Monday January 25, 2021 at 7:20 a.m. Hemet California reporting. IT IS POURING OUTSIDE. How be it where you be?

Thank you for your reply E. Appreciate it bigly. So you are tucked in and real cozy and don't have to go out today? Hopefully? Snow is lovely to look at if you don't have to drive in it or shovel it. At higher elevations we will get snow and we are surrounded by mountains so the afterward will be awesome pretty! Happy Monday to thee and thine. All goes well so far today? :)

You should see the mountains surrounding Hemet Shuhak! Breathtaking! Snow-capped to the max. A BIG rain is supposed to hit Thursday night into Friday. That's A-OK with us! In some areas of Hemet nearer our mountains SNOW fell! We saw some cars in the Walmart parking lot with melting SNOW on the top! SNOW! A man we talked to in the parking lot said it lasted about an hour. Imagine that! We have nothing planned for Friday so we'll just hunker down as we mostly do every day these days.I know it's GORGEOUS in your neck of the woods. "If eyes were meant for seeing beauty is its own excuse for being!" Thank you for your reply. I just thought of a question! :)

Wow Liv! I've never been in that kind of cold weather.  I was born in Highland Park, Michigan where it snowed in winter but since I've lived most of my life in California the coldest I can remember is 26F which is plenty cold enough for me. 1 degree Fahrenheit? So after you get to zero you go to minus? Bet you have some nifty cold-weather clothes! Thank you for your reply and Happy Wednesday to you and yours! :) What's the coldest weather you've ever experienced?

Yes, we do get to the minus!  It was -4°F this morning.  In the US, people typically say it as “four below zero” while Canadians typically say it as “minus nineteen”.  It can get a lot colder.  Two winters ago, the coldest temperature I saw was -41°.  On that night, trucks were parked on the side of the highway because their diesel fuel froze.  The police were driving around to pick up the truckers to take them to hotels.  They either needed to use diesel 1 instead of diesel 2, or they needed to put in fuel additives.  I don’t know why they didn’t.

MINUS 41 degrees? Were you out IN it at all? How do you dress for that? Do you wear face masks..the knit kind that skiers sometimes wear? Wouldn't your face freeze..get frost bite?

As for those truckers could it be that they had never before driven a route that took them in such cold weather? I can't even almost imagine a trucker forgetting something like that. People are miracles. I mean think about the lows they can survive and the highs. Amazing. Thank you for your very informative reply Liv. I appreciate it. This is as close as I will ever get to the countries where my Mugger friends live so when I chat with you or others not in the US it's an instant trip! I really enjoy it! :) This post was edited by RosieG at January 27, 2021 1:52 PM MST

My husband and I had to go outside in the morning to milk the cows and feed them and the other animals.  All of our cows, horses and our mule were in the barn, and all of our cats and dogs were inside because animals can’t be outside in that weather.  

Anyway, we had to be bundled up when we went out because the temperature was -41° and the wind was 20 to 30 miles per hour.  In those conditions, you can’t have any exposed skin at all because frostbite happens in three minutes at that temperature and wind speed.

I guess there are different reasons why the truckers didn’t put additives in their fuel.  They might not have paid attention to the forecast, or they might be from the southern states and they don’t drive a whole lot in the north central states in the winter.  They also could have put the additives in their fuel tanks the wrong way.  Additive needs to be put in the fuel tanks right before the driver fills up the truck, not after.  If they just dump it in there on a full tank, it’s not very effective.

Also, they need to carry Diesel 911 with them.  It unfreezes fuel if it’s used right away.  The first sign that fuel is freezing is the truck slows down more than usual going uphill or it can’t reach its top speed.  A truck’s top speed is usually 65 miles per hour, so if it can only go 62, that’s the first sign the fuel is starting to freeze and turn into wax.  If they put in Diesel 911 at that point, it’ll unfreeze the fuel.  The more the fuel freezes, the slower the truck goes until just dies, so if it slows way down, then Diesel 911 won’t do anything.  The truck will need to be towed to a mechanic.

This post was edited by Livvie at January 28, 2021 1:51 AM MST

WHOA Liv! So you had to milk the cows in that weather? With gloves on right? Good grief that's kinda scary. To know that living creatures are counting on you to preserve their lives. What would happen if the cows didn't get milked regularly? Would it harm them? I've always admired those who have farms or ranches and animals they need to attend to and I don't know if I have the "right stuff" to do it. Our daughter-in-law's daughter lives on a farm in Oregon and has goats and cows and pigs and chickens and makes her own cheese out of the goat's milk. She is a wonder. You'd think she was born to it and our daughter-in-law has said "who is that woman? Where did she learn all of that?" Her name is JoAnne and she has three kids who are delightful and a hard-working husband who adores her. So I salute you! Thank you for your informative reply Liv! :)

The mountains surrounding Hemet are currently breathtaking L. Snow-capped. Our next BIG storm is set to come in late Thursday and all day Friday. We have a few errands to do tomorrow but that's early morning so once done and home we're set. Thank you for your reply and Happy Wednesday m'dear! :)

We had less than half an inch of snow yesterday and it's gone this morning.  There may be some icy patches, but nothing to write home about.  We are supposed to get more snow on Thursday, too.  I have enough food for at least ten days, so I'm good.  

Tomorrow we have to go out for a bit but today it's home sweet home for us. Thank you for your reply L!

I have to get out today for a bit just to walk around.  

So what's in your neighborhood? Stores you can peek inside? Are there parks nearby where you can go and stretch your legs? Is there any part of it that is secluded/isolated and therefore possibly dangerous? These days one has to be VERY CAREFUL. Sigh. Thank you for your reply L! :)

There are parks, but I'm not that familiar with them, so I wouldn't go alone.  I have no idea what's open in the neighborhood because I shop out on Long Island where I can park near every store I go into.  There's such limited parking in my area that I would ride around looking for a spot as long as it took me the 25 minutes to travel to Long Island.  I opted to go out there, dropped off some papers I had to sign, stopped off to get some sugar free candies that were on sale and then picked up a prescription and came home.  That was enough for me.  :)

The reason I asked was that many years ago I visited Philadelphia with my then-fiancee and we walked in an area called the Italian Market. It was wondrous. Tons of small shops all food-oriented. A cheese shop and a meat shop and also restaurants here and there. I thought I'd want to live in that neighborhood for sure. I thought New York would be like that. Perhaps it was before COVID. Now there are no bins or salad bars anywhere any more in our stores. Everything is already bagged or packaged. Only fruit and veggies are there as they always were. So I expect that COVID might have pretty much wiped out The ITALIAN MARKET in Philadelphia. Sad. Thank you for your reply L! :)

I don't know about the Italian Market in Philly, but I'm pretty sure there are no outdoor markets in NYC.  Many of the food stores are open, I think.  

That was very long ago L. Thank you for your reply! :)

It seems as though a lot of things I did were a long time ago. :)

HOORAY for the rain! I remember last summer it had been in triple digits and we got an unexpected sudden rain and the temp cooled down to high 80's! Is more in store for you R? We got some a couple of days ago which dropped a lot of snow in the mountains surrounding Hemet. It's beautiful. Our next BIG RAIN will come in late Thursday and all day Friday. I'll drink to that! Well right now just coffee! Thank you for your reply and Happy Wednesday! :)