Goose egg

That's what was on my thermometer this morning, a big old goose egg.  Zero, with a wind chill (if you believe in wind chill) of something below zero.  The house was cold when I got up at 5 so I turned on every heater I could find and cranked up the stove.  Got it up to a respectable 60 before leaving for work.  The insulation project was completed on Saturday, and it's definitely made a big difference.  How stupid is it to have the thermostat for the electric heater on the floor with the heater?  duh.  What's the coldest place in a room?  Yes, the floor.  Next to the thermostat.  Well they were cheap and all we could afford, so that's the kind of heater I have.  People always ask what I have my thermostat set at--well, there's low, medium & high on the floor unit so who knows what temperature it's set for?

Had a nice weekend.  Spent some of Saturday with Lin at a gallery we've visited in the past.  I really like the artwork of one of the several artists whose work is there, so I bought some cards and some misc. other things for Christmas.  Am I even THINKING about Christmas now?  Not really.  And it's a month from today. 

After shopping we went out for lunch and had a nice pizza and beer together.  Then home I went to pay the boys for their insulation work.  They of course were thrilled to get checks, and I, of course, overpaid them.  But it was great that they did it--what a disagreeable job, crawling around under the house, lying on your back to staple insulation above you.  I know, I did it 20 years ago.  They reported that there were parts of the house with no insulation at all.  I could tell them where those spots were--the back of the house, most notably my bedroom.  Now that it's insulated it's much better. 

Yesterday was incredibly windy and cold.  The house got warm and stayed warm well into the night.  I went to P&J's and stayed a while for a very nice visit with them.  We appreciate each other a lot in the winter--although there are others in the neighborhood we feel alone.

I had a wonderful visit to the Westport library last week.  It's a great place, friendly people, fire in the fireplace, pretty location on the lake.  I did my consulting there, then followed the lake up to Essex, cut over to Wadhams (which has some of the most beautiful views in the Adks), then to Lewis and up the Trout Pond Rd.  We used to travel that road a lot.  It's a pretty area with few homes.  From there I followed the river to Keeseville, then went to the Chasm and on to Peru.  Whew!  It was grand and I really enjoyed it.  It only took an extra half hour to get back to Plattsburgh, which impressed me.  I like going to the member libraries.  We have a great group of directors right now.

Tomorrow I'll leave work at noon, head home and pack for my Weds. trip to RI.  There's much ado about a big, terrible storm coming tomorrow & Weds., so I'm trying not to think about driving conditions.  I plan to leave Weds. early morning, which I think is when the storm is supposed to be particularly ugly, with sleet and ice.  Rain to the south, so I just need to get out of the Adks.

I'll be in RI until Sunday, having a nice visit with Liza and Mark.  Jenica & Justin will be there part of the time so it will be very festive.  What will we do?  Walk the dogs on the beach.  Cook Thanksgiving dinner.  Eat Thanksgiving dinner.  Eat lobsters.  Maybe go shopping at some small local shops.  That's our usual Thanksgiving activity list.  Doubt that it will be very different this year.

We got about 3" of powdery snow Sat. night and I guess we're supposed to get quite a bit more on Weds & Thurs.  Well it IS winter, and we have snow in the winter.  I don't like snow much, it's hard to deal with and complicates things. 

Hope everyone has a good holiday.  I'm looking forward to mine.