Thought for the Day - 01/22/2025

 Five seconds before this shot, it was -4°F.  It was taken at 7:50 AM.  The sun was up, but not over the local horizon.

You can call it winter and normal for this time of year.  You can call it the result of climate change.  It doesn't matter.  It's too damned COLD.

Hope my car starts.

Countdown to Spring - Fuel Consumption

Heating fuel has been delivered.  It's been a little under a month since the last delivery and I've gone through about 100 gallons.  To some that may seem like a lot.  But, believe me, it's wonderfully less than normal for this house.  The cost of heating for a season has sometimes outdone property taxes for the #1 spot on the budget crunch list over the years.  The topsy-turvy warm temperatures have been a blessing with regard to the heating bill this season.  While I needed the help the of HEAP again this year, and I am incredibly grateful for that assist, I was also able to pay my own way for half my needs as well.

The next two days will be markedly chilly.  They're now saying temperatures may be in the single digits tonight.  There was a time when I might have worried about that, not because of a lack of fuel, but because I have an outdoor tank.  Anyone who has one who lives in a northern state (or country) understands my concern.  People say that the fuel freezes, but it doesn't.  Without anything to prevent it from happening when the temperatures are below freezing, regular old #2 heating oil as well as diesel become very thick, sometimes even waxy, and won't flow from the tank through the line to the boiler or furnace.  Many a service technician has worked the night through just restarting these mechanical beasts when this happens.  You might feel a lack of sympathy for these techs, considering the amount that's charged for an emergency call, especially in the wee hours of the morning.  But, just remember, they're coming out to help you in the same cold weather you're dealing with.  Yes, I really could see it from their point of view even when I was waiting for them to finish other calls that came in before mine.

Anyway, some folks deal with this problem by building insulated housing around the tank or by buying a warming device for the tank to keep the oil thin enough to flow.  Both of these methods of dealing with the problem have gotten mixed reviews from people who have chosen them.  Not financially practical for me. Others use kerosene or a 50/50 mix of heating fuel and kerosene during the winter months instead of regular heating oil.  This does work and I can attest to it.  But kerosene generally runs about 125% to 150% the cost of heating fuel and even a 50/50 mix of the two isn't exactly economical.

There are additives which can be added to heating fuel to prevent the gelling.  I tried several before I finally found one that, when used regularly from the beginning of the heating season, prevents clogged fuel lines from happening.  It's only been tested down to -7°F since I started using it several years ago, but it's supposed to handle even colder temperatures.  All I know is that it has come through for me every year and it is markedly less expensive than using kerosene.  The manufacturer, Power Service, even puts out a product which several service techs swear really does cut through cold temperature clogged lines and lets them sleep during the below freezing and subzero nights.  I've never had to use it, but I have it on hand just in case.  I don't normally endorse products in my blog, but this company's products really work when others have not.

Anyway, I'm ready for our two-day cold snap, which will be followed by 40s, 50s and 60s again starting Monday.  Much as it's still not normal, it's closer to the time when it will be normal   and that's all right by me.

Stay warm, everybody.

Only 16 more days until Spring.

Countdown to Spring - The Brr is Back

Before the sun rises on Saturday morning, the temperatures will be down in the 10s.  That I expected.  However, I wasn't expecting SINGLE DIGITS Saturday into Sunday.  Weren't those supposed to happen in February, when we were getting 50s, 60s and even a few moments of 70s?  Weather like this weekend's forecast reminds me that winter has gotten old.

No, I didn't mean "cold".  It wasn't a typo, even though I'm always good for a few in every entry.

I really, truly, sincerely meant OLD.

Only 17 more days until Spring.  Hurry up.

The Big Chill Down

As I type this, the cold front which is allowing bone-chilling, dangerously cold air to ooze down from more northern regions of the planet has already passed through.  Under normal circumstances, the warmest part of the day in my area would be somewhere between 12 noon and 2 PM.  Today, the warmest part of the day was around 3 AM, when it was still about 22°F.  By 2 PM today, the temperature will be about 12°F, and by this time tomorrow, we will be rebounding (I hope) from temperatures that were below 0°F during the night.  Brr, baby.

In the summertime, we would actually be appreciative of what amounts to a 20-30° cool-down, a lower humidity, and a good strong breeze to usher it all in.  Not so much this time of year.  Like many, I’m not a fan of weather that’s over 80°F with a similar percentage of humidity.  But,  anybody who complains about the heat of summer by missing winter has already forgotten the temperatures that are coming tonight.

There should be no lynch mob forming for Punxsutawney Phil or any other woodland creature used to predict when the vernal equinox will be at hand, at least not yet.  He predicted an early spring and it may still happen.  A shot of cold air is bound to happen between February 2^nd and March 20^th  of any year.  It’s if it continues, if the cold air doesn’t disappear and we see more wet and white winter weather, that Ground Hog Phil, our Pennsylvania Prognosticator, should be concerned that people might checking out their cookbooks for wild game recipes.

I will finish this on a serious note – look out for those at risk in this type of weather.  From people to pets, no one should be exposed to the cold, and not just tonight, either.

Ah-Choo, Sniffle-Snuffle

Every year about this time, I get a cold.  It’s almost like a rite of passage that must be endured in order for the immune system to handle the winter season at its best.  Once it’s over, I’m good until next year about this time.  Unfortunately, getting there is not half the fun. 

It’s starts as a sore throat which makes me sound kind of gravelly and sexy for about a day before I start making those little coughing and sniffling sounds that make anyone on the other end of a phone glad they’re not in the same room with me and those who share my space wish they were anyplace else.  Along with a head that feels like its painfully overfilled with wadded cotton, there's also lots of sneezing from a stuffy, runny nose – who would have thought that stuffy and runny could so happily coexist?  It’s the only time of the year I have to buy Kleenex in those pretty decorator boxes that don’t make me feel any better to look at or use them.  Eventually, the sneezing and clearing of throat turn to full-out coughing, and I can bark with the best of the seals – go ahead, throw me a fish.

I may or may not have body aches and a low-grade fever, although if I do, guaranteed I’m cranky, which turns to a cranky and whiny combo as the cold progresses.  No, I’m not good at being sick.  My infirmed persona is likely enough to make any prospective love of my life think twice before getting involved with me.  Okay, that’s not the only reason, but seriously, one practically needs the patience of Job for about the middle 48 hours of the total 120-150 hours that the cold runs its course.  Best bet is just to leave me alone with lots of fluids, ibuprofen, and whatever other cold symptom remedies I might need demand. 

It mercifully starts to subside around Day 4 and I’m back to being my normal sounding sweet self in no time.  I’ll even be nice and not tease those around me who are now getting sick, possibly the result of contact with me during the contagious phase which started even before the first throat tickle.

There are a number of viruses which cause the illness we call the common cold, but for some reason once I’ve had one, I seem to be stay healthy and immune from all of them for the rest of the cold and flu season.  Yes, I do get the flu shot now, but that doesn’t protect against every sniffling, sneezing, coughing, sore throat making microorganism out there.  I wash my hands, use hand sanitizer, cough and sneeze into my sleeve as much as I can, and can only hope that all those around me will do the same. 

In the meantime, I can only apologize to those who must be around me while I’m working on my one and only cold this season.  I’ll try to be good and not get on your last nerve, but remember – you’ve been warned.

Countdown to Spring: The Good News and the Bad News

The good news is that whatever snow they were predicting for our area never appeared.  I only heard yesterday that we might get anywhere between three and eight inches of new snow today, depending on how the storm tracked.  My immediate response was, "What!?  Why did I bother to shovel?"  I was too tired for expletives to delete.

The bad news is that we're still going to have the predicted single digit temperatures tonight and possibly tomorrow night as well.  There's supposed to be a warm-up after that.  Hopefully that'll stay around up to and through March 20th.

You may say I'm a dreamer ...

Only 15 days until spring.

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Countdown to Spring: The Blissful Silence

Today, it hit 43°F.  Strangely enough, even though it’s nicely warm – well, relatively warm – and the sky clear and the sun bright and inviting, I haven’t been able to motivate myself to take my walk today.  So, after getting back from shopping, I stayed in and listened to … silence.

Blissful silence.  The silence of the boiler not needing to run because it’s warm enough outside and in that it only needs to come on sporadically to maintain a minimum boiler temperature and occasionally heat the house.  More of those days are coming, when the constant droning of that which keeps us snuggy and warm on cold days is replaced with the peace and quiet which comes with warmer weather.

It’s a welcome break to winter-weary ears, and to paychecks and wallets as well.

Only 23 days until spring.

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Countdown to Spring: Be Careful What You Challenge

I have some rules.  Don't challenge anything bigger than you unless you have a real chance of winning and not getting the snot kicked out of you is one of them.  Sadly, I forgot that when I challenged February to get its last licks in.  It hit -8°F this morning, which is actually the coldest I've seen on my thermometer all season.  No hot or cold water in my kitchen presently, although I suspect that will change for the better as the temperature rises.  It's presently +10°F and it's supposed to go into the 20s as the day goes by.

Dear February, I didn't mean for you to take that challenge so literally.  I did say earlier that I knew winter wasn't done with us yet and I meant that, so I am aware of how ferocious you can be.  My apologies for offending the potentiality of your 28 days.

But, you're still out of here come Saturday.

Only 24 days until spring.

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Countdown to Spring: Into the Wind

Okay, so I took a two-day hiatus before writing again, and for those who were reading my little spring fever love notes last year, I know I never missed a day.  Forgive me for my writer’s freeze – seems a more appropriate term than writer’s block, given the 5°F temperature presently, don’t you think?

Yes, it’s still cold.  And windy.  Let’s talk about windy.  A drafty old house lets in such quick-moving air, so I know it’s windy even before I can look out and watch trees swaying in the breeze like listeners at an outdoor folk music concert.  Take a moment to think about the fact that, given it’s 5°F and the wind is blowing at around 30 MPH, the wind chill factor is around –19°F.  Let it make you feel seriously brrr, then grab something (or someone) warm and move on.  You already know it’s cold and feels colder when the wind blows, and you’re already going to be bundling up against it as best you can.  So, what’s the point of being a slave to knowing wind chill factor?  I went and looked it up just for this entry.  Much as I’m a weather geek from way back, knowing the wind chill factor is right up there with knowing the heat index – not generally required for my existence.  Common sense is more my friend in these instances.

The wind of the last two days has made me think more of kites.  I have two, one a traditional diamond kite, and the other a delta kite that actually pops into shape and collapses back down to fit into its little circular storage bag.  I’ve had both for more than 15 years and neither has seen significant air time.  I seem to lack the skill of getting the kite up and keeping it flying for more than five seconds.  The last few years, I also lacked the supplies.  The spines for the box kite got broken, but they were easy to replace.  Decent kite string eluded me after I lost the one small winder of 25 lb.-test string I had.  Even though you can buy a kite locally, you can’t easily find the supplies to fly it.  But, someone finally gifted me with an online-purchased 1000’ spool of 100 lb.-test kite string last year for my birthday.  But then, I was reminded that I can’t tie kite string so that it stays tied and doesn’t allow the kite off its grounding leash.  You sort of need things like o-rings and tiny carabiners to keep things together and you still need to tie things down right.  Since I didn’t have the money for the accessories and still lacked the skill for knot tying, the kites remained grounded.

But, the lack of funds for the those little kite supplies, the lack of skill for knot tying as well as simply flying those silly bits of fiber, fabric and string has not deterred me.  I still want to get one or both of my kites up in the air and watch it play in the breeze high off the ground under my control.  I learned to tie a decent knot, and also learned of substitutes for the modern-day accessories to keep kite things together.  After all, our ancestors have been flying all manner of kites for centuries and they didn’t have things like plastic spines and carabiners. 

So, my kites are ready to go and go they will.  Am I going to fly either one now?
Are you crazy?  It’s 5°F out there.  Kites are more a March thing.

Well, maybe earlier if weather permits.

Only 28 days until spring.

Countdown to Spring: It’s Always Darkest Before the Dawn

I was up a few times in the night to make sure the boiler continued to boil on, which it did with only a few very slight struggling moments.  By the way, if anybody wants a recommendation for an additive to prevent heating oil from gelling in the line from the outside tank to the inside furnace or boiler, I’ll be more than happy to provide it.  It’s worked all season for me.

I was resisting the urge to look at the temperature before morning light.  Why look, anyway?  It wouldn’t make a difference to know and would only make me shiver at the thought of it.  Yet the weather geek within me still wanted to know.  So …

Still o’dark-hundred (5:30 AM):  -3°F (-19.4°C)

A sliver of light on the horizon (6:00 AM):  -3°F

6:30 AM:  -3°F

Sunrise (6:49 AM):  -4°F (-20°C)

7:00 AM:  -5°F  (-20.5°C)

When the sun is actually over the horizon and shining on my little corner of the world (7:14 AM):  -5°F

And the most important time of all …
When the temperature started to go back up (7:21 AM):  -4°F 

So, while it may be darkest before the dawn, it tends to be the coldest after that, at least in this instance.

Science lesson over.  Time to warm the tootsies again.  Stay warm, everybody.

Only 32 days until spring.

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Countdown to Spring: Baby, It’s … Oh, You Know

After hearing the forecast for where the temperatures were heading last night, as in below 0°F, I decided I wasn’t going to look to see how cold it was outside when I got up during the night.  I was in denial and seeing the reality wasn’t going to help, especially at 2 AM. 

My sleep was light and unsatisfying as I listened to make sure the boiler wasn’t having its food supply cut off by the cold gelling the fuel in the line from my outside tank.  It chugged a little, straining just a bit to draw in the oil, but never faltered.  It has failed in the past – and what a less than fun couple of hours that was – but the additive I’ve been adding to prevent it has worked so far.

As it became light enough to see the outside thermometer, morbid curiosity finally won.  As of a half-hour ago, the temperature was -3°F.  It probably won’t get any worse than that, either.  They were predicting -10°F in my area, with it getting down to -30°F in the Adirondacks.  A sampling of temperatures currently in that most northern region of New York suggested that that potential low of -30°F wasn’t even close to obtained.

February is notorious for being brutal.  Cold, blustery, and snowy, I bet it prompts more people to consider moving to a warmer clime than any other month.  But, there have been times when it wasn’t all that bad.  I’ve even had my crocuses and snowdrops in bloom in the middle of February on occasion.  That’s the exception, of course, but it’s an exception I wouldn’t mind having right about now.

Only 42 days until spring.

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Friday Night Illustrative Humor

Bundle Up - It's going to be  bumpy season

You can take it from a meteorological point of view.
You can take it from a financial impact point of view.
You can take it from a political climate point of view.
You can take it from a current events point of view.
You can take it all from some kind of prophetic point of view
of the winter months ahead.

But, really, I’m just chilly and my friend is simply reflecting that.

Maybe.

(Apologies to the late and great Bette Davis for twisting her famous line from “All About Eve” to my Protestor’s needs)