Day 4070 - Valentines Day

Brr. It's 12 degrees now and the temperature is falling. The roads were coated with ice this morning with a light dusting of snow on top. The snowfall was never heavy during the day but it is starting to accumulate this evening. This is exactly what the forecast predicted, but it's still hard to believe. This is not a normal Texas winter.

Needless to say, neither of our cars left the driveway today. We've gone out to start them several times to keep the batteries charged, but that's about it. I'd like the house a little warmer, but we followed the power company's instructions and lowered the temperature. The last thing we want now is a power outage.

Dawn has no interest in going outside. She will run out in the backyard quickly to pee and poop, but I've never seen her do her business so quickly before. I'm sure Dawn thought we were crazy when Janet and I decided to see how far we could walk this morning. We made it four miles, but I don't think we'll be doing this again tomorrow. The first half of our walk was brisk and enjoyable, but we were both really cold by the time we returned home. We had to walk carefully to avoid slipping on icy ground. I wore heavy hiking boots so my feet were warm, but the soles flexed too much which caused my foot pain to return. I really can't win with my feet. Today I wore a lightweight cloth mask which made breathing easier, but what I really need is one of those wool Balaclava head coverings that mountaineers use. Of course by the time I can get the car out of the driveway to get one at REI, the worse of this weather will be over.

When Janet and I were out walking we saw several power company trucks in the neighborhood. Some people must have lost power overnight, but luckily there have been no widespread outages. This is what everyone fears. There have been several ice storms here in Dallas that have knocked the power out for days during the middle of winter. We have so much glass in our house that the temperature drops quickly. An extended power outage in this house isn't fun. I don't think that ice is going to bring down power lines this time, but it definitely is sticking to the roads. I won't be driving anywhere tomorrow. My rear view mirrors have frozen and are stuck in the retracted position anyway, so that's not good. 

Janet made a pot roast in the slow cooker today and the smell made staying inside a lot more pleasant. A good pot roast is almost the perfect meal for a cold winter day. The wind chill is already below zero and the actual temperature will be close to zero by tomorrow morning. I've done everything I can to keep the pipes from freezing, but when it gets this cold they just might freeze anyway. Got my fingers crossed that everything will be fine. They say it's going to be real hard to find a plumber when all this is over.

I don't know why cold bothers me so much. I went to high school in Alaska where the temperatures got down to -40 during the winter. It was common to see kids with bandaged ears at school. The cool kids never dressed warmly enough and their ears would get frostbitten if their cars stalled out on the way to class. Dad made sure that we dressed like we were making a trek toward the South Pole. I was always warm. Our large coal fired furnace ran constantly during the winter. Every Fall a large dump truck would come to the house and fill an entire room in the basement with coal. The house was well insulated and there was double pane glass everywhere. Oddly, I was warmer in Alaska than I am now.

The snow is supposed to stop later tonight, although tomorrow is going to be our coldest day. I feel sorry for folks who had an appointment to be vaccinated tomorrow. It's going to be a mess. At least there won't be quite as many bugs next Spring. This hard freeze should kill most of them.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4068

The weather keeps getting colder. I had trouble starting my car for the first time in ages. I need to remember to start it every day now until the weather gets warmer. I had a couple of errands to run and the stores were packed. People were buying groceries like the end of the world was coming. There were so many posts about frozen water pipes on Facebook that I got worried and put new insulation foam around all the outdoor faucets.

Dawn refused to walk this morning. There wasn't anything wrong. She was just being smart. She knew almost instantly that it was way too cold for a walk. I didn't have the good sense to come back inside with her and took my six mile walk anyway. I discovered a new use for my N95 masks. The close fitting mask really helped keep my face warm. My coat and gloves kept me pretty warm yesterday, but my exposed face was freezing. With the hood of my jacket up and my mask on, only my eyes were exposed today. I completed my walk, but was happy to return to a warm house. I know people who love Winter weather. I think they're all nuts. When I was young, I read a story by Fritz Leiber called A Pail of Air. It was about how the earth got pulled out of its orbit by a passing dark star and how one family survived by melting oxygen from the frozen atmosphere that had settled over the earth like a thick snow. I always think of this story on very cold days.

We got a notice from the electric company that we all need to conserve electricity during the freeze by  turning our heat down and using as few appliances as possible. I doubt that that's going to happen. When people are cold, their first instinct is to turn up the heat. I really hope we don't have an ice storm. Whenever there's an ice storm there are power outages all over town. Trees fall. Power lines break. It's a big mess. Hopefully, the weather won't be as bad as people are predicting. They say we may see a new record low temperature early next week. Zero degrees in Dallas is very, very rare.

For now everything is fine. The furnace is working well. The two dehumidifiers are keeping condensation away from the windows. We've got plenty of warm clothing. I'm still nervous about this kind of weather though. Things can go downhill quickly when the roads get icy and the power goes out. I still don't understand how northerners can take this kind of weather for granted. Zero degrees is even worse than 100 degrees to me.

If the roads are dry in the morning I need to remember to get my grocery shopping done early. Janet got her shopping done today, so we should have plenty of food. If we get snow or ice, I'm not driving at all. The problem with slick roads here in Texas isn't the ice, it's the other drivers. Nobody knows how to drive on ice here. 

I have a feeling that we're going to be spending a lot of time indoors for the next few days. I should start a new project that will keep me busy, but I'll probably just fret about the furnace instead.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day