OMG IIC (it is cold)!

During the Christmas freeze of 1983 in Texas, we thawed the pipes at my mother's house with blow torches and hair dryers, a necessary step for restoring the luxury of running water. When we returned home, there was a broken pipe in the attic and major damage at my rental unit.

27 years later, I'm sharing another chilly experience with my extended family, who thought moving to the edge of the Tundra in New Jersey was a fine idea that July when they left Texas. Today though, at -8F when we awoke, it's a bit nippy.

The first hint of a problem came when I couldn't get hot water to wash my face.  The house has a circulating hot water heating system, and yes, it did seem a bit chilly inside too.  The heating oil has jelled, not flowing to the furnace, and as the day has progressed, we can see our breath inside the house.  And once again, the hair dryer came out. I didn't have to man the hairdryer this time. Lucky for me, my niece grew up to be a TRUE WOMAN who went outside without me to try to warm the oil lines. Not that the attempt was successful. She called the fuel people. They'll be here some day, and then we will take a bath again and go back to wearing our indoor clothes.

Everyone on the street has fireplace smoke curling from their snow covered roofs. We don't have a fireplace, but there is a chiminea on the deck....maybe we'll bring that indoors and roast some marshmallows. Nancy's busy making steaming chicken and dumplings and the teapot is going. Jennifer has found a plug for the space heater in her office that won't blow the circuits, and that's where I plan to stay for the foreseeable future.

The finches are feeding outside the window. They don't seem to mind the cold. With Birds of New Jersey in hand to confirm the sightings, so far I've seen the golden finch, the house finch (he's red), the tufted titmouse and the red bellied woodpecker visit the feeder. Out in the evergreen fir a redbird is pecking the snow. 

I've got on most of my layers and a fleece blanket wrapped around me. If the inside temp continues to drop, I can always put on my ski pants and jacket. High of 18 today. Perhaps sledding another day. Back home, I hear it is hailing.  I think I prefer cold....maybe.....

Happiness is

Matching snowflake pajamas and spending Christmas with the family wearing them.

What's for Dinner?

A love of cooking is generation skipping in my family. My mother basked in the full-bellied contentment of her guests; the more dishes to wash, the happier she was. The gene leapfrogged right over me to her granddaughter, who has refined heredity with science. My niece knows the precise temperature to achieve tenderness in a brisket and can explain chemically why my sugar free cake experiment tastes disgusting.

As for me, the only time I have achieved culinary kudos was cooking for my great nephews in my RV. I packaged my presentations by prefacing all food with the term “RV”, which added mystique. My RV hors d’oeuvres (white bread, buttered and parmesaned, crusts removed, three minutes on high) sparked a feeding frenzy that looked like a Piñata just broke. Since my groupies were the same little guys who could not wait to assist with dumping the black water tank, I temper their compliment as short of a blue ribbon.


Luckily, my husband is happy to make my dinner. When an engineer cooks, there is predictability. Main and side dishes are planned by noon and executed on time and on budget. At 6:30 pm sharp, the salad will be constructed from a bed of spinach one inch thick, precision cut tomatoes, evenly sliced cucumbers, finely diced red onions, and perhaps a surprise spear of asparagus cut into two inch sections. A modern marvel.

Four out of Five People Like It

 

Rafting the Colorado Shoshone Falls, No Name, Colorado

Self Portrait of Nathan

 

And here is the rest of the family, right before leaving Colorado.

swimming with an ipod?

Yes, you can swim with your ipod! Nancy did and it still works. Maybe you can't detox an ipod, but you can swim with one.

Planes and Trains and a White Christmas

It took a lot to get here. All the fresh pretty snow meant some canceled flights. We arrived in Baltimore and could get no further by air. Many delays and deep regrets about checking luggage later (okay, only 6 hours at the Baltimore airport) we were on Amtrak to NJ by way of several transfers on a snowy night.

Considering our 5 am departure from home, it was a long time till our midnight arrival.But everyone except Nathan waited up for us; Matthew even came to the train to meet us.

The next morning it was pretty obvious why we needed to get here. As you can see, Santa came right down Santa Claus Lane on the Randolph fire truck, handing out candy to all the good little boys and girls. Wow! Not since my days in Yoakum have I seen Santa ride a fire truck.

Definitely this was the place to be for Christmas. See the snow shoveling? We don't get that in Texas, no siree.

Of course if you are seven, shoveling can be a good place to burn off some energy.

Then, to top it off, there was also a visit with Stephen in NY. Life does not get any better than this, Christmas with family and snow. God bless retirement!

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