Sandhill Cranes circling in the cold sunshine. If I could fly, I would head south rather than flying around here when the weather's zero or below.
Whenever it's this cold my paranoia flares up and I get a little concerned about the furnace quitting, the power going out, or some other issue that's going to have me freezing to death. It used to be the big worry during one of these cold snaps was making sure the vehicle was going to start in the morning. Unless you were able to park in a heated garage, you'd put a light under the hood with a blanket over it to trap the heat, or a dipstick heater, or go out in the cold a couple of times during the night and start it up. I finally bought block heaters for the last couple of my daily drivers. Set the heater controls to defrost and in the morning the windshield would be clear of frost and within about 10 seconds the heater was blowing warm air. And when I got to work I'd run an extension cord outside and plug the vehicle in so it would be warm when it was time to go home. That was a real blessing when I was driving the big Econoline.
The new fuel injected vehicles start right up, regardless of the temperature. No pumping the accelerator, no setting the choke on the fast idle cam and then tapping the throttle a few minutes later to bring the revs down to a reasonable level. My Hyundai had a remote start and heated seats. Cuzzin Ricky's pickup even has a heated steering wheel. Definitely something to be said for technology.
No comments:
Post a Comment