The Week in Review

So Christmas is over, New Year's is upon us.  Everything was good.  We celebrated Christmas with 2 of the kids who were with us from the Eve until Friday.  Saturday we left for son and fiancé's down in the 'burbs of Minneapolis.

It was going to be the highlight of the season because our granddaughter was home on leave.  We had a great time!  And soooo happy to see her!  I took dinner down with us to alleviate the stress somewhat for them.  Two of our son's friends stopped by to visit and eat; granddaughter's BFF was visiting her and stayed overnight.

Around 11:00 pm, we got around to opening gifts.  Everyone enjoyed their presents.  Lots of "oohhs" and "ahhhhs"; lots of handmade gifts.

Saturday was a gorgeous day....lots of sunshine and temp in the low 4o's.  Happy weather!   But by late evening, there was a shift in the wind.  And we got a lot of wind!  Temps started plunging, and by the time we were heading off to bed, it was downright frigid!

Sunday proved the weatherman correct....below 0 temp with a double below 0 windchill.  And it never let up.

But not to worry (or try not to) because we had our new furnace at home.  The water pipes should be just fine.

It was a "hairy" ride home, those 3 hours and some.  Arctic temps, winds, a bit of snow blowing into white outs on the highway.  So we finally arrive, grab some things to take into the house, turn on the water right away......no......water.   Oh my God!!  BH proceeds to take the closet apart....because that's how we get to the water heater.  I'm opening the bottom cupboard doors in the kitchen, moving the infrared heater next to it.  BH gets out the hair dryer....because that's how we thaw out the frozen elbow at the water heater.

After a few minutes, he says "wait....there's no cold water?  The pipes aren't frozen inside the house....it's outside where the main line comes into the kitchen".

Soooo.......on with the boots, gloves, hat, Carhart jacket...and off he goes.  Only....the trap door is frozen shut, there's 2 feet of snow in front of it that needs to be shoveled away.  And the 2 huge rocks in front of the traps door that need to be moved, are frozen in the ground.  He now goes to the shed to get a hammer.

He'll need the hair dryer outside, so....the extension cord to the deck lights gets disconnected to be used on the other side of the house.  Only....most of the cord is on a reel.....which is frozen....so that needs to be brought in the house to warm and thaw.

After shoveling the snow away and much hammering on the rocks, he manages to gain access to the water line. 

An hour later, a few breaks to warm up in the house and a bit of trouble getting the hair dryer to work....success!  We have water!

What the hell did we bother with a new furnace for??  Well, actually, all the pipes in the house were warm and as it turns out, the freeze-up was outside.  It seems that even with warmth inside, if you have no basement, just crawl space under your home and if water isn't being used for 2 days in arctic, sub-zero temps..the outside line will freeze.

Remember.....you heard it here first.