It was -13 this morning, which is sure cold enough, but not as cold as it was elsewhere around here: -23 iin lake Placid, -21 in Saranac Lake. I can handle the -13 all right, it's the -20 that gets me nervous. I took the morning off, however, because the temperature in the living room was 44. I stoked the fire, turned up the heat in the kitchen, and finally got it up to 54 before leaving for work. The sun came out, which really makes a big difference because of the big windows in the living room. So I'm confident the house will be warm when I get home tonight at 6 (I have to work until 5). Not supposed to be as cold again in the predictable future. Whew. Dodged that bullet (no frozen pipes). I fed the birds this morning, following the beaten-down path the dogs and I have made to the feeder--they make a path to chase squirrels, I follow their path to feed the birds. The dogs can't put all 4 paws on the ground at the same time when it's this cold, so they stopped in the middle of the path at -12, lifting different paws at different times. MOVE IT!!! I said, but they both claimed they couldn't move. GET IN THE HOUSE I suggested, bumping them in the butts. They finally hobbled to the front door, slowly, ever so slowly. Honestly, sometimes I wonder what their brains are made of.
I got home from RI on Friday (12/28) with Anna. We had a nice Christmas, all went well. Mark & Liza gave me a remote car starter, which is oh-so-handy these days. It's set to keep the car running for 15 minutes, which I discovered isn't quite long enough for defrosting or warming the car, but it sure beats nothing. So I'm playing with the starter any chance I get.
RI was nice, much warmer than Hawkeye, whre temps got down to single digits while I was gone. It rained in RI as it snowed in Hawkeye--we now have at least 24" of snow (more, if you talk to different people). It's cold enough to keep it fluffy, which makes a big difference. My driveway has been plowed 3 times so far. Ca-ching. I don't even know how much it costs for him to plow, I just pay the bill at the end of the season.
We had lobsters Christmas Eve, as is MY tradition. Roast beef on Christmas, as is our tradition. Mark decided we should cook the beef at low temps for hours, which we tried. Unsuccessfully. It was raw, barely warm in the center, so we put it back in the oven & raised the temp. Made the beef a bit tough but it was good. Anna the Vegetarian didn't complain or fuss, just ate her veggie burgers and burrito. She's a peach. I really had a fantastic time with her.
My 2 trips to Montreal (one to pick up Anna, one to drop her off at the airport) were fine, though the roads were messy for both. I can handle bad roads, have driven in far worse than those trips were. I did miss the turn for the right bridge coming home Sat. night, though, which meant I went into the city and took a different bridge home. Oh well, not a problem. I just felt stoopid.
We had a nice beach walk in RI and the dogs loved it. They ran full bore until they got tired, then Tess assumed her usual Official Greeter role and ran to the few other beach walkers who were there. Treasure did get her feet wet but didn't do it on purpose--she was just chasing Tess (who is NOT afraid of the water).
I spent New Year's Eve with friends, having a nice dinner and good visit with them, their son & daughter-in-law and 5-month-old very vocal granddaughter. The son has a dog from the same breeder I use, that looks just like Treasure but is better behaved, I think. I only stayed there until 9, then went home & was in bed by 9:30. Seems pretty typical of my friends and family. Well, except for my sister, who stayed up for the fireworks that are part of Italy's celebration.
This weekend I have some paperwork to take care of, a dump run to make, and mittens to knit for my mother. It's not going to be as cold (I'm SURE of that) so I can do some outdoor stuff. I should walk the dogs--Anna walked to camp from my house through thing-deep drifts, a most admirable undertaking. She liked seeing the white snow (as opposed to the brown snow she saw when living in Milwaukee). Though I find snow to be really inconvenient, it was beautiful. Guess it still is.
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