Tuesday, December 6, 2011

A Little Ridiculous

Ridiculous, I know.  It's in the 30s outside.  Been in the low 40s and now slipping into the 30s before it drops down to the 20s late tonight.  During this past summer we had almost 3 months of temperatures 100 degrees F or higher.  It was a beast of a summer.  Normal (and you know that there is no such monster, right?) for my memory of normal summer weather--a few years back anyway--was summers that broke into the 90s for highs, but not much above 95, and only a few days here and there.  The nights might not get below 75 and we would have rain.  And thunder.  And lightening.  And more rain. It would be steamy and hot. But not this past summer.  For a little bit, I thought I was in Tucson, AZ it was so hot and devoid of ANY rain during the summer this year.

Well, all that has changed.  Although we had like a day of 80 degrees for a high and a low of 70 just a week, maybe week and a half ago, our high yesterday was 48.  This morning, when I got up about 6 am, it was 42.  At 7 or 8 am it was 38.  And drizzling.  We had 4 inches of rain over Saturday and Sunday.  That's the most rain we've seen in a 36 hour period for a long time!  And we accumulated 6 inches of rain from the middle to end of November, so 10 inches of rain in about 3 weeks!  We're delighted!  We've prayed for rain.  People have boat ramps over dry grassy areas since the summer.  Well, until it rained recently.  Now the earth is wet, but no standing water.  No lake water up close enough to touch the pilings of their boat ramps.

So, I--and many others--are very grateful for the rain.  And I shouldn't be grousing, certainly, but I'm cold.

No.  It makes no sense to be cold in a house that has a thermostat that reads 73 degrees.  Especially doesn't make sense when one is wearing several layers of clothing, one of which is a warm scarf wrapped around her neck along with a hoody.  (No.  I don't at this time have said hoody's hood upon my head, but I'm considering it.)  There's a fire blazing in the fireplace, too, but unless I'm sitting or standing next to it, I'm miserably cold.

I have no right to complain, however.  I know some people are struggling to stay warm with only space heaters--or less.  It's supposed to get down to 28 degrees tonight.  I pray they will huddle under lots of blankets and quilts like I plan to do in a few minutes.  I don't understand my being so cold when the thermostat reads 73.  I wonder about what the temperature would be at which I would turn into a block of ice?  What would I do if I were ever in Alaska or Siberia in the winter?  I think I'm beginning to feel a little warmer considering the alternatives.  But it still seems ridiculous to feel so cold in my current circumstances.  Perhaps it's because I don't eat whale blubber.


3 comments:

Debby said...

Our new house doesn't have a central heating system yet. Tim and I have an ongoing debate about this. We have ventless gas heaters in all the rooms downstairs. He likes to turn them off when we are not in the room. I think we should turn them on low, and shut the french doors. I am so tired of being cold. It makes my bones ache. Two nights ago, I went to bed. The room was freezing. I turned the stove on low, and shivered in bed until the room warmed up. The blankets were cold, the pillows were cold. As I shivered, I began to worry about school. I was still awake at midnight when Tim got home from work. I was fretful and fearful, much to my God's shame, and I argued with Tim about his habit. Last night when I went to bed, the burner was on low, and the room and blankets and bedding was warm enough for me to fall asleep quickly.

Mary O. Paddock said...

I hate being cold more than any other sensation. Though I've gotten more tolerant of it over the years, I actually find being cold to be painful and if I'm not in a position to "fix it" (bundle up enough, turn the heat up enough, etc) it really gets to me. I don't know why.

My dear husband will jump through hoops to make sure I'm comfortable largely because this is such an issue. The only time in the history of our marriage that I threatened to leave him was not because I didn't love him, but because I was tired of being cold (living in an old farmhouse--long story) and I was taking the kids and going to a motel.

Pencil Writer said...

Hey, Debby and Mary--misery loves company, I've heard. Being too cold is so miserable. Thank you each for sharing the dilemma with me. Tonight I'm determined to heat up one of the large cloth rice bags I have. I will then stuff it under the covers (where my feet will soon be) a few minutes before I climb in bed. If I keep it close all night, it'll still be warm in the morning! It sure beats what I woke up to this morning! I think I was close to having icicles forming on my eyebrows! (Just kidding!) But I did burrow further
under the covers a little longer to warm up before jumping out of bed.