Temperature peaked at 65o. In January. Hardly a cloud in the sky, no wind. Far too nice a day to spend indoors, I got quite a few outdoor chores done today. And one quasi-indoor chore…
Starting tomorrow the weather is supposed to go completely to hell, at least by the standards of this so-far drama-free winter. Not as cold as the early December pipe-breaker, but we might even get a very little weekend snow. That would be the very first time it has snowed all winter. Then cold and windy all next week. The space heater’s propane bottle is due to suck dry any second now (19 days!) but I’m swapping it tomorrow whether it does or not.
The weather sure has had it’s ups and downs this season. For us it will be a balmy 34 deg F today where last week it was frost quake cold. FYI frost quakes happen when it’s cold enough for the liquid in the ground to freeze and expand causing a little explosion. As an old friend would say, the temperature around here is going up and down like a whore’s drawers.
Yeah, we haven’t had any frost heaving at all so far this winter. Normally December is really wet, the clay holds the moisture, then when the temperature crashes the clay freezes and expands until the stones on the ground are all surrounded by hard, swollen clay. Then most afternoons the moisture in the clay melts, then it happens again the next night, repeat all winter long. This winter – so far, it’s in the process of change – has been so warm and dry that there’s been little freezing and almost no moisture to freeze. The chickens’ water freezes overnight, but some nights only barely.
We’re on the cusp of a big weather change, though; the windstorm has already started and I can see the cloudbank moving in from the top of the ridge. They’re even promising snow, for the first time all winter. The cabin’s all buttoned up, the yard is policed, and there’s a fresh propane bottle on the bedroom heater. I just got back from a shopping trip to town moved up from Monday so the drinking water’s topped off. Let it blow, let it snow. Don’t care. 🙂
Hit a high of 44 up in SW MI, managed to get the busted car window extracted upwards and taped into place but that 1/2 hour was enough. Tomorrow should be 48, with luck can replace the lift mechanism (for the 4th time in 14 years). That Jetta is going to live to 500K miles by gum! (only 212K now)
Hope you and Murphy are keeping at a distance Joel, stay lucid and stay warm.