Tag Archives: cold

Signs of Spring

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Over the past few weeks I have seen lots of signs that spring is on the way. Yesterday being the first full day, astronomically at least, of spring, it seemed apt to post a list. The first was three weeks ago, when I saw a red winged blackbird perched in the sugar maple where we hang the bird feeders. It was hunkering against the onslaught of snow. We got two feet of snow that day and I couldn’t help but anthropomorphize that bugger and make him ask “Why couldn’t I have waited a few days at least?”  Here are some others:

  • The other morning I went for a run and heard a woodcock doing its spring dance over the field across the road. I am always happy to hear woodcocks in the morning. My heart leaps up, as Wordsworth said, when I hear that bizarre “peenting.” The thing is, however, that the field across the road was covered in snow and ice. It had been flooded so it was like a frozen lake covered in snow. And the woodcock was doing its best to attract a mate. What boys won’t do to get some.
  • Recently there were five different types of birds in the same tree–the same as the one with the blackbird: blue jay, cardinal, chickadee, robin and bluebird. It was a colorful site. The bluebird kept hopping from branch to bird house. Nesting on the mind.
  • Mud. There is a spot up the hill on our dirt road that makes for a woozy ride. It doesn’t look muddy but the car slides back and forth every time. I love driving that way. The car, of course, is pretty much filthy.
  • Sugaring in on full force. It looks to be a productive spring for sugar makers. Good news for those of us who like love the stuff.
  • Yesterday we had a few good blasts of snow. OK that sounds more like winter, but those wet spring snow storms that look like winter is desperately trying to stick around make me realize that spring really is just about here.
  • Turkey vultures and red-tailed hawks are circling the meadows.
  • Yesterday I drove to work without boots. I just wore plain old shoes. The transition from wearing boots and switching to shoes inside, to forgetting the boots, has begun.
  • Crocuses (croci?) are popping up. Those puppies are sturdy. They had started to pop up right before that two feet of snow. And they are still green.
  • Kids walk to school in shorts and a T-shirt. I keep seeing that. I know that the young set has and will continue to parade to school without appropriate attire for the weather. This seems a right of passage (although I am proud to say I never felt the need to express my coolness through the acquisition of hypothermia) but dude, it isn’t that warm. I mean, we had snow yesterday and today. Wear a jacket dumbass.

And there will be more. Leaves haven’t budded out yet. I haven’t smelled a skunk. But in time. Before I know it I’ll be digging in the dirt and planting seeds. I can hardly wait.

Cold Weather and Hot Cocoa

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Time for Sunbathing?

The warmest temperature I saw today was 1 degree. That ain’t summer. Last night the temperature dropped below zero; at its lowest point, just before sunrise, it was -16. Like I said, that ain’t summer. Winter–full on. It was the kind of day where those thin pants are like wearing no pants, the kind of day when your breath freezes in the air. I left the house this morning, driving on the squeaking snow, and all was well. As my car warmed, the moisture inside the car unfroze, evaporated, clung to the windows, and then froze again. I couldn’t see doodly squat. I had to wait for it to thaw inside the vehicle. Cold.

I was chilly enough this evening that I craved something warm. I craved dessert, I admit, but I thought I might combine the two. So I whipped up some hot cocoa. And I’m not talking that instant add hot water junk. I’m talking genuine rich and creamy chocolate deliciousness. Here is the recipe for two servings (or one, if you use a mug as large as mine):

Hot Cocoa

Mix 2 Tablespoons cocoa and 2 Tablespoons sugar with a dash of salt.

Add 2/3 cup water and stir well.

Heat over medium heat, whisking, until mixture boils, then stir for 2 minutes.

Add 2/3 cup cream or half and half and 2/3 cup skim milk.

Heat until hot but do not boil.

Drink up, baby.

Below zero tonight and then we are back to normal winter temperatures tomorrow. Earlier in the week we were aiming to get a storm, but that will miss us. I suppose we can’t have all the extremes at once. That would be a blizzard and schools might be closed. Although, schools were closed today. Busses wouldn’t start. I wonder who got reprimanded for forgetting to plug in the engines. Or maybe it really was just too damn cold for real.

Good Day for Baking Bread

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Yesterday I baked up a loaf of bread as one element of our dinner. We had a bit of a pot luck–fresh bread, soup thawed from the freezer (potato leek), black bean burritos, reheated homemade pizza, fruit. Hot from the oven, the bread was good. It was quite tasty in fact. But it wasn’t the “Oh my hot yeast-risen delights this is inspirational” good. So I thought I might try again today.

At sunrise the thermometer read zero degrees. That is cold. I was hoping for colder, but one gets what one gets. An hour after sunrise, in opposition of the typical, the temperature had dropped two degrees. Now, mid-day, we are one degree above that. The sun is out now, but the air was filled with ice crystals earlier. Sublimation, that’s what we had. So it is cold–a good day for baking bread.

The dough rises now, in a big yellow bowl that works well for just such a project. Yesterday it rose less that expected. Perhaps I added too much wheat flour, or too many oats. So I added less of both of those today. Plus more honey. I find it difficult to have enough honey in my bread. It’s not like I follow a recipe. I just start with measured amounts of water and flour and mix until it has the right consistency. In a few hours we shall see what comes of it. It will rise and we will eat it hot from the oven, in any case. On a day like today, that really can’t be beat.

Serious Cold on the Way

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Sunny Winter Day, For Now

In the wee hours this morning the temperature at our house dropped to 3 degrees. We stayed above zero. The high today has been 16 degrees. Pretty standard winter situation happening. Tonight we will have some colder weather, maybe 10 below. The temperature will barely top zero tomorrow. Monday will be even colder, with 20 below predicted for Sunday night and a daytime high of -2. Plus some wind. It will be chilly.

When I moved to Burlington years ago we had a cold snap. The temperature dropped to 39 below zero. I was disappointed. The record low was 40 below. If it is going to be that cold, why not break the record? We have a warm house. The woodstove warms us right now. It will tomorrow as well.

I find this serious cold exciting. Weather extremes in general are exciting. They give us something to share with our neighbors. They give us stories to tell. They remind me of my humanity. They make me feel alive. Digging out from a snowstorm, or getting stuck at home for a while, humble me. I feel small and part of the larger world. Our artificial human constraints let us forget that we are not in control. We cannot rule the weather. Given that we tend to be so self-serving as a species, that is for the best.

We will have some clear nights coming up. Good for watching stars. And for curling up on the couch with a book. I will try to do some of both.

Mercury Falling and Mercury Rising

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So my extended break from entering anything on this blog is broken as of today. I woke early this morning, not really intentionally, but I did, I looked at the clock and realized I was in time to get outside and perhaps see Mercury rising just before the sun. It has been rising early enough the past week or so but the skies have not been clear enough to see anything. So I slipped from the warm blankets and grabbed a thick sweater before heading downstairs. I checked the thermometer–5 below zero. I would have to suit up.

With snowpants over my pajama pants, thick socks and a couple of layers on top, I slipped on a hat and gloves and grabbed my binoculars. The snow squeaked on the porch, loudly enough that I thought it might wake the children asleep upstairs. I stepped through the knee-deep snow out to the field. I perched myself next to a birdhouse on a post and scanned the horizon. This time of year the sun rises north of Camel’s Hump, so I looked there, but I saw nothing. I was not sure what time Mercury might rise over the hills, so I waited.

In the meantime I checked the star chart on the Planets app on my iPod Touch. This app shows the rise and set times for all the planets, based on your location. It also shows what constellations are visible. Venus glowed brightly next to Scorpio. I wanted to learn a new constellation, as the ones I know are few. I found Virgo and spent some time trying to burn it into my memory. I had a hard time visualizing that set of stars as a reclining woman, but I got a good look at it.

I was warm enough in all my layers so I kept waiting. I finally did see something in the general area I was looking, but it seemed too far south, and it seemed to blink. I watched in the binoculars, resting them on the birdhouse. It wasn’t exactly a high powered telescope on a tri-pod but it worked well enough. It kept rising and heading further south so after a bit I knew I had my planet. After about 45 minutes in the same spot I headed in. The stars were faded and I could hardly see Mercury. Since Mercury won’t be visible until December, it was well worth rising in the cold and dark. I even managed to stay warm.

Once inside, before the sun rose over the Mountains, the temperature dropped to 7 below zero. Not a warm morning. I cranked the fire and fired up a cafe latte. I sat back with a book and waited for the children to rise. Now, the sun up, the mercury is rising a little higher. It won’t get hot today, but it will be warm enough to play outside for a while. I plan to take several laps around the field on my skis. We have enough snow this year for a great nordic track and we–adults and children–have taken advantage of it every day we have been able to do that.  I won’t be getting up quite so early tomorrow, unless I decide to get a ski in before I head to work. Even if it isn’t as cold as this morning, however, that ski just may have to wait until late afternoon.

Chilly. What Gives?

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So in May we had temperatures in the 80’s for a stretch. I was ready to plant the garden long before the typical date. Now that my melons, which I have tried to grow three years running without success, have been in their beds for a few weeks, we have temperatures in the 50’s at night, every night. Today is was so chilly I wanted to light a fire. If I hadn’t have been too lazy to move the potted plant from the top of the wood stove, I would have.

The melons don’t look great.  They are sensitive bastards. They have not grown a whole lot bigger in the past month and one of them looks like it is ready to pass out. Maybe they have been staying up too late since they left the pot. Maybe I was too rough with them when I transplanted them. Maybe it is the cold. And maybe, and I shudder to put this in writing, it is the beetles.

I have not seen any cucumber beetles yet. Why would I? They are perhaps happily munching away at the roots of my poor little melons. Or they might be victims of the nematodes I spread this spring. I won’t be able to tell for a bit. The cucumbers don’t look great either, however. And the pumpkins’ growth has slowed. I was really hoping the beetles would be slain by these tiny little animals. I have not given up hope, but I am thinking the damn hole may not be plugged.

I worked at home today and shivered. I wore a hat–the winter variety. I drank hot beverages. I couldn’t get warm. That doesn’t help with the old productivity. But I got work done nonetheless. I made about a zillion phone calls and that kept me mostly distracted from the 50 degree temperatures.  Plus, it was overcast, then rainy, and windy. The highest temperature I saw was 63 degrees. Summer in Vermont.

On Friday night I will wake in the wee hours again and head up to the mountains to see if I can find some birds. Take two. It may be chilly then, but I will be prepared for that, and hiking tends to raise one’s body temperature anyway. The birds like it better when it is warm as well, but they are not as wussy as melons. A few cool nights, a few bugs, and those suckers just can’t take it. I’m going with the tough love approach at this point–no dessert until they start to green up their act. I’m the one whose a sucker when it comes to the birds. They sing to me and I’ll praise them all poet-like. If my melons would sing instead of produce fruit, well, at least then I would get something sweet.

Chilly End of the Year

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Midday and it is only 12 degrees. I wait at home for the “sanitation” truck to arrive. After lots of moisture in our basement and lots of ruined stuff, we are ready to dispose of things. I hate to just pitch all this stuff, even if it is mildewed and too soggy to salvage, but here we are–the American Way, baby. The truck was supposed to arrive some time before 1:00. I’m still waiting. It was 0 degrees when we rose. The sun warmed things a little but now that is hiding.

Yesterday our high temperature was 8 degrees. I blew off running. The wind was, I don’t exaggerate, howling. It was blowing snow around and generally cooling things off in a frigid like manner. It was dangerous weather. I have run in weather like that, but I was warm inside, reading a good book. I had tasks to do. I didn’t go anywhere. I was going to run by now, but the trash pick up is still pending. Once that happens I will suit up and head out. Maybe it will be 15 degrees by the time I go.

We had snow a couple of days ago. See:

Falling Thick

Things have calmed down a bit. We may get some more snow. I was hoping the Nor’easter that has been shaping up would slam us with snow, but that looks unlikely now. We are considering skiing tomorrow. Squeeze in some runs on my new skis before the year turns. We’ll see. Friends are coming to ring in the new decade (or the last year of this one, depending on how particular you want to be). I am hoping that they will get a fresh blanket of white. That would good of us as hosts. Their arrival time will determine whether we have time to ski.

In the meantime I wait for the truck to haul away our American waste. And wait. At some point I will run. At the moment I am going to toss another log on the fire and pick up a magazine. Once I am comfortable I am sure I will have to get up.

Bitter

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That’s what it was–bitter. The wind, I mean. At 6:00 in the morning, eleven degrees, the wind came out of the north and bit. So maybe biting would be a better descriptor. It certainly was nibbling at my cheeks. My run today took me west, then north, then back the way I came. So the first quarter meant wind on only my right side. Then it came right at me. Then my left side took the hit. At least it made me move a little faster. I have to admit I was concerned about frostbite, and so I was ready to head back home at any point. I had no neck gaitor. But it worked out.  I was moving fast enough that my face was flushed the whole time. And the rest of me was covered. Duh.

Here is the thing. It was crazy beautiful this morning. All those bright stars on the deep blue sky. The moon was long set so they glimmered. Mars and Saturn danced up there, too. And by the time I got home a hint of pink was spread across the Green Mountains to the east. OK, it was cold. And dark. But daggone, I love being up at that time of day. It isn’t easy to get out of bed, but it is way worth it. I think I’ll do it again tomorrow. Of course, if I want to take the time to run I kind of need to run that early, but I will enjoy it once I get out there. That is pretty much what always happens. I am hoping it won’t be quite such a face pincher tomorrow. But at this point, what does it matter? I seem to have gotten used to it. I do look forward to more light in the early hours but for now, this will do.

Another Cold Day

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OK, I should have taken a trip to the dump today.  I should have gone to the hardware store to get some salt for our water softener. Some new wiper blades would be a good idea, too. But I did not get in the car today. I stayed home, stoked the fire, and went for a run. I read for a while, I ate breakfast, I drank coffee. I played with my kids. But I did not go anywhere. It was too cold. It was one degree when we woke this morning. The high temperature for the day was 16.

Saturday usually is my day for a long run. I would have preferred to go in the morning but I thought it prudent to wait until the temperature got to at least ten. I ran during the warmest time of the day which, as I mentioned, was not especially warm. I had a good run, however. I had to keep taking my gloves or my hat or both off and then don them again. I was cool at a couple of points, where the wind cut across a field, but mostly I was good to go. The danger was not the cold but the dust. Every time a car passed, and there were more cars than usual of course, a cloud of fine dust would rise and hover over the road. I used my hat or a glove when they were off as a mask but otherwise I was sucking in particulates.

Tomorrow will be cold again. And the next day. And the next day. I got my nine miles in today but I will run again in two days. It will still be cold. Tuesday’s high is forecast to be 11 at least. Winter has, indeed, arrived. Monday is the start of celestial winter but December 9th was the start of meteorological winter–the first of the 91 historically coldest days of the year.  A little snow would be nice. They are getting slammed down south, but we got diddily squat. Maybe next week, if weather tracks north, we will see some white stuff.

Right now we’ve just got ice. And dust. Despite this, in the darkest time of the year, we are doing well in this house. The solstice is just about here, and Christmas. In this warm house, amid the cold and dark, we are happy campers.

Two Cold Mornings

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Two days ago I one again got up in the wee hours and donned the old running duds and ran in the dark, before everyone else in the house was awake. It was cold, the coldest morning yet this winterish season–18 degrees. I dressed warmly and got out quickly. Too quickly it turns out. The thing you need to know about our house is that it is open. I get everything set up the night before in part to save time but more importantly to be quiet. I leave my toothbrush on the counter so I don’t have to open the drawer (it squeaks) and I don’t want to be pulling anything out of anywhere since every noise seems to clang throughout the house when it is dark.  So there’s that, plus it was cold.

I knew it would be cold, of course, since I pay attention to the forecast. I have run when it is cold many times, but this was the first cold morning I would be running. I made sure to dress appropriately. Unfortunately I forgot one important thing. As I was walking down the driveway, guided by the beam of my headlamp, things seemed to look fuzzy. I blinked. Still fuzzy. I closed one eye–clear as can be. I closed the other eye–blurry as a painting of an octopus in a mud puddle. I had forgotten to insert one of my contact lenses.

So what to do? Go back in and make all kinds of noise to put it in? Or run with only one good eye. I did not go back inside. It was an interesting run. It was chilly but I was dressed for it, so that wasn’t an issue. I was too distracted by my eye sight to be cold, anyway. I kept closing one eye, then the other, back and forth. And it was slippery. I was afraid I would miss something. My binocular vision was compromised, so I had to be careful. I did make it home safely. I found my contact lens in the case. And I put it in for the rest of the day.

I took yesterday off but ran this morning. I took yesterday off partly because it was going to be a lot colder. It was a lot colder–two degrees at its lowest, and that was right when I would have headed out to run. So I waited a day. It was forecast to be slightly warmer at first, but then the forecast was for possible sub-zero temperatures. Screw it, I said to myself, I’m going anyway. And I did. I dressed for a cold morning, too–several layers but not too many, I hoped. The last thing I wanted to do was sweat a lot, then have my sweat freeze me right up. So I was ready.

I remembered to correct my vision before I left this morning. Then I checked the temperature. Sure enough, it was cold. Five degrees. So it was a little warmer than yesterday after all. The wind blew, however, so I had to be ready for the old wind chill factor. I was good–warm enough and feeling healthy. But the run was not without its own issues.

Our driveway is icy. A little snow, a couple of cars smashing down that snow  a whole bunch, some wind and not a lot of sun–that is how one creates the old icy driveway. I knew this, so I was careful to stay to one side, out of the slippery ruts. I mean, it was dark this morning. Even with a headlamp, we’re taking limited visibility. So, trying to be extra careful, I decided to walk in the middle of the driveway, where it might be least slippery. On the way from the edge to the middle, however, I managed to slip, fall hard, and hurt myself.

I didn’t hurt myself badly, mind you, so I kept going. My had was stinging underneath my sandy glove, and my elbow was sending nerve impulses to my brain warning of a bruise to be expected. My ego was bruised as well, so I grumbled slightly. But I just started running and hoped to forget about it. That didn’t happen right away, of course, because I noticed, in the meager light of my headlamp and through my black glove, blood seeping through. That blood had turned to frost by the time I got back home, and it still hurt then, despite the cold.

Sure enough, I had a fine abrasion on my hand, along with a small avulsion. When my son saw it he backed away with a look of horror, asking “What’s that?” The price of glory, my boy, the price of glory. The had still seeps and the elbow still throbs, but I went running this morning. Five miles. At least I can say I did that, eh?