November 21, 2008

• The Latest Water Run

  It was in the teens below zero (F) this morning, and the car didn’t start on my first few tries.  Before running the battery down, I got out the charger to give it a boost.   That entailed dragging out a monstrous fifty-foot industrial strength extension cord, plugging it into the new copper-wired GFI (ground fault interrupter) outlet box on the front outside wall (very nifty, very safe and convenient), and trying to keep the dog and his chain from interfering with my work or becoming entangled with the cord.

  Before I could open the hood to hook the charger up to the battery, I brushed several inches of snow off it.  I had to tug hard… very hard… holding my breath and praying it was just hard enough, on the hood release knob under the dash, to release the latch, without breaking the cable or the plastic handle.  That was the hardest part, and the scary part.  How would I get the hood open if I broke it?  You tell me.  I don’t know.  Maybe I’d call AAA.  That would at least give a few strangers something to share over coffee and have a few laughs.

  While the battery was charging, I cooked breakfast and Doug and I discussed gloves.  He has a sturdy pair of leather gloves he uses for wood splitting in warmer weather.  They are not big enough to be worn over warm liners.  When it gets cold, gloves become an issue.  He has a relatively new pair of leather snowmobile gloves that are too flimsy, really, for wood splitting, but he uses them anyway, and now they are showing the wear.  Today, he ended up wearing an old pair of gloves he’s had since before he got the leather ones.  I think they were originally made of heavy nylon canvas, but now they are mostly made of duct tape.  With two pairs of liners inside, one silvery mylar mesh and one of polar fleece, his old duct tape gloves got him through the wood splitting and the jug filling and hauling.

  It was beautiful out there this morning.  It was light, but the sun wasn’t yet up and I could see a sliver of moon over the trees.  If it hadn’t been so cold, I would have taken the camera along to the spring.  The manual says not to operate my FinePix S602Z at below 50°F.  The first few years I had the thing, I didn’t.   Then I decided I might as well not have a camera as to have such a fair weather one.  I started taking it out when temps were in the forties, then in the thirties.  Last month I think I found its real temperature limit.  At about five below zero, it shut itself down after several minutes and about six shots.

   

  Now, if I have a special shot I want when it is cold outside, such as this one of my back yard, I stick a plastic bag in my pocket, grab the camera, go out, grab a shot or two, shut down the camera, and stick it in the bag so it can’t collect moisture from the air when I go back in, and let it warm up in the bag before saving my shots to the hard drive.  Ha!  Fuji never knew they were making a subzero camera.

  I’m s’pozed to go to Wasilla on Sunday for supplies.  That means I have today and tomorrow to get ready.  I need to gather up a bunch of books to return to the library, and videos to return to Greyfox.  The shopping list has to be transcribed from the magnet on front of the fridge to a scrap of paper.  I need to find something to wear that’s warm, and also appropriate for wearing in public.  That’s the hard part.  I haven’t been to the laundromat in way too long.  Fortunately, if I make it to town, I won’t need to do laundry for a while longer.  Greyfox has found me some more clothes in the dumpsters, and he said he’d be washing them today.

  My next chore right now is to get out there, coil that big extension cord, and put it away before the dog destroys it or it becomes buried in snow.
  

  • 7:00 pm
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