Cold temperatures have the deck popping
- Laura Moore: Housebroken
- January 8, 2018
- 1640
In case you haven’t noticed, it’s been way too cold for a couple of weeks. Our poor house is suffering and periodically lets us know.
For instance, reading in my chair by the window overlooking the deck, I heard a very loud “pop.” It startled me, my Taller Half and our dogs. I jumped, the dogs barked and my Taller Half said very calmly, “Don’t worry. It’s just nails popping on the deck.”
What? Evidently when the deck gets too cold, its nails pop up. Poor deck, that must hurt.
Our furnace, bless his heart, has risen to the cold weather challenge and is keeping us warm. The basement isn’t actually balmy, but it’s not cold, just a bit cool.
The garage is another story. It’s cold out there, and that is where some of our deck plants spend the winter. Several of the plants look sad and droopy, but surprisingly a few of them look very happy, and two of them have blooms. We’re very proud of those blooms. They offer hope that warm weather will return, if not next week, at least in several months.
We love to watch the young black squirrels play in the big trees behind our back lawn. They scamper from one snow-covered branch to another and never slip. It keeps us, our house and our inside dogs fascinated all winter.
The icicles hanging from the eaves of our abode provide a pretty, if drippy, decorative fringe, and those hanging in front of the windows look for the world like false eyelashes.
And the snow on the roof gives our house a lovely winter hat. Plus it provides additional insulation on these painfully cold days. With the holiday decorations packed away, all this makes our place feel pretty and happy.
Our inside dogs do not like going outside in the snow. Though on a positive note, this arctic air has encouraged them to take care of business in record time.
Unfortunately, when the dogs come back inside, they place their cold, snowy paws on our poor house’s warm floors. We can actually feel our abode cringe. Rugs and towels help ease the cold shock, but the house still shutters.
How long before spring?