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We had about 10 cm of snow overnight and the day began brilliant white and fresh. The sun even shone for most of the morning making the snow twinkle like a scatter of tiny diamonds. Jack and I decided to visit our little forest because the path is well used by dog people and their dogs and we were hoping it would be tramped down enough to make walking easier, and it was! We had a slow walk, side-by-side and tried to revel in the sunshine, but today this thin, weak January sunlight only makes me weary of winter.
I love these forest scenes you gift us with every now and then! The fallen trees are always particularly interesting and so important for ecosystems.
The light is lovely.
Today I left home to go work my side business at 5:20 AM, it was 8 below zero Fahrenheit, the warmest is was all day. It got down to -15 F by noon, and just got home at -12 and heading to -28 F, (forecasted). Winds at up to 30 MPH had wind chills at -50 F.
Bare hands to add oil to the truck lasted about 3 minutes, a quart of oil, sold with a one time lock ring on the lid. Under, I had to go inside the store to cut the 2nd seal, the plastic foil glued to the bottle. Once opened and poured, again bare handed, Fingers were screaming, “ice ache”, and took about 7 minutes to quit complaining once back in the truck and driving. It has taken a lot of years of bitter winters to deal with “winter fingers”.
My garage door is frozen shut, which means I have no access to power to plug in my block heater without an hours worth of work to get my sliding garage door open enough to get 120 VAC out to my trucks Block Heater. (Note to self: this summer wire in an external outlet!).
Just another crash course in the Bitter Winter of NoDak.
I just hope these bitter temperatures don’t move east to where you are.
Do you know the origin of “three dog night?”
Rick @#2
Bloody hell that’s cold. Intellectually I know places are that cold, and far colder, but I’ve lived in the UK for most of my life and we just don’t do that sort of cold. Even the famous winter of 1963 wasn’t that cold. Hope you manage to start your truck ok.
Marcus @#3
I’ve always wondered about that. Were none of these dogs of the kind I have known a couple of, who get under the duvet once you are asleep, wedge it under themselves, then push you away with all four paws neatly removing the duvet so you awake shivering?
Rick @#2
I shouldn’t complain about the relatively balmy 0-10 degree Fahrenheit weather we’re getting! You weather sounds potentially dangerous -- stay safe!
Rick @ 2
It was from this blog that I learned that the weather here in Finland is quite moderate actually, not as wet and windy as a true maritime climate and definitely less extreme than proper continental climate.
The winter fingers got me thinking about the parade drill during the (semi-compulsory) military service (in hindsight, being a conscientious objector would have made more sense, even if that would have been 13 months of service at the time, but at least it would have been some useful work instead of the work dodging course that military service is).
Definitely a less extreme experience, but so gratuitous. Even in very cold weather, the gloves we had to use were the thin leather gloves that were also used for going home at weekends. Not only that, but the metal buckle of the rifle strap (wider than the strap, with sharp corners) would invariably, sooner or later, break the gloves when doing the stupid rifle salutes.