We had 4 inches of snow, overnight low was zero degrees. Then it warmed up and today is 70 degrees, all the snow gone.



Sunday, when it was about 20 degrees F outside, the power went out for four hours. All was well at my house because there is a whole-house generator, but the rental house was a worry. Conventional wisdom says it takes 6 hours for pipes to freeze - an average, of course, affected by several factors.

It's always hard to communicate with the tenants about these things - they don't know what to do in very cold weather, and don't think things through. There are two kerosene space heaters over there, and he was supposed to use one in the crawlspace, but we couldn't agree on whether someone should stay there to monitor it while he went off to plow roads for clients. There's carbon monoxide monitors, but I told him if he comes home and his dog is dead, then maybe he should have cracked a window or had someone stay home to supervise. I offered to go over there and do it, but he declined.

Anyhow we got through it, and I hope whatever caused it was fixed. It was area-wide, involving major transmission lines.

It's not too soon to think about the holidays.