What's more current than the weather?

[Gravdigr]

Auntiedigr called from Indianapolis, she casually mentioned the -36 windchill...

[BigV]

that is too fucking cold. good luck to all of you. im, I hope your pipes are ok.

[DanaC]

Sheesh. That's crazy cold.

[fargon]

-8F no wind, they say 33F Friday. I can't wait.

[infinite monkey]

It's 11 degrees above zero! My house is at a normal temperature. The hot water came back to the bathroom. I'm hoping with the increasing warmup that other pipes thaw too, that nothing is busted, but we'll see.

SUCH a relief. After creative heatering yesterday, and with the wind down, I was much more comfortable yesterday but Monday was brutal. Really brutal. I forget to respect the dangers (and pains) of cold.

[glatt]

That's good news. I hope as it continues to warm a little today, everything in the infinite monkey abode returns to normal.

[infinite monkey]

Thanks. I feel so much better today. My friend is going to start replacing my bathroom floor today, though. Since it's winter his construction work is scarce and he's going buggy sitting at home, and also only having his wife's income...so I may be scooting out a day or two anyway. Not convenient but maybe this all has been the catalyst for me to finally get this crap done.

Now if I could only channel a neat-freak-home-decorator persona...maybe I could stand it here a while longer.

[glatt]

If you could move, where would you move to?

[infinite monkey]

Oh, just the town south of here, probably. Where I was born and grew up. It's about the same size as this town only it's SO much nicer. I would love a condo, or an apartment downtown, in an old building. IT would be so cool to walk to the nice stores and restaurants.But this is all wishful thinking for now.

[glatt]

Well, it can be good to have a goal to work to. Tell yourself that someday you will live there, and then make it happen.

It's amazing how important location can be. My MIL has a nicer house than us on a bigger piece of property, but she's in the middle of a tobacco field way on the outskirts of her little town with cars that zoom by in front of her house at 60 mph on that lonely country road. She can't walk anywhere.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by infinite monkey

snip--

SUCH a relief. After creative heatering yesterday, and with the wind down, I was much more comfortable yesterday but Monday was brutal. Really brutal. I forget to respect the dangers (and pains) of cold.

Glad you're OK!

Hypothermia is dangerous, can be life threatening in some conditions. One of the first effects of Hypothermia is to affect one's judgment. Respect, and training, and proper action and all keep you safe.

[infinite monkey]

Thanks! This 17 degrees feels like a tropical heatwave!

[tw]

It was -70 degree C on Mars. Anyone who so wants to be a first man on Mars should be quite happy (or complaining) that it is so warm here on earth.

[glatt]

This cold snap is really improving now. It was 28 when I walked to the Metro this morning. Positively balmy.

And I just read a nice little article that puts a positive spin on this frigid week we've had.

It may be hard to think of this week's deep freeze as anything but miserable, but to scientists like Lenters there are silver linings: The extreme cold may help raise low water in the Great Lakes, protect shorelines and wetlands from erosion, kill insect pests and slow the migration of invasive species.

"All around, it's a positive thing," Lenters, a specialist in the climate of lakes and watersheds, said Wednesday.

....

"A good cold snap lowers the acidity in oranges and increases sugar content, sweetens the fruit," said Frankie Hall, policy director for the Florida Farm Bureau Federation. "It's almost been a blessing."

...

The emerald ash borer, an insect native to Asia, arrived in the U.S. around 2002 and has killed about 50 million ash trees in the Upper Midwest. But some locales this winter may have gotten cold enough to kill at least some larvae, said Robert Venette, a U.S. Forest Service research biologist in St. Paul, Minn.

A reading of minus 20 will usually produce a 50 percent mortality rate, and "the numbers go up quickly as it gets colder than that," Venette said.

While the freeze won't wipe out the ash borer, it will give communities a chance to develop plans for limiting the bug's spread, he said.

Other pests that originated in warmer places could be affected as well, including the gypsy moth, the hemlock woolly adelgid and the European beetle that carries Dutch elm disease, said Lee Frelich, director of the University of Minnesota Center for Forest Ecology. Native insects have evolved to cope with deep freezes.

I just hope it kills off the ticks.

[Griff]