Started Without You

Dear Spring,

I have started without you. You are welcome to join the party any time.

Maggie

“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803 – 1882
Springdream

Worldly Distractions

Weather

-16°C
Low tonight: -25C
Date: 12:00 PM EDT Sunday 16 March 2014
Condition: Sunny
Pressure: 103.0 kPa
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: -15.6°C
Dewpoint: -23.9°C
Humidity: 50%
Wind: WNW 13 km/h
Wind Chill: -23

Quote

“Feet, why do I need them if I have wings to fly?”
Frida Kahlo
1907 – 1954

11 Comments
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Bex

Oh yeah… an outdoor chair indoors will do the trick, at least for a few more weeks. I just hope that all our moaning about this past long winter won’t jinx us into a hotter-than-normal summer! I’d take winter any day over a very hot summer… any day…

Maggie

I hope your wish comes true Bex, and that our summer is warm but not hot, rains only at night, and lasts until next November! I might agree with you about taking winter over a very hot summer any day, but in March I just can’t muster the reserves for such a wish! Of course, since our winters are so much colder here, our summers seldom get as hot as they do in your part of the continent. I think I would take your winter over a very hot summer, yes I do… I want your winter… but not your summer…

Joan Lansberry

Nobody wants our summers! (Hah! (So many 45C (115F) days…)) A couple more weeks, maybe you’ll see some relief.

Maggie

🙂 Right you are Joan, 45C would just about do me in, I don’t know how you and Julia cope!!. I guess I am a “hot house flower”, no tolerance of high heat, or extreme cold…

Maggie

Bex, when Attila read your comment he laughed and said, “Maggie, if you were that powerful there would be no war!” Ain’t that the truth!

Tom McCubbin

California will take any of that snow you can give us, melted or not. Looks like we’re still in deep yogurt here with water supply.

Maggie

I would love to send you snow Tom! Taking a broader view, the need for water is much more serious than wading through polar vortex after polar vortex, in my opinion. I do hope you get more rain, mostly at night, slow and steady so it soaks gently into the earth.

WendyNC

I’d love to send Tom some of our current frozen precipitation-that fell on St. Patrick’s Day, historically the official opening of grass-mowing season in my part of the world. What a strange, strange winter this has been.

Maggie

If only the “beam me up Scotty” machines were working Wendy, the rest of North America could solve the water problem in California in short order! Take care on those roads if you have to travel anywhere Wendy! The bright side, you don’t have mow ice!

Reenie Beanie

Love the photo! I think spring is about to spring here… for real! Utility bills on the mountain this winter have been a curse on everyone’s budget. My home has four zones – the last added to my garage because I added a stackable washer/dryer for my tenants as well as a utility sink for my studio. Rarely do I have to turn on the heat on its minimum setting, but this winter was so persistently cold that the heat ran a lot to avoid frozen pipes. My tenants pay a percentage of the utilities so we’ve all taken a hit. I think we’re good now until next winter.

Maggie

It seems to have been an exceptionally cold winter for a lot of people in North America Reenie. Our hydro bill came yesterday, and it included the cost of electric heat for the two nights we spent at the little house in the city in February. Ouch!

Since we are renovating the our little house in the city, the possibility and prevention of frozen pipes is something to consider as we plan our projects. I know that at home depot you can purchase pipeline heaters, and that some even have thermostats that keep the pipes at 3C, which is just above freezing. That might be more economical than heating an entire room; but maybe not practical where water using appliances are involved.

I still think houses should be built with a central core for heating and plumbing, enabling residents to keep the utilities running and to close down externally located rooms when the weather is extreme. If we had a house like that we could hunker down during the worst of the cold weather…. WAIT A MINUTE, this past winter almost every day was the worst of the cold weather, we would be hunkered down for four months!!