By way of introduction . . . It has been snowy and very cold. On Thursday I bought two nice bags of groceries at the Eastport Market and piled them into the car next to the dogs. Piled myself into the front seat. Turned the key. Nothing. Long story short, the car, frozen into a sulk, spent the night in the parking lot of the Eastport Market. Thanks to Katy Newman, at least the Duo and I–and the groceries of course–spent the night at home where it is warm. Yesterday afternoon Bruce Merrifield of Bruce’s Mobile Repair got over there and worked some magic. On balance, Friday was not one of our best days, but it could have been worse.
Saturday, 6:30 a.m. Now another cold day is upon us. The invalid is convalescing in the garage, still sulking, but functional. Miss Sadie and the Cowboy made short work of their morning constitutional. I trotted over to the nice green tube by the mailbox and found . . . nothing! No Record-Eagle this morning. That’s how bad it is. (The weather widget says it is 5° F. out there.) My Record-Eagle is always there. Sigh.
Denied the opportunity to skylark around the Township looking for interesting bits of news, I rummaged around in the mulch pile. What to do, what to do. My world is swathed in gray flannel. Look at the poor chestnut burrs.
Miss Puss, however, is all warm fur and purr. She has been having a great deal of fun with her new toy: a sparkly ribbon from a holiday package. She’s taken to sleeping with it. You just never can tell about cats.
Saturday, 8:30 a.m. And then . . . as I wrote all that blather, the sun peeked over the drumlins. Things brightened up considerably. I stepped out to the deck to take a picture of the empty green tube by the mailbox, and look! A speck of white!
We pulled on our gear and headed out into the day once more, afoot and apaw. Wow it’s cold out there. Even for us. We scampered right smartly around the short circle through the woods. We took very few photos, and they are not in focus because ski gloves pretty much defeat the whole purpose of opposable thumbs, and even inside the gloves my fingers were frozen into a claw.
We pulled the Record-Eagle out of its green tube, and thought to check the propane supply. This is something you might as well do as long as you’re outside anyway. It’s a process.
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It is holding up, but we will order some more today. The coming week promises to be every bit as cold as it is right now. Did I mention that it is really cold out there, even by our standards? The wall furnace has been burning up ten dollar bills pretty steadily.
Saturday, 10:00 a.m. We are back inside and toasty warm and no one looks ambitious to go out again. We have the newspaper and a fresh pot of coffee. We have groceries, although I must say we’ve been making a dent in them. And looky here!
Saturday, 11:00 a.m. The sun has crept up high enough to peek over the rooftop. There is blue sky! Life is good. Although I am having a bad feeling about that fog on the little camera’s lens . . .
Torch Lake Views 
Louan
January 8, 2011
I love your description of agility in ski gloves.
Gerry
January 8, 2011
Hey, Louan! I’m glad you approve. Hope you’re keeping warm. It is cold out there.
Anna
January 8, 2011
Oh wow that is a lot of snow! I sure do like the photo of Miss Puss and the snowy mailboxes. We are expecting snow and sub-freezing temps starting on Monday after a warmish winter so far. I hope to be out and about walking in the snow and photographing whatever. Oh dear, after seeing your gauge photo it reminded me I must check our propane! Yikes! Stay warm, Gerry! 🙂
Gerry
January 8, 2011
Glad to be of service. 🙂 We’ve had snow off and on, but all in all it hasn’t been too cold until recently. It will never do to run out of propane, no indeedy. For one thing, my Propane Guy really hates relighting furnaces. He’ll do it, because he’s a very nice Propane Guy, but he really hates it. There are four people I like to keep happy: Jack the Propane Guy, Dale the Plow Guy, Dee the Letter Carrier, and Dean the Record-Eagle Guy.
P.j. grath
January 8, 2011
Love the chestnut burrs and Miss Puss with her ribbon. So glad you were not marooned along the roadside with the cranky car!
Here’s my checking the tank story: the indicator needle was on 50 one day and ZERO two days later! It had gotten hung up on 50 all the while the level was heading to zero. Luckily, we didn’t stay out late that day and got home to our cold house in time to call for a fill and avoid frozen pipes.
Gerry
January 8, 2011
Ulp. Now I have something new to wonder about at three in the morning. You make a good point, though. I believe I’ll go out and tap it gently in the morning. Or, who knows, the way the temperature is plunging it might drop all the way to 10% tonight!
Dawn
January 8, 2011
It WAS cold out this morning. It was 1 degree way down here in lower Michigan this morning when I took the dog out. Good thing I didn’t know it, just knew it felt COLD..the kind of still coldness that creeps pretty quickly into your toes. When the dog and I got inside and I told husband it felt extra cold he said. “Well, it’s 1 degree.” And I told Katie she had better not have to go outside ever again today. Unfortunately she couldn’t uphold her end of that agreement. Sunshine was really nice though.
Love your photo of the light in the top of the tree branches….stay warm! Hope that propane tank is more full than you think it is! 🙂
Gerry
January 8, 2011
Thank you, Dawn. Believe me, a propane tank at 25% is a wonderful thing right now. I thought I might have to fill up in December. I would say that I miss the days of natural gas piped in on demand, but it wouldn’t be strictly true.
Poor Katie. She probably didn’t want to go back outside either.
flandrumhill
January 9, 2011
There is nothing like a car problem to make one feel out in the cold, even on the warmest of days. In response, I think I’d be tempted to follow Miss Puss’ example.
Gerry
January 9, 2011
I was and I did, accompanied by the Disreputable Duo.
Karma
January 9, 2011
I love this style of post that you do from time to time. I think one of my favorite things about blogging is getting a peek into people’s lives. I’m sorry you are experiencing such nasty cold that even your car is bothered by it! Looks like Miss Puss knows how to get through this type of weather, but then the felines in our lives seem to get through almost any type of weather in that style. The expression you captured on Miss Sadie’s face is priceless!
Gerry
January 9, 2011
Miss Sadie is a wise terrier. I’m glad you enjoy visiting the Writing Studio and Bait Shop. We like company.
Molly
January 9, 2011
Your post reminds me to give thanks for the sun, which we see a bit more often out here than you do in your neck of the woods (or the shoreline). We’ve got the cold all right, but you’re right that sunshine can make a big difference. I hereby resolve to appreciate the sun more!
(at least until the next 20-below morning).
Gerry
January 9, 2011
Sun is good. I seem to remember we had more of it in Rhinelander in the winter, too. But childhood was a sunny time in general!
uphilldowndale
January 9, 2011
Loving the look of Miss Sadie. you stay warm and snug.
Gerry
January 9, 2011
Thank you. We will.