A Windy Start to Winter
Two very important things happened on Friday. One, the world didn't end. (Duh!) And second, it was the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. The Winter Solstice is special to me, partly because I know the days will (slowly) start getting longer again, and partly because I graduated from college on the Winter Solstice in 2008.
This year, "official" Winter kicked off with a bang! Here in the High Country, "winter" normally starts at the end of October. Almost every year we get snow by Halloween. It's not usually much, this year it was just enough that I had to shovel the porch and part of the driveway. (It was that heavy, wet snow, so I only shoveled where I could see the tire tracks from when the Hubby drove to work.)
We had some cold days and some mild days between Halloween and the official start of Winter. We've been using our wood stove to keep the house warm, but we didn't put any fuel oil in the tank, so we couldn't run the furnace. We managed to keep the house warm through the cold days of Autumn, but apparently we weren't prepared for Winter.
When I woke on Friday morning, I could see bright light through the bedroom curtains. The house was cool, but not cold, and I could hear the wind whipping outside. I pulled the curtains opened and was surprised to see snow. (I shouldn't have been surprised; Thursday's rain had turned to snow as the temperature plummeted overnight.)
I let Puppykins outside into the howling wind and driving snow to take care of their business. That was the quickest I've ever seen them! After they were back inside, I checked the stove in the basement, got dressed for work, and went to warm up my car. I had to tug on the doors a little before they opened; I pulled two logs out of the backseat and placed one in front of each front tire to keep the car from rolling forward. (I have a manual transmission, and my mechanic Hubby says to not set the parking brake in Winter because it will freeze.)
Once I got the car started and the heat turned on, I ran back inside. I checked the fire once more, brushed my teeth, made sure I had everything I needed for work, and set off! Because the wind was so fierce, I only had to brush a little snow off the car, no scraping necessary. Once I had backed to the end of the driveway, I realized our road was a mess! We live on what's called the "Old Highway", which is still a major road. It's usually plowed, or at least salted/brined by 9:30 on a Friday morning. (My theory: The NC DOT believed the Mayan prophecy of the world ending and decided they didn't need to prep the roads Thursday night.)
I carefully back out of the driveway and slowly make my way to the "New Highway", one of the major roads into town. As I sit at the red light, I noticed that the intersection looks like crap. Awesome. I have an all-wheel-drive Subaru Outback, but I still drive carefully and as safely as I can in bad weather. As i traveled into town, I never got out of third gear, even though the speed limit on the highway part is 55 mph. The 8-10 minute drive took 20, but I didn't mind. I left early, so I wasn't concerned about being late.
I parked in a parking deck for the University's Library, which was open to the public since the school is closed until the Spring Semester starts in January. I thought about parking on the street in front of the restaurant, but there was a truck fishtailing down the 20 mph zone in front of me, so I decided the parking deck was safer. As soon as I walked out of the deck, the wind knocked me back a step. I struggled up the hill, around the Art Museum, and across the street to the warm, inviting restaurant.
Most of our business is foot traffic, and with the University closed, we weren't busy. My second server was sent home before getting a table, and I made a whopping $20! But, Boss Man and I found out the place next door has some amazing fried mac-n-cheese bites! Both of us were hoping second shift would show up a little early, because they usually do, but because the roads were still crap, they were a little late. He has a lot farther than to drive than I do, but the sun was setting closer to five each day.
After the windy walk to my car, I sat in the cold, but not windy car reading my book while it warmed up enough to drive home. The drive home took about 30 minutes, but in the dark, I drove slower than I had that morning.
I got home a few minutes before 6pm, and the house was downright cold. I had left all of the curtains closed to help keep the wind out of the house, but we have very little insulation and the house was built in the 1940s, so it still leaks a little. With no oil in the tank, the furnace couldn't kick on, and the thermostat read 50, the lowest number on the dial. I ran to the basement, stoked the coals in the wood stove, and brought in as much fire wood as I could before taking off my jacket and boots.
Once the Hubby got home, we spent most of the evening in the basement, sitting near the wood stove, the warmest spot in the house. He suggested finding our air mattress and sleeping in the basement, but I don't sleep well on that thing, so we didn't. Our bedroom is directly above the stove, and we have an open heat register in the floor to let the heat from the stove rise right up into the room. We threw an extra blanket on the bed. We still froze. I didn't sleep well, and I think the cold may have been a factor in my disturbing dreams.
Saturday morning I ate my breakfast and got dressed for work in the basement, next to the stove. I got to work early, only because I knew it would be warmer, and I just wanted to get out of the house. I apologized to Boss Man when he got there, saying I was in a crappy mood, but I was doing everything I could to feel better. I told him about the cold and crappy sleep from the night before.
Boss Man has a kerosene space heater that he's been saying he's going to let me borrow for two years now. Since he had to open the restaurant Sunday morning, he offered to drop it off at my house on his way into town. I've always been a little nervous about space heaters, which is why I'd never seriously taken him up on his offer in the past. But I was too cold to worry, so I accepted.
The high wind warning was cancelled at 3pm Saturday. Since it was slow again at work, I left around 1pm after having only two tables. I still had a few Christmas gifts to buy, plus tickets to see Les Miserables on Christmas Day. Between the wind, walking around downtown, and the morons in the mall parking lot, I was frustrated and ready to get home.
The house was still pretty cold, but since it the wind was starting to die down, I was able to raise the temperature in the house a little with the stove. The Hubby and I didn't have to hang out in the basement Saturday night. We exchanged a few gifts, and laughs, over stories he told me about going to a Carnivore Preserve when he was a kid.
Sunday morning, the house was a little warmer than Saturday morning, but still cooler than the previous night. We stoked the fire, and started to watch Ice Age: The Meltdown on TV. About 30 minutes in, my Father-in-Law arrives. I jump up to brush my teeth while the Hubby goes out to greet him. As I walk out of the bathroom, I see that Boss Man has pulled in right behind him, with the kerosene space heater. I ran into the bedroom to change out of my pajamas and fuzzy robe and into real clothes.
I found all three men outside on the porch. Boss Man was showing Hubby and FiL how to start it. He got it started and carried it into the living room for us. We ran it for about two hours, and it got the house up to 70 degrees, according to the thermostat in the living room. The bedrooms and bathroom were a little cooler, so I carefully moved the heater into the small hall for a few minutes.
Since there were no more 60 mph gusts, we were able to keep most of the heat in the house for the rest of the day. The stove was still going, and Monday morning I woke warm! The Hubby got some oil for the furnace, because we've still got 3 months of Winter and high winds ahead of us!
