Honk Honk PUNCH!

…your garage door freezes to the ground overnight, and when you go to open it the next morning, it rips the 2X4 supporting the track right off the wall….this happened to me this week…twice.

Last night was officially the coldest that I have seen it here yet.  It never went above -1 in the city yesterday, and by the time I had taken the dog out when I got home, it was -7 in the ‘burbs.  Predictions were for the temp to drop and the wind to pick up, with an ambient temperature of -21 and a wind chill in the -40 to -45 range.  Balmy!

Around 7:00, I stepped out to grab something at the grocery store for dinner.  Glancing at the temp on my way out, I saw that it had dropped to -11 in a matter of an hour.  I regretted even having to make the walk from the car to the grocery store door.  Luckily, on this end of the trip, I had the relative protection of the garage to look forward to.  

While waiting in line to pay for my goods, I couldn’t help but notice the woman in front of me.  She was holding just a single box of popsicles.  I wrestled back in forth in my head whether I should ask why popsicles in January in Minnesota, and when she finally glanced back in my directtion, I spoke up.

“Popsicles?  Really?” I said.

She laughed.  ”Yeah, my husband called me at work and said ‘pick up some popsicles!’.  I told him he’s crazy.  So now he’s at home, sitting outside by the fireplace, waiting for some popsicles”.

I laughed – a little – while I digested what I just heard.  Good thing it was her turn to check out, ’cause I really had nothing else to say. 

Welcome to Minnesota indeed.

 

At -21.8 the weather station took itself offline (OFL). Smart machines know when to call it quits, unlike some dumb humans.