Monday - 290th

There is a winter storm warning for tomorrow afternoon and evening. Exciting for some people, nerve-racking for others, and a combination of the above for still others. I'm in that third camp, hoping for good driving conditions as we shuttle the kids to the farmette, then home, but loving the idea of good skiing with Ed and good outdoor play with the kids. Or at least with one kid. The youngest little one still has reservations about this whole snow play deal.

But this is not on my mind early in the morning. I'm enjoying the one or two inches we have on the ground right now as a result of last night's dusting.

It's cold, but not Arctic-blast cold. Still, if your furnace isn't churning out the warm air, the house can get cold very quickly. And a text from my older girl reveals that their furnace is churning out zero heat. In fact, it's just plain dead.

Now, everyone has different reactions to a dead furnace while there's snow on the ground: My daughter is just plain cold, the kids are antsy because they sense parental anxiety, my son-in-law worries about what mechanical issue may have arisen. Replacing a furnace in the dead of winter is hard enough. Doing it while you are isolating because of Covid is, well, super hard. The one person who does not worry is Ed. He takes on the challenge of figuring out what ails the furnace and he does that without actually laying an eye on the machine. (We have a working breakfast as he studies online instructions for this particular furnace.)

Yes, he could go over to their house and help my son-in-law in the diagnostics and fix of this huge piece of machinery, but why go when you can zoom your way through the whole inspection? As he would explain to me many times, you can't just set out to fix something when you don't even know what tools to take or what parts may have to be replaced.

The mom drops the kids at the farmhouse and Ed and the dad zoom through some troubleshooting steps. And they get it to churn out heat again! At least for now. One can hope that a second failure wont coincide with the winter storm.

(One child always arrives with jacket off. It is true that you can do a thirty second dash from car to farmhouse door and not feel the bitter cold, but still, I am always amazed how she opts for that run rather than a snug walk with a warm coat zipped up tight!)

(Ed and son-in-law on Zoom; Snowdrop excited to see her father on a video call...)

Play indoors...

What you're doing? Pizza for lunch. Can I help?

 

 

 

Play outdoors...

I must admit, I do enjoy a bit of fun out in the snow. Sparrow insists I hold his hand all the time, but at least he is giving it a good try. Snowdrop? Oh, she just loves this new arena for her pretend play and story telling!

In the evening I deal with groceries. I'm cooking a lot these last two weeks of the month and so is everyone else it seems, because grocery deliveries are harder to come by. I snag one for today and given our precarious weather, I'm glad I don't have to worry about it until.... 2021!

Can you believe we are moments away from a new year?!