From Oven To Icebox: This Is Not A Drill

If anyone wondered if there would be a precise moment when Bill and I would really leave the oven and transition to the icebox, it occured at approximately 6:52 this morning.  However, I had an inkling that it was happening at somewhere around 4:30 this morning.  Why? I could not feel my ears, and there weren't enough covers to keep me and the three Littles laying against me, warm. There is a reason we have chihuahuas, and utilizing them for their body heat is one of them: they are content to crawl under the covers near our feet, our knees, and our backs and this is essential, in my opinion, for winter survival.

Winter, you ask? You're not even into winter yet! Um, yes I am. It was 32 degrees fahrenheit when I threw on quilted Carhartt bib overalls, a fleece sweatshirt, coat and hat and went out to walk Mr. Gunnar. I bought Bill and I each a pair of those overalls last winter and we each probably wore them once: to the Tucson Rodeo, which was unseasonably cold.  I am now realizing just how wise that purchase was and plan to live in quilted pants for the next eight months.

Yeh, that's frost: frozen water!

As Gunnar and I made our way down the road, I looked up and not more than a couple of hundred feet away from us sat a red-tailed hawk perched in a tall tree.  He was beautiful and we watched him for a while: actually, I watched the hawk while Gunnar scoped out which ditch he wanted to fling me in next.

The hawk spread its wings and it almost sounded like he was laughing. I thought I heard him say something like, "...ridiculous in the winter pants and coat..." And then he fell off his branch.

Let me tell you what poor Bill was doing while Gunnar and I were gallavanting: due to the unusually low temperature in the house, we thought something may have gone wrong with Old Man Taylor, the wood burner.  Our house temp is set for 74, but when I woke up--and woke everyone else in the house--the thermostat read 69 degrees. NOT ACCEPTABLE! What could be amiss? Our friends that service the wood burner had just been out two days ago: Smoker Tom and Mullet Rod were very thorough and checked everything and explained everything about that burner. They were such characters, but very nice guys and knew their stuff.  By the time they were done, it was pretty apparent there was a leak in one of the radiant heat floor tubes in the workshop, so we turned that one tube off. Apparently, there are more leaks up there: once Bill called Tom this morning (at 07:00am) and got the command to shut off all tubes in the workshop floor, the house heated up and the floor in the garage started to as well--which it is supposed to do.

That's not very exciting information, but when you've come from weather that was in the 100's (not 100, but in the 100's) four weeks ago, and now have to resist the temptation to stick your tongue to an icy dog kennel--just curious- it is quite a life adjustment.