Thursday, December 10, 2009

That Was Not a 12

It was supposed to be really cold this morning. They were calling for -20° windchills.

We've got a thermometer out on the deck with a remote unit in our bathroom so I can check the temperature in the mornings before I get ready to go out and walk. This morning I glanced at it and thought it was a lot warmer than they thought it was going to be. I thought it said 12° - cold, but not quite so cold as I'd expected.

So I got dressed and went out to clean off the driveway one more time. The driveway wasn't so bad, but that wind was COLD! It was about then that I realized I had forgotten to put anything under my wind pants. When the temperature is in the 20's or 30's I don't need or want anything under them, but when it really gets cold I need the extra layer - a thin pair of stretch pants or a thicker pair of sweats depending on how cold. So, since I wasn't walking and I was just out on the driveway, I came in, took my boots off, and added a layer. I was much warmer after that. (Note that this is where I could use those Long Janes I mentioned in my last post.)

Anyway, the driveway wasn't too bad, and I got it cleaned off in time to take Cory to Jazz Band. It wasn't until I got back home and went back into the bathroom later in the morning that I realized I had read the thermometer entirely wrong. That number was not a 12 - it was a - 1.2. Actually, I don't remember the exact numbers. I just know that I read it wrong. The light was low, I glanced at it quickly, and I forgot that the digital thermometer always records the temperature down to the tenth of a degree - so if it had been 12°, it would have read 12.0, or probably 12.1 or 12.3. I never even realized there was a missing digit - and a whole lot of missing degrees.

It really was that cold this morning, with that negative windchill. It never even got up to the temperature I thought I read this morning.