There are only small spots of snow outside, but this morning the temperature was -9 degrees (for the 6.5 billion people who use Celsius, 16 degrees above zero for the few who use Fahrenheit.)

Unfortunately, these temperatures means that my water will freeze, given half a chance, since it runs in pipes in the ground under the house with no insulation. Experience from last winter shows that it has no effect to heat the rooms above to hotter than summer temperature. The heat does not travel down into the ground, at least not enough to make a difference. The only way to keep the pipes from freezing when it gets below -4 or so, is to keep the water dripping. Because I thought of this yesterday, I still have water in the kitchen. The bathroom has only hot water, but that’s not a big deal. The shower is frozen until the weather turns warm again, whether that is next week or next year. It does not have a drip option, just on/off, so if I had kept it running there would have been no hot water in the house. I suppose I could have gotten up every couple hours and turned it on for a little while, but I don’t think that is a viable lifestyle for the duration of the winter.

I’m renting the house, so digging up the pipes to insulate them is probably not an option either. Still, for as long as I can remember to put the faucets to dripping each night, I should be fine. I grew up before the age of showers, after all.

The wind has lessened, but walking to the shop and back is still a dangerous proposal for an old man. This winter, it seems that my heart is always lurching when I am outside in freezing cold for a few minutes. By “lurching” I mean it is like it tries to change speed but gives up immediately, or something like that. It is almost certainly harmless. Heart problems seem to be so rare in my family, if I get them it is likely to be by divine intervention. Whenever I have had doctors check my heart, they tend to wish it was their own. Still, I’m opting for bus for now.

Today I took the bus to the city again and bought plenty of cheese, and some other stuff. Two bags of groceries. It won’t last long, my appetite is gearing up for the winter too. When I am cold much of the time, I tend to compensate by burning more calories, and then I compensate for that again by eating more.

Forecasts say it will get a little less cold on Monday (but still below freezing) and at that time there will be snow and strong wind. So I guess the summer is over for this time! ^_^