Holding Down the Fort Here in Michigan

Another dusting of what we call "lake effect" since church this morning. I now use my leaf blower to clear the car, sidewalk and porch, which works very nift-illy for the light fluffy stuff.

Call it a cave or an igloo or a fort ... I am still hunkering down here in cold West Michigan, only emerging for fresh air when absolutely necessary. This week I have three cars available to me, but I only use the old one with snow tires

My car is not in some heated garage. I often dash outside to pre-warm the car.

When I was in high school and starting to drive in the winter, my Dad would warm the car for me. He had found a wooden stick of the right length to hold down the accelerator pedal--which we called the foot-feet, a term probably derived from foot feed, which makes a little more sense, but still sounds archaic and silly to me now. The stick would make the motor run at a faster rpm level, warming the car up more quickly and guaranteeing that it would not "kill"--a rather ingenious invention that allowed my father to come back inside while it warmed, for a "little lunch" (a major mid-morning snack that might include a sandwich or two or three and a piece of chocolate cake), or to get on with his chores.

I remember winters in the 60's BG (before global warming?) when the temperatures dipped to 40 degrees below zero--so this was no joke. We also had dipstick heaters available that would be plugged in overnight. One brother only remembers a -36 low. I don't know if we calculated wind chill back then but I swear I heard talk of 40 below. He also remembers removing the car battery for the night to stay warm in the house. I checked with the other brother and he remembers a -39, certainly enough to freeze your face off! Perhaps remembering -40 degree temps was a slight exaggeration for our area of eastern South Dakota.

But what a wonderful memory--of a father who cared about the car, but also made sure it was running and ready for my needs. In spite of the accommodations I received as the last child and the only girl in the family (with a gear-head brother or two), I grew up to be fairly independent. I do occasionally reminisce with nostalgia about the warm car that was always made available for me. My parents rarely needed it and there was usually another vehicle available--every farmer has a pickup, you know.

I was never responsible for diagnosing a problem, remembering to change the oil, or ever filling it up from the large tank, which was kept on the farm and met the needs of all our machines--ethanol free, no additives necessary.

Even if the husband was inclined to spoil me like my father did, it wouldn't always help. He is currently out of town, out of state, out of country. Heck, he is in Hong Kong--almost as far away as one could be. Sunday there was (it has come and gone) warmer than here--long-sleeved shirt weather I see, from E's Facebook feed.

I knew from a very early age that China was on the opposite side of the world. I recall that my father would joke that if we dug down too deeply into the earth we would hit a China-man on the head. I actually tried to make sense of that bit of wisdom.

(Here is a view of the Hong Kong skyline that E. captured yesterday):

My brother, in an email today, reminds me that cars with remote starters are available...heated garages are possible, too, I suppose.

Anyway, it is just me here, holding down the fort in cold West Michigan. And I am just fine.

Next week I will give an account of what things have roused me out of the cave/fort and what things I have found enlightening and/or entertaining so far in this my month of (partial) hibernation.

(I only had to edit out two s-words. I'm learning). I have officially banned the phrase "at the end of the day." Anybody else have a suggestion for banning of an over-used word/phrase that annoys them?