Tuesday, January 27, 2026

I woke up early again this morning, like six o'clock-ish early, as I am wont to do; these days I find myself getting out of bed anywhere between, oh, 1:30 and six...yes, A.M. The closer I get to six-ish though the happier I am. Sleep is a commodity these days - too much on my mind, too much to do, yada yada yada...but I was looking out the kitchen window at all the frozen snow out there, looking at the birds bouncing around the icy tundra pecking hopefully at the remnants of the bird seed I laid down yesterday after I finished knocking the crust off the cars. How do they do it? How do they manage to stay alive on seeds when the temperature drops through the basement and keeps going to Hell? 

I wish I had more to tell you about saving bikes today, but Mother Nature has pretty clearly put a Work Stoppage on almost anything outside, and winks at the possibility of more to come this weekend!  What is it with the weather this year?? A long time ago I lived in Montana, and the winters there were brutal - the first place I'd seen in my young life where parking lots had block heaters you could plug your car into to make sure they'd start the next day after a snowfall and the below-zero temps that usually accompanied them. I have actually seen oil freeze because it got so cold! And it Sucked! 

I legit remember one time the temperature fell to, like, 40 below zero, and we were cautioned to stay inside unless absolutely necessary. We placed beer from the store on window ledges, and it would freeze within 15 minutes, a nice quick way to get a very cold beer if you're stuck inside.

With the windchill factor though I think it was about 70 below zero - SEVENTY BELOW ZERO!! - and Brother, let me tell you, THAT'S COLD! But I distinctly remember when it 'warmed up' to minus 30 we were all outside tossing a football around going "Hey, this is Great!!"  True story!