Hurricane Harbor: 11 Degrees. Random Musings From A Miami Girl Up North...

This is why I love using Yahoo Weather. With 4,999,999 weather sites saved on my computer I like going online and getting beautiful visual with my weather ;)

Inside my bedroom it looks like this...

I put a towel down to keep any air out....

...and I run a humidifier so my head doesn't explode

(#bornwithsinusissues)

Watch the cold Arctic Air come diving down....down....down...

(view from the satellite)

I sleep next to a window so I can watch the sky, clouds & pine trees dance in the cold breeze.

I put a pillow against the window... it froze to the window...

When I removed the pillow this is what was there...

This was AFTER the ice began to melt...

Ice on the INSIDE of the window... cause yes glass gets that cold...

Yes... I saw the excellent episode on keeping the humidifier on low.. and I did however I prefer a little Jack Frost on my window to the way my head feels when the heat is keeping the house from freezing. We have that sort of heat that makes my head go "POP!" unlike the old steam heat in Crown Heights brownstones that never bothered me. Then again I can still remember the smell of the old oil heater in Miami on random days in the 1960s when I was little and we turned on the big green heater which terrified my mother. A lot terrified my mother, but she was always afraid it was going to explode or set the house on fire. Every time my father attempted to put it on (which involved lighting a starter thingie with a match) she freaked. I was never sure what was worse... an Arctic cold spell in Miami with the temperatures going down to the upper 30s in a house with JALOUSIE windows or the fight over putting on the heater.

If you knew what jalousies were like in the winter...or a hurricane you would really get that one...

My father used to sing the praises of the logic behind jalousies. They opened fully and let the air in nicely. If a window pane broke during a hurricane it was only one small one that could be boarded up easily. The wind in a hurricane would whistle through them in the way only someone who lived through Hurricane Betsy in South Florida can attest to...they also let in lots of cold air so my Aunt taught me early on to hang covers over the windows in a cold spell.

It felt a bit like Hurricane preparation last night with Duke Energy begging people not to stress the grid and worrying on brown outs from wind or extra usage with extra space heaters. I used extra twice on purpose...by the way. Leaves or small twigs were hitting my west facing window last night when that front came through. I could hear it howling through tightly closed windows covered with pillows.. (thank you Aunt Ada) which is big... even for NORTH Carolina. Often the temperature here dips down to 15 or even on rare occasions 9 but the wind chill warnings made zero seem hard to fathom. Note I have been on Iowa and Minnesota in January... and Portland Maine but when it's 1 degrees in Portland Maine (and sunny) you expect it to 1 degree. South of the Mason Dixie line you do not expect it to be 1 degree... My husband asked why I had matches next to a candle last night on the dresser. I told him just in case we lose power. Yes... I have a flashlight app on my phone silly but who wants to wear down the battery with that one? And... I didn't get much of a hurricane season this year so we are enjoying all the weather excitement here ;) as long as there are no power problems..

They didn't do too bad... but there were outages as well as some phone users were complaining.

My husband, God bless his little Yankee heart, asked me if I was going with him this morning for a ride as he has to drive to Brier Creek and usually I'll go, keep him company... walk around Earth Fare and share some divine dessert with coffee or tea when he's done after I wander the health food aisles... maybe go to Caribou Coffee and read. No, I told him... no thanks, another day. I'm barely leaving the bedroom with the space heater, humidifier and beautiful Ralph Lauren winter comforter. He does get extra points for bringing me coffee in bed this morning :) He grew up in Upstate New York where he took his skis with him to school so he could ski after school the way kids in Miami go to the beach. Going outside is NOT optional for me today. Fought off the flu this week with only a low grade fever and staying well for my escape.. I mean trip to Miami next week ;)

Note it's chilly across most of the country today. Currently 10 (windchill reading) in Raleigh.