Archive for ‘December 13th, 2008’

It’s cold

I snowshoed, Karl walked and ran – twice – early today. The temperature was dropping so fast that I knew it would be too cold (for me!) to do a long walk before long. In the interest of staying alive and keeping my nose and all my fingers and toes, I don’t do even the short loop walk when it is below zero… it has a few steep ups and downs – more risk of twisting an ankle or something and at the very cold temps and wind chills things can go from a funny accident to an ordeal or worse quickly. I will follow Karl’s “perimeter” walk on flat land very near the house for the next several days. Soccer and stick games will work also. Poor Karl! I believe he is feeling comfortable for the first time since his winter coat came in!

Karl will have snow on his nose until Spring….

It is apparently cold enough to use the dog bed on the front porch. But not yet cold enough to move the tail in front of the nose – maybe tomorrow.

I drove just down my road a bit, to the ridge that overlooks the valley to the west and the mountains behind and north of my house.

It’s cold.

Winter Storm

Thursday, the day I took the “moon over the mountain” photos, it looked like this midday:

Yesterday started beautifully clear with the setting, nearly full moon shining into the sunroom in the early morning. By 10:00, heavy clouds and freezing fog had moved in.

My friends at NOAA issued a Blizzard Warning from 5 p.m. last evening until 11 p.m. this evening – forecasting 3-7 inches of snow for Kalispell area, high winds causing drifting snow and whiteouts, and gradually dropping temperatures. Sunday’s overnight low is to be in the -20’s.

While often the snow part of these monster storm forecasts fizzles, they typically do not miss on wind and temperature. I had a morning appointment and stopped for a few last minute things at Costco. I wasn’t the only one making sure I had everything I needed and wanted – the place was packed! I overheard several employees rushing in ahead of me and saying that they had been called in on their day off.

At home, I got things in order for a cold, windy, snowy couple of days…

An auxillary heater for the fresh water bay of the motorhome. The furnace has ducts to the water bays so they get heat, but the arctic temps make it prudent to provide some extra help. The water bays are insulated but still, it is not a house. I don’t winterize it, although if they drop the forecast temps much more, I may reconsider. I keep rv antifreeze (potable) and it takes about 15 minutes to do. I’ve overnighted to -18 but it consumes a lot of propane to keep it warm enough to not freeze.

The snow thrower has fresh oil and gas. I started it up and ran it a bit. It is ready for action if needed.

But….this morning…woke to just a bit over 2 inches of snow. It is very windy and the temperature has been going steadily down all night and continues in that direction. It is now 12 at 9 a.m.. NOAA has regrouped on the amount of snow as well as the amount of wind and now showing partially clearing skies which WILL send the temperatures even lower. The driving in the valley is probably tough with wind and blowing snow – even a couple of inches blowing around is difficult. But, at my house, it looks like the “story” will be the cold, not the snow.