Cool by the Puddle

February 4, 2007 (8:23pm)
-11º F, Dark wind, NNW wind 12 mph, 23 mph wind gusts, -32º F wind chill.

Good evening,

We were treated to some unusual beauty on the way to and from Algoma after church today. Ice fog! It often happens during every winter when there is very cold temperatures. The water is rather warm, compared to the air temperature causing fog to form above the water. What made this so different is since the winter has been so warm so far this year, there isn’t any ice along the shore line. Ice fog only forms over open water and normally that is ½-1 mile or more from shore. This time, we really got an up-close and personal look at the front wall of the fog. It was beautiful. It looked like a filagree of white lace fingers rising from the surface of the water. Some a few feet tall and others up to 100 feet. Each looked like it had been embroidered with a different pattern and texture. The color varying from pure white, to gray, to almost black with various shades of blue mixed in too. Gorgeous! Behind the front wall, the fog increased and rose up several hundred feet into what looked like a big fluffy cloud laying on the water. Really cool - in more ways than one.

It is definitely cool out. The coolest I saw was -16º F this morning after I was up for an hour or so. The high today was -2º F, but the wind had the wind chill in the -30º F or lower. Here in the woods, it again was very nice - out of the wind. It was a very nice bright day. There have been Weather Service bulletins up for the cold weather since early Friday morning. For our county, and the one north and south of us, the severity was dropped one level because of the warmth of the Puddle of Michigan. It was a lot colder overnight farther inland and to the north.

Apparently my closing of the vents around the base of the house worked and we have no frozen pipes. I did leave the furnace turned up a bit higher last night to maybe get more heat under there and left the water at the kitchen sink run at a trickle over night. I don’t want to take any chances. When the temperature goes down to -10º F or lower, I leave the water run a bit always. Just in case. Probably will happen again tonight, as it is to be colder tonight. Guess the cool will stick around for the next few days. One weatherman said today he thought the cool may stay for a couple of weeks!

On the way to church this morning, one of the flocks of turkeys was at the edge of the woods in the ditch line just down the road from the house, trying to stay out of the wind. As we came by, a couple decided to run across the road in front of us, one too close so flew right over the van. Glad it didn’t decide to dump a load as it went over. Just before we got to the highway, the other flock of about 50 was also in the ditch line on the north side of the road. They were keeping some warm in the sun, with their backsides in the woods there. They didn’t move too much. Their dark brown/black coloring I am sure helped absorb the sun’s heat some.

In a way, I was rather surprised the van started fairly easily this morning, even though it was -15º F as I turned the key. It did make some stranger than normal sounds when it did get running. The power steering pump was doing some singing for a bit until things got a bit warmer and lubricated. I let it run for about 20 minutes, then took a shower and like that, getting ready for church. Once it was moving down toward church, the van’s joints were very stiff and really didn’t want to move well. I took it very easy the first couple of miles until things got loosened up a bit. Took a long time for it to get warm enough to turn on the heater too. Same thing happened after church.

Our congregation turned into Eskimos this morning, judging my their dress. Everyone was bundled up. The little kids I think rolled out to the cars. Everyone was in a jovial mood though. Almost like they were enjoying winter! It has been a long time a-coming. I was responsible for the snacks with another gal today. Margriet built some cookies yesterday for the occasion. There were some left, so we gave them to a young bachelor who has many health issues. He was pleased. I made sure I made several quality control checks yesterday so I had a share of them then. After church we went to Penguin City for a bowl of soup and a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. Very good.

After starting the van this morning, I started to think of all the problems we used to have in years past getting vehicles to run in cold weather like this. This van doesn’t have an engine heater, but years past it was an absolute necessity to have any hope of an engine starting after being outside overnight. Also a lot of getting up and starting the engine every 2-4 hours all night long while living in northwestern Wisconsin. Also putting a canvas tarp over the hood with a heat lamp under the engine to add a bit of heat too. Equipment has sure gotten better over the years.

One time at deer camp, we had two vehicles at the top of the hog’s back when a cold snap hit at the close of the season. Took the batteries down to the cabin to warm by the fire for a few hours. We also drained out as much of the oil as we could from them and heat it on the barrel heater too. The oil was thicker than molasses in January, so was very difficult to get too much out of the crankcases. The oil cooled back to molasses before it could get back up the hill and poured back into the crankcases. Don’t think that made as big of a difference as the batteries getting warm did. After hooking both batteries to one vehicle we did manage to get it started then did the same to the other. Ah yes - the good old days!

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><