I came back to the house Monday after driving to the newspaper office and thought: “That’s weird. It looks like the trash can is smoking.”
Turns out, it was smoking.
About an hour earlier, I had cleaned out the fireplace ashes and tossed a plastic sack of them into the trash can.
Upon further review, I discovered there were a couple of live coals in the sack and they had melted through the plastic. They soon died out and I avoided the indignity of having my very own dumpster fire.
We’ve been giving the fireplace a good workout since the weather got cold. There are several asthma sufferers in the house, so we use the firelogs you buy in boxes instead of actual logs from trees. Seems to make a difference in breathing and they burn with plenty of heat.
The cold was brutal over the weekend, especially when the wind kicked up. I don’t know the official wind chill, but I estimated it at -147, give or take a few degrees.
It felt very much like the two winters I spent in New Hampshire with the Air Force.
The natives claimed those two winters were mild and had less snow than typical, but they were worse than anything I had seen before or since.
The Air Force issued us all cold weather gear, including thick insulated white boots that were known as Bunny Boots. They were about two inches thick, with buckles, and would keep your feet toasty in any kind of weather, but weren’t practical at all if you were going to be inside.
They also gave us thick insulated parkas with faux fur that would zip up to your nose. If you wanted, you could cover your face except for a small circle around your nose. You’d be comfortable in any kind of weather.
I was wishing for that cold weather gear over the weekend, but, alas, you had to check it in when you shipped out to a different base.
So, in lieu of that gear, I wore a hoodie, Carharrt, a cap and gloves and made it ok, backed up to the fireplace frequently.