Awake and Playing the Furnace Game

This morning when I got up at 2:30 (don't ask), I checked the temperature. The outside temperature was 4C/40 F, but more critically for me, it was 15.5C/60 F inside the house – not balmy for sure. I don't know how much cooler it got afterward, but I did notice that the house temperature was down another half degree and hour or so later.

I did not turn on the furnace but doubled and even tripled layered my apparel, and I also turned on the little heater under my desk – the one that is usually in the bathroom and will be again soon to heat it up before I shower. Hot coffee helped too, and I am actually snuggy warm as I compose this. In point of fact, I am almost too warm, so I think I shall disengage the heater for now.

Lacey just appeared from her downstairs bed. She has another bed here in my den, but she usually spends the nights down there. Our odd feeding ritual begins, and I handfeed her kibble even though her dish is just across the hall. Soon, when she is sated, she will head back down until morning comes. Odd human and odd cat pairing we are . . . And as predicted off she goes, disdaining the last four kibbles that I dropped for her.

If you can't tell already, we (Sue and I, not Lacey) are playing the silly furnace game again. The object is to put off running the furnace for as long as possible. Every day delayed is a small victory, and by golly, if you make it all of the way to November, you've won the game.

While there is no official prize, you get to feel very Canadian-proud of yourself.

If there were no weather relief in sight, I would be tempted to give up, give in, and put the furnace on, but starting later today, it looks like we are in for a warm week in which temperatures will reach the high teens C (or the mid 60s F). That is quite livable for us, at least in the short term.

When I picked up the thanksgiving pies on the weekend, I took a slight detour through the hamlet of Appleton and found a few sports of colour.

The next day, on my way to the grocery store, I took a photo of these trees around the corner from us.

Our plan for today is to take a a little colour trip into the more rural areas to see what we shall see. Our hope is to find some colour, even though it shall be past peak, which, in point of fact, was not actually all that peakish this year.