Skip to main content

-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.

 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Heartbreak Comes At Us From All Sizes

 I'm going to blame it on the smoke, but in reality the smoke lifted early last evening, around the same time the rain that was supposed to fall didn't. I was choked up as I removed the nest this morning. I won't admit to having tears in my eyes, and if you had caught me I would have admitted to no more than smoke and allergies. Men don't cry over the most crushing of events. We certainly don't cry over the death of a baby bird.  Allergies, you know. This spring a pair of barn swallows began spending time around the house, perching on the rope light above the deck, outside the kitchen window.  My wife first, and then me, would chatter at them, try to imitate their language, through the window. When we sat on the deck we would talk our version of swallow as they flew by, and pretty soon they became comfortable, and would join us while we were sipping wine or having morning coffee. Them, perched on the rope lights, just out of the reach of the weird apes, and us down ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Art Worlds Last Stand?

 I was pissed off that the wait for a lumbering freight at a highway 7 level crossing, west of Saskatoon, was over 15 minutes, but I was entertained by the slide show that rolled past.  I would have taken photos of the show but I wasn't prepared to enjoy an on my phone ticket from the officer in the RCMP cruiser that was waiting in the lane to my right. This blog is a fun mess, but there is no possible way I can afford a ticket just to enhance the visuals.   Photos would have been nice. There are very talented people tagging the train cars. You will see the most colourful, most graphically precise work on a car. That is the Journeyperson tagger.  And then maybe two or ten cars down, past varying levels of work and prose, you will see it in sprayed black scrawl. "Fuck" The apprentice speaks. Well, we all had to start somewhere. I give these people credit. It must take a considerable amount of hutzpah to hang out in rail yards, trying to find enough light to do your be...
Post a Comment
Read more

New Grey Hairs And Funeral Clothes

 "The last time I saw you you didn't have grey hair." As much as that statement kicked my ass, only fools argue with the blatant truth. I dressed nice. The minute I walked into the venue I regretted it. "I hope it's a quick service. I'm going to melt." I didn't melt, but my deodorant failed. It was 95 degrees F. in the shade.  It was dead still and stifling hot in the packed auditorium.  My jacket came off before I was seated. I would have taken off my pants but for funeral decorum. I dress nice out of respect. I will not wear a tie, but in my suit, shirt and hat I do look mighty fine.  I have never embarrassed myself  because of the way I dress up.  Except perhaps I did yesterday. When did it become standard practice to slob it down for funerals? Shorts? T-shirts? "Do you own a razor, there Chumley?" As I walked into the 100 degree venue a random T-shirt commented with sarcasm,  "you look good." I wanted to tell him to piss off a...
Post a Comment
Read more