10 below

 The view out our window

As anyone who might be reading this would know, it's been snowing in Spokane! Not only that, but it has also been bitterly cold.  Our low last night was somewhere around -10 F, and the expected high today is around +10 F.  So far, it hasn't stopped us from going out into it- last night we wandered around the nearby park and around the block.  Of course, I didn't remember I had my bag of scarfs and other warm knit things until today.  That would have been too convenient to remember it yesterday.  I also don't have my boots or warmer, protective pants in this state (they are sitting in a bunkhouse in Florence, OR).  But, today I still have all ten fingers and all eleven toes.  There isn't a lot of snow, probably 5 to 8 inches, depending on the location, but it is enough to keep a lot of people indoors and create a peaceful quiet outside.  The snow has a dampening effect that almost makes it seem like you're in a dream world.

D and Mr. H playing around in the park behind our apartment. WATCH OUT! wheeeew that was close! D's gonna getcha if you're not careful...

We have been trying to keep the apartment as warm as we can while spending as little on heating as we can (as far as our small minds can think to keep things warm).  Such as, we keep the doors to the computer room and the library closed so that they can be as cold as they want without effecting the rest of the place (and so that when I come in a work on the computer, I can see my breath.  Kind of.). We put up plastic wrap on the large windows in the main room, and I sewed new curtains for the living room.  It was a complicated matter in which we had to have curtains to put up before we could plastic wrap the windows because the only way to put the plastic up eliminates our access to the blinds.  And since we want as much light as we can get in our dungeon, we want the blinds to be in consto-up (constantly up...); we do not want to be robbed; curtains are our solution to covering the windows, letting some light in when we want and blocking people's views the other times.  Three related, but complete sentences. Luckily! I got them done just in time for the snow! GO ME! It's amazing how much cold air came in through our windows.  I mean, there is STILL cold air getting through at a much, much slower rate, but this place is definitely not energy efficient.  If you place your hand next to our outer door, you will feel at least three distinct places where cold air comes rushing in.  And this is after we have put up foam in the doorway to try to block it up.  Luckily, there are two doorways outside of ours that do a really good job at providing more insulation.  Like, the air by our door was probably more like 30 degrees, and not 0.  Which is a lot different.  Wanna see?

 Looking at the second door [the neighbor's (WHO MOVED OUT, HALLELUJAH!) door also enters in this area].  This door needs serious WD40.

Opening that second door a crack you can see the little atrium-esq area, with steps heading up to our walkway out. I have no idea who's tank that is...

The third set of doors, looking out at the walkway.

Just looking back at door number 2.  We have kept these blinds to our unit closed.

Ok, so you couldn't see the temperature change.  I'm pretty sure no matter how hard you tried, you wouldn't see it either.  Not with your own eyes, at least.  But you can try really hard.  It might help you to stay warm.

Speaking of, I'm off to drink some warm tea and listen to George Gershwin!