Snow, Ice, & Cold

I finally decided that my wood stove alone just wasn't going to get the job done. Sure, it has the ability to heat my whole house and heat it well, but it just takes too long. On weekends it's killer--I leave it going all day, but on weekdays it doesn't work that well. I get home at say 3:30 or so and I start a fire. I stoke it and keep it building nice and hot to get lots of coals. After a couple hours, the living room is nice and comfortable, but the upper floor (i.e. my bedroom) just starts to get comfortable by the time it's time to go to bed. So now I leave the master bedroom and living room electric thermostats at 60. I came home today and it was decent. Not "naked warm" by any stretch, but the wood stove had a lot less it had to catch up.

It's been fairly cold for our area lately. We get hit with record rains and some flooding a couple weeks ago, and now it's cold. It snowed a bit last night, so I knew I'd be taking my truck to work this morning. When I got up there was only about a half inch of snow, but I knew I'd run into more. I made it a point to leave for work about 10 minutes early because I knew traffic would be slow, and besides, I needed to get some gas. My truck is very good in snow and ice, and I think it's partly because it's a full size truck, and partly because it's one of the last with "part-time" four wheel drive. That means I have to get out and turn the front hubs to lock them in. It also has very good tires for snow. Anyway, my 10 minutes totally evaporated. I only have to go from this town to the next one, but I was actually 10 minutes late because traffic was moving so slow. The roads were fine, but people were being cautious. Way cautious. I was going so slow on the freeway that my speedometer wasn't even registering. I only have to go 2 exits to get off for work, but I had to bail after only one--It was just ridiculous. I was very surprised when I pulled into the parking lot and saw the moped parked there that belongs to a recent-hire. I'll tell you what, that guy has really impressed me with his ethic. He has ridden that thing in pouring rain and everything and has never been late. And this morning with snow and black ice?! I went up to him when I got there and said, "Man, I don't know how you can sit on that stool in front of that press with balls as big as you've got." I like that guy.

We had a fairly small crew today, and instead of some of the oddball stuff I've been doing lately, I filled in and ran a thread tap into holes for 4 hours. The threads were already there in the fastener holes, but after the parts get heat-treated, the threads change slightly, so it was basically "cleaning up" the existing threads. At any rate, after 4 hours of that, I have one helluva sore arm. I seriously overused one particular muscle.

Schools were closed today, so I didn't have to pick Sarah up after work. While it didn't matter to me, I'm glad for Teresa because I wouldn't have wanted her to have to drive up the hill this morning to take her to school. She stayed home from work today as well, so they both got to relax and watch news reports on TV all day I guess.

I ordered myself a new comforter from Amazon the other night. The cheapie I bought a couple weeks ago is okay, but I want a real down comforter. Mostly for the quality and warmth, but also partly for the noise (or lack thereof). My cheapie makes a lot of rustling noise, remember? Anyway, I got a killer deal on a nice one. Highly rated by specs and customers, and it was sale-priced as well as having free shipping and a $25 off online coupon. It ended up being $102 plus tax. I'll keep my existing one on the spare bed.

Well, that's enough for today. Turn up that thermostat!