Turning the Corner

 What a difference a week makes. Last week we were 20 below zero. Today we are at 46 and it looks like we will be in mild temps for the next two weeks. That's a 66 degree temperature swing. It sure does wonders for the attitude. We have to remind ourselves though that it is still February. You know what they say about March. I said to Lisa that we haven't had a blizzard yet this year. Knock on wood.

Back in the winter of 2019/2020, our last year on the road, we bought a Jeep Wrangler while we were in Pahrump, NV.

We bought it in Las Vegas. It was such a good deal we couldn't pass it up. This is our second Wrangler. Remember our first one, Lil' Blue. This one we named Smaug from "The Hobbit". Back in January we were traveling to the megatropolis of Fargo when all of a sudden it started the notorious "Death Wobble".

For those that don't know what that is, it's a violent shaking of the front wheels. When it happens at 70 miles an hour it is very scary. Don't worry though if you think it could all of a sudden happen to you. It's a Jeep thing. We got that fixed and it wasn't too costly of a repair. I think it was $250. So we are happy as little clams getting the Jeep back, until........

This latest Arctic cold spell hits. 20 below temps are just hard on vehicles anyways. We started noticing a puddle underneath it. I looked under the hood and it looked like it was coming from the power steering. Fluids at 20 below are just thick and they expand so I just thought it was from that. Lisa took it to work and on her way home the engine temp went way up and she wasn't getting any heat inside. Oh-oh. I told her to drive it to the dealer and I would meet her there. We told them the problem and there was also a grinding noise. To make a long story short, There were two radiator hoses that split, an oil leak and the rear differential needed to be rebuilt. They said we were lucky it didn't lock up on us and cause an accident. That was February 3rd. It's still in the shop.

I had back surgery in January. Before you say "OMG!" rush over here and drink our beer and eat our food, it was nothing serious. I just had a cyst removed from the middle of my back that was becoming annoying. I was starting to look like the hunch back of Notre Dame. It was about the size of a marble. Is that what they mean by the saying, "Growing old gracefully"?

I went to a dermatologist I have never been to. An older fellow. He examined me and made his recommendations. The next day I got on the computer to look at his report. At first he writes this: "This pleasant 60 year old man comes into dermatology here for the first time with two skin problems." Pleasant, he called me pleasant. I like this guy. 

Farther down in the report he says this: "This well-developed, well-nourished 60 year old male..." Is that a polite way of saying I'm fat? What the heck? I don't like him any more. LOL.

After this last winter, we have been thinking about heading someplace warmer. So if any of our RV friends want to let us know where you will be, we will try not to go there. Especially Jethro and Bambi. Although I hear they may not be allowed back into the state we are thinking of going to. Something to do with the statute of limitations or something like that.

Stinky watching the snow melt.

Winter of 2024/2025

 

Deep in the bowels of the Arctic wasteland that we call home. Too cold to venture outside to do the smallest of tasks, our hero's, Tango and Gladys, find themselves staring at each other. Wondering who is going to go crazy first. (My money is on Gladys.) Gladys had a job at a nursing home for the winter, but now she has quit that to prepare for soup season which is just around the corner. One day at home and she is climbing the walls from boredom. I on the other hand have seen my days of soul searching and reflection, have come to an end with questions of "what are we going to do today?" A nonstop question that goes on and on. I often have to stop and wonder where in the heck I put my duct tape.

Today's forecast.

A cold week for sure.

A dire warning.

Thanks to the weather service looking out for us. I remember as a kid long, long ago, the weather people would be like this. "It's going to be cold today so bundle up."  This cold weather though is what keeps us inside. Hunkered down until spring. No energy or motivation to do much at all. The only thing keeping us going is all of the photos of friends and family who are able to travel to warmer weather showing us how nice it is to not be here. LOL. Maybe it's our jealousy that keeps us warm. I don't know. 

I remember as a kid, we never ever thought of not going outside. We would throw on our snowsuits, boots with bread bags, gloves and hats and be outside for hours. Never ever really feeling the cold. We were oblivious of the temps. If we didn't want to go out, my mother would make us go out just to get some peace and quiet. At school we would be able to play on the snow piles that were built up in the parking lots. They were huge. Have you ever played "King of the hill" with about 50 other kids. Utter chaos. We had teams but after a while it was just a free for all.

In my teens in High School my father bought my brother and I snowmobiles. I think my sister got a new Barbie or something. My brother got an Arctic Cat JAG 3000 snowmobile.

I got an Arctic Cat JAG 2000. The difference being that the 3000 had electric start while mine had to be pull started.

See that handle there with the red arrow. You pulled that to turn over the engine. Some days when it was really, really cold it would take quite a few times to get that thing started. I had arms like Arnold Schwarzenegger. I knew if I couldn't start it, I couldn't ride it. My brother on the other hand had a real muscular thumb.

I remember we had this game we would play when my brother would invite a friend over. There would be three of us and only two sleds. (slang for snowmobile). The game went like this. We lived in the country and two people would ride around the house. The third person would hide somewhere and when a sled came around the corner, he would jump out and try to knock the person off the sled and steal it. Needless to say I don't think our parents were home at the time. Good times.

Now that I think about it, my brother and I had identical Motorcycles also. Suzuki 185's. Only his had electric start and mine had to be kick started. Hmmmmm. 

Back in the old days, when I started to drive, was a challenge in winter. We didn't have SUV's with 4 wheel drive or cars with all wheel drive. We didn't even know what any of that was. We had a car, with rear wheel drive and that was it. You had to learn how to drive on snow and ice. Drifting was an every day thing. Not just made for movies. If you got stuck, you had to learn how to rock your vehicle to get it unstuck. Forward and back, forward and back until you finally broke free. It's not like we got stuck and then had to call our dads from our Cell phones. We didn't even want our dads to find out. 

I remember one time I was driving my 59 Cadilac Coupe de Ville under a train over pass. It was glare ice on the road. As I reached the top of the hill the lights were red ahead of me. I hit the brakes which sent the car into a 360 degree spin coming to a stop just behind the car in front of me. I should have jumped out and yelled "TADA!" but in fact I may have sharted. Thankfully I didn't end up in the ditch.

That's it for my reminiscing. Stay warm out there. Except for everyone showing us beach pictures. I hope you get sand in your bathing suits.