IT'S COLDER THAN A ... the Furnace Is Out ... and Other Notifications

DAMN!

It's colder than _(you fill in the blank)_

It's damn cold along the Front Range in Colorado. Not quite Stock Show Weather, but the Denver area has been on a record setting streak for unseasonably frigid (freeze your arse off) temperatures in December. Yesterday we broke the standing 111 year old record set back in 1897 with a high of only -2° F (that's about -33° for those on metric). I been away long enough in the relatively tropical and balmy Tahoe region of the Sierras that I'd forgotten about the long stretches of negative temperatures. Many of you have seen the pic of my Tahoe door (just click it for the big picture), yes, lots of snow, but it's not anywhere near as cold in Tahoe as it gets in Colorado. Typically Tahoe only has a handful of below zero nights and gets back into the positive numbers during the day. The Front Range of Colorado is usually more pleasant temps and a bit snowier leading up to Christmas. Today should get above zero but temps again dip below overnight.

Not only are we freezing our arses off outside, where I'm staying we've got icicles hanging off our derrières even when we're inside! The furnace has chosen to take leave of its senses in the middle of this deep freeze. Supposedly the furnace has a "smart" controller ... not so smart if you ask me ... and apparently the furnace has "brain freeze"! This is the second time in 14 years that the furnace has become brain-dead and the furnace brain-surgeon says it's no longer worth keeping it on life-support. Installing a new furnace is about 50% more than parts and labor to bring the old furnace back to life, plus the new furnace will be a much higher efficiency model, using less gas to make more heat, and has a bigger and better fan to push all that hot air around! ... only problem is they can't install it until next Tuesday! So in the meantime ... we're shuffling a pair of little ceramic space-heaters around the house trying to keep everything above freezing, especially the plumbing thingies, wearing all available layers plus wrapping ourselves in down comforters, and spending a lot of time huddling together in the garage ... yes, the garage! where the propane blast furnace type shop heater resides. I'm pondering whether or not we can pull some hotdogs out of the freezer in the garage and roast 'em on a coat hanger in the blast furnace's flame ...

Those wondering where the annoucement is for the 2nd Round Songs of the Christmas Carol Show Down and waiting to find out who's sitting on Santa's Lap today, please be patient, as soon as I thaw my digits out in the flame of the blast furnace and gulp down another pot of tea (assuming I can resist the temptation to warm my toes in it) I will get those posted. I wrote a whole bunch of things last evening and was readying to publish them last night when the internet connection went out again! No, the cat is mostly innocent ... this time. The router was working just fine, but the gateway could not find the internet anywhere! And since we were nice and helped all the neighbors setup their wireless routers to be secure, I couldn't even piggyback off one of them. Late last night AT&T decided it was a good time to take down the internet. Who knows what they doing, the good news is they did what they did and then turned the internet back on by this morning.

So keep an eye an out for upcoming announcements about:

• songs that made it to the 2nd Elimination Round
• Winners in the 44 by 4400 photo challenge
• and find out who's sitting in Santa's Lap!

... and Santa really needs someone to sit in his lap today!!!

Cheers! MrBill (-;[>