far, we've been lucky.
Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day |
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