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-38C AND GETTING WORSE

 It was -36 this morning. (And for clarification, once the temperature dips below -35 there is no reason to designate Fahrenheit or Celsius. The temperature is close enough to -40 equality that it does not matter what scale is being used. In other words, it's deadly freaking cold.)

It is -38 now.  The phenomenon of the temperature dropping as the sun rises.

At -36 this morning our uninsulated, unheated, shell of a garage was -15 inside. That is still too cold for my old and creaky bones, but it is a powerful example of how blocking the wind keeps things warmer.

 

My wife's car started OK.  She tells me it has an oil pan heater instead of the regular block heater located in the frost plug. My truck, with the regular block heater, fired right up but the 20 second zing of rings against bare metal made me cringe.

"That can't be good."

When I lived in southern Ontario I owned a 1980 Buick Regal (rust bucket) that did not have a block heater, as they are not used or needed as much in the Banana Belt as they are in Saskaberia.

"What is a block heater Old Man?"

I'm not going to explain. Google is your friend. I will say that out here we have been plugging our vehicles in for decades before it became fashionable.

 

 I could barely push my trucks clutch in first thing this morning. The gear shift, in neutral, would barely move side to side in the gate. Add a Flintstone seat and square tires and it equals too freaking cold. But, sorry to say, I must venture to town for my mail, and a lotto ticket.

"That's bordering on stupid."

Listen, I crossed that border years ago.

 

And finally.

Ursa, the outside dog has spent most of the last two days, and will the coming three, in the house.

She has been quite happy to be here but the antsy is setting in.

This morning at 4:30 she decided she urgently needed to go outside to check the coyote situation. At 4:40 she realized it was -36, and the coyotes were snuggled up in their warm jam jams. At 4:46 she decided that she wasn't going to wait for them to wake up because it was frigging -36! 

I heard her barks to come in to the warmth....It's not like I was going back to sleep.

I feel sorry for her. The next three days are going to be "out dog, in dog, repeat", and I honestly believe that is going to be harder on her than me.


Well, I guess I'll start the truck and make my little trip.to the village and back.

Please keep warm.

Drive safe.

Help those in need.

And remember,

Hard winter ends in three months.

Hopefully.

 


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