The Cold

      

4 PM Feb. 3, 2023

It's going to get a lot colder tonight. They predict -23°F with a windchill of -50°F overnight. I have never experienced this before. I have seen it colder, have seen -30°F actual temperature at the house. But not this windchill. They say it is a once in a generation occurrence. Schools are closed. Nobody is driving by on the road.

As the day has gone on, the air has gotten colder from a high of +11°F at 5 AM to this. The wind has gotten stronger, also. I have been watching the trees leaning in the wind and the snow blowing through the air.

The air in the house is too dry. The furnace has not stopped burning even for one minute. I had 3/4 tank of fuel before this began. I dread to see how much is left when this is over Saturday night.

Lucy will not go out and I am grateful for that. But she has strong feelings about soiling the house. I will praise her when she has an "accident."

Lucy's nap this morning.

Lucy slept under her blanket all night last night next to me, keeping me warmer, and took her naps under a blanket on the couch. The cats? Same old routine except they have me home to pitifully cry for more food more often. 

I was going to wash dishes today (for me and the knees, it is almost an all-day chore). But this is my day off and I have taken it off. Movies, messaging with the kids all day, reading. I had supper at lunch time. My son and I exchanged piano performances of Schumann piano concertos and gossiped about the Schumanns and Brahms. We shared a couple of recipes and gossiped about TV chefs. 

Amy's district was the only district in the state that stayed open. She said when it was over that it was awful taking the kids to the busses wrapped in blankets. I can't even imagine. The state even reminded us not to let our dogs or cats outside, or to only let the dog stay out less than 10 minutes. Yet they allowed human children out in that district. 

I am so grateful we were kept home today so that I could monitor the furnace and the pipes and the animals. I will soon post about my post-holiday experiences that have kept me quiet for too long. So I needed this day to make sure all was still under control. 

Here is the map of the forecasted wind chills for my area tonight. I live between Newport and St. Johnsbury, to the right of the I-91 symbol and in the dark red at 1400 ft elevation—which will be worse than being in a protected valley. It is going to be bad. The wind chill so far has only been -43°F today. I don't even know if it is possible to sleep upstairs with the wind and cold tonight. We'll see. But I know Lucy will never leave my side. Oh, but the cats will! Those little hedonists! I suspect they are sleeping on top of the furnace!

• Tweet from Lake Champlain (2 hours to the west of me).
• Tweet from Newport this morning about 9 AM (20 minutes north of me)
• Mount Washington in New Hampshire (an hour east of me)

I survived today and I will survive worse tomorrow. But I won't go to my hair appointment tomorrow. Amy said she is (we go to the same hairdresser). 

When Lucy was awake, she took advantage 
and asked for extra cookies.
She got them.
Who could say no to this?

_/\_/\_