The weather has been crazy

[crosscourt]

Cold here today as its 34F with a 20-25mph wind sp the wind chill is easily in the low twenties to high teens.

[crosscourt]

Warmed up nicely today anbd got into the mid to upper 50s, but really hate losing the sun so quickly late in the day.

[crosscourt]

Raining today and we need the rain as we had drought conditions for most of the late summer into Fall. Soaking rains are the best as anytime we get hard rains we tend to get localized flooding.

[crosscourt]

Really cold today as the temp is 39F but theres no sun and a 15-30mph wind. Oddly it will be in the low 60s by the weekend.

[crosscourt]

Temps in the high 40sF, clear with blue skies and temps in the high 20s to low 30s at night. If the whole winter stays like this Id be happy.

[wove]

This is shaping up to be the strangest winter I have seen in the upper midwest. Low temperatures at night have been just a couple degrees below freezing, with highs a couple degrees above freezing. We have only had a couple light dustings of snow, that I have swept away with a broom. The forecast for next week is for it to remain the same. I have yet to get the snow shovel out of the shed. For those of us who do not like snow and bitter cold it is a blessing. The ice fishermen have been grousing that you cannot go out on the ice yet. Emergency service have been swamped saving people who have fallen through the ice. Here we are in the dead of winter and you can not play out door hockey. Half of our rainfall comes as snow, so if we do not get any it will make for a poor planting in the spring.

[wove]

Weather is weather I guess. Last night we hit -10F (-24C). Cold water pipe in kitchen froze. The furnace has been running non stop for the last 12 hours and we are at 58F (14C) in the house. It is nice to have a warm house jacket and gloves without finger tips and I keep my hat on. High today is suppose to be 0F, but it should be back in the teens later this week.

We have about an inch of snow on the ground that the wind has packed solid. I went out for a walk this morning. I like the sound my feet make on the hard packed snow as I walk about. I ran into an older lady I often run into out walking about. We agreed that we are some very hard core Minnesotans. I saw no one else out, but the sun was cracking the horizon, and the birds were up and making noise and the rabbits and squirells weren't dashing about looking for food I imagine. So I came back home for breakfast and hot coffee.

[CaptNoize]

I would suggest you might get one of these, if you don't have one already.

https://www.amazon.com/Heater-F242100-P ... 78&sr=8-29
I got one of these many years ago. I do have one in my basement, in case the power goes off. If you use it with common sense, i.e.keep it away from couches, chairs and other flammable items, they work Great..! Mine sits on a concrete floor in the basement, away from any furniture. Using propane has zero smell, and cracking a window just a bit, keeps C0 from building up. These are WAY better than using a kerosene heater, both danger wise, and smell wise. A 20lb tank of propane with this, set on low, lasts about 20 hours..!

[wove]

Thanks for the link to the heater. It would not help. The house pre-dates most indoor plumbing. There is a big cistern under the kitchen that collected rain water, with a hand pump at the sink to pull up water from the cistern. After the town put in city water, somehow the pipes to the kitchen were snaked in between the cistern, and the outside wall and that space is just not heatable. The solution is to re-route the water lines which I always found more trouble than it is worth, so we have just let the pipes freeze when it gets cold. Leave the problem to the next owner Water for the rest of the house runs through inside walls and we always have water for the bathroom and for what ever reason the hot water feed never seems to freeze.

So we have water, the only horror is when you want a drink of water you have to get it from the sink in the bathroom, and oh I just hate to drink bathroom water.

[CaptNoize]

I don't have that problem here. I have 1 outside faucet,and I drain it,when I know it's going to 0 or below. I get ALOT of wind here,and I always worry about downed power lines. I got this heater years ago, since it's self contained. Just turn it on, light it, and sit back and stay warm. And,... you can take it with you,..if you move to another location. On high, it produces 15,000 BTU's ...which will keep you fairly warm, in a small room.