YOU KNOW IT'S COLD WHEN-----

You KNOW it's cold when the early morning runners move their runs to the afternoon hours. For some strange reason it is really difficult for most of us to run in the afternoon---but when the temps hit the teens----I GIVE! There are still a few of the die-hard faithful early AM runners braving the early hours----but VERY FEW!

We are not really prepared for the bitter cold in the South. Thankfully we have had no frozen water coming down--but we still run around like chickens with our heads cut off. (By the way if you don't know the meaning of that statement--you are young or a city dweller) We begin to talk of things like wrapping pipes, leaving the faucet dripping, removing ceiling tiles---etc etc. All in the hopes of preventing the DREADED frozen pipes!

The frozen pipe in itself is not SO bad---it's the thawing and sometimes bursting later that is a catastrophe! I have a friend that took his family skiing and while they were away we had a BIG FREEZE (that's what we Southerners call really cold). His house was 3 stories---and the pipes were in the top story ceiling. When they got home the basement was full of water that had run down the walls, floors, stairs, ceiling from the top while the water ran unabated!

My SIL told me a story yesterday of their pipes freezing one year when the family all had the stomach bug. NOW THAT MAY TOP THE LIST OF HORRORS!

Hopefully this will be our annual week of really bitter temps! We should get back to normal and have cold-but not bitter mornings and cool days. I keep in mind that it will soon be time to plant Spring flowers! Meanwhile in the frozen North-#3 Grand seems to be loving it: See here