Cold, Cold, Cold

It is just frigging cold here. It was 11° F (-12°C) this morning when I left to take the boy to school at 7:45am. It is supposed to be colder tomorrow, dropping to close to 0° overnight. The car doesn’t warm up until after I have dropped the boy at school, and the cup of hot coffee I brought with me for the trip is cold before I have traveled 6 blocks. But by the time I get back home, the car is toasty, and I am warmer than I probably will be all day, and I am reluctant to get out of the car.

When it gets this cold, the furnace just runs and runs trying the keep the house warm. Finally I drop the thermostat to 66° to give the furnace a break, I only wanted the house at 68°. I turn it down to 62 at night, and it wakes me every time it turns on it the middle of the night, trying to keep the house at that temperature.

I worry about the boy being warm enough as he ventures home from school, first on the school bus, then as he waits in the cold for the city bus that will drop him 6 blocks from the house, from where he will have to walk a windy path up hill.

I worry about the pipes freezing, and the car not starting.

For my own trek to work, I am trying to be good and take public transit but that is a painful proposition as well; a six block into-the wind walk to the subway station, up to a 15 minute wait for the train, outdoors of course, and another half-mile walk to campus on the other end of the trip. Then do it in reverse at the end of the day on then is it dark.

Mrs. takes the train to work too, although at a different time than I. I don’t worry about her so much, she knows how to stay warm. The other day however, when I got home she had not arrived yet. I asked the boy if mom was home, and he said ‘No, she called and said that she lost her T-pass and she is walking home.’ Shocked, I called her cell phone but it went right to voice mail. It is only 3 and a half miles, but it is all on the means streets of Boston and there is no direct route. Not much to do but wait. When she finally arrived I asked her about walking. She said that she told him that she was walking back to the office to find her T-pass, and was going to be a little late. She was unsuccessful in finding the pass, but she walked back to the subway station, purchased a ticket and took the T home.

I quizzed the boy about her message and he admitted that he didn’t remember very well what she said told him. Sometimes I just want to smack the boy.


Here is a little Little Feat performing Cold, Cold, Cold to warm you on a winter day.