A Good Friend

Sunset last night immediately pushed the temperature downwards.

I bet the northerners are laughing themselves silly at how cold I get so easily.  It did get to 34F that I saw last night, not the late 20's we were told by the weather folks. I just want to slide under the bed covers, staying there until winter is over. 

Yesterday I wrote that. 

Today at 4am, it is down to 29F degrees outside and 64F inside my RV despite the fact that both my electric heaters have been running nonstop all night on high.  In Florida. *sigh*. So by 6am, it may be much colder. I am up writing, because I am restless.  I got up to check to see if the water was still running, to make sure the electric heater was working and to put on more clothes. I even turned on the propane furnace to take the chill off. Mostly I rely on an electric 1500 watt cylindrical ceramic heater. Thanks goodness I have an electric bed warmer, or I would have never been able to sleep as long as I did. Even Harley is wearing a sweater over his doggy T-shirt, plus curled up tightly in a ball under an afghan on the bed. When I took off his filthy sweater last night, he gave me a sad look. Then I pulled out a nice clean sweater, popped that over his head, pulled his front paws through the armholes, tugging the sweater down his belly.  This apparently made him instantly happy again. He treated me to doggy kisses. Yuck!  Doggy germs!

Every window shade is pulled down as far as it will go, to helps keep the cold out. I miss looking out the windows, even at night. The tiny personal 200 watt ceramic heater is in the bathroom helping to keep it toasty in there. I ordered a second one yesterday, because they are so tiny, draw very little power and uber useful. I was using mine to keep my feet warm under the desk. It was originally designed for cubicle workers with cold feet. But then I discovered how nice it works in my compact RV bathroom. I've also used it to defrost the freezer in record time. It's only 3.8 x 4.3 x 6.1 inches.  The 200 watt rating means it won't trip your circuit breaker.

A lazy way to defrost the freezer in record time...

The Lasko personal heater comes with a long heavy duty cord. 

Here, I have wrapped a bungee cord around it, 

then attached a carabiner to it and the cabinet latch above.

My freezer was so thick with frost, I could no longer insert the ice trays. 

By the time I found a camera to take a picture, it was time to mop out the freezer, it had defrosted so quickly  with the aid of the 200 watt heater. 

Yesterday, I bundled up Harley and myself to go for a doggy walk.  I ran into other workampers who wanted to stand around and chat. I coaxed one into walking with me, as I can't stand around in frigid temperatures. I need to walk or I'll pass out. 

On our brisk stroll we found leftovers of an expired hog, who was long ago dead. Harley wanted to rub that stinky scent all over his nice warm doggy sweater. Then the other doggy came out to play. He and Harley had a fun good time wrestling, chasing, play-biting and trying to find the quickest way to get Harley and his  sweater filthy dirty  in as short a time as possible. 

Harley had a rowdy good time. Some of his winter sweaters show puppy wear and tear from enthusiastic play time. The colder it gets, the more Harley wants to run and wrestle with the other dog. 

The winds kicked up to 35+ miles per hour with higher gusts. I could have sailed across the prairie if I had a sail and a rudder on my wheel estate. Many things under my gazebo went flying. I had a heavy table fan out there, we were using  to blow the flies away when they bothered us. Between uses, I tied a garbage bag over it, to protect it from the elements.  It cartwheeled across the lawn like an errant newspaper caught up on the winds. I haven't looked inside the bag to see how many dents it has now. 

It was time to go indoors. I was shivering despite wearing a long sweater dress over another dress,  over thick leggings with socks, boots and a sturdy jacket. The jacket is so heavy, that when I was shopping for it at the Goodwill store  2 years ago, I was still pretty weak from my illness. I picked it up to try it on, and it seemed so heavy, I couldn't hold onto it long enough to try it on. I sadly put it back on the rack, still on the hanger. A few weeks later, I was feeling a bit stronger, the same jacket I liked was still in the Goodwill store, only now it was slightly reduced. 

I felt like  the world's strongest lady when I was able to pick it up, put it on and buy it. I must admit, in spite of Goodwill's high prices for used clothing, it was a very well made jacket that must have cost a fortune when new. It didn't even look used.  Oddly enough, it's a unique European design, made in Germany. It has 5 pockets, with the two hand pockets well insulated. It looked just like a jacket my close friend from Germany used to wear. Actually he was an old lover, but when we stopped dating eons ago, we remained very close friends up until his sudden passing just before I moved back to America in late 2009. Matter of fact, a few years prior, when I had to urgently travel from the Caribbean  to America, to attend my father's funeral, he dashed over to my hotel, to announce he would be escorting me to the funeral. Now that is a true friend indeed.

As I drove away from the store, it occurred to me that he used to live only a few blocks away at the time of his death. Was this his jacket?  He always kept his clothes very well maintained and this jacket came with a dry cleaning tag on it. I will never know, but every time I wear it, I think of all the wonderful memories I have of my friend and the good times we had together.