Freezing Cold in Florida

The halcyon days of Harley just wearing a single sweater for warmth, are over for now.
It was 1 degree above freezing this morning.
The hunters get the giggles when Harley wears his camouflaged gear. 

Here I am in central Florida, about 50 miles south of Mickey Mouse.  I have all 3 electric heaters going in my wheel estate (one 1500 watt and two tiny 200 watt Lasko heaters). It is 69F degrees inside and 33F degrees outside. The past week has been like summer. There I was in my shorts and sandals, spending much of my day outdoors either under the gazebo working or out playing with that silly little dog. Now it's downright c-c-c-c- old.  As I write this I notice the inside temperature is dropping, first to 68, now 67,  as the electric heaters just can't keep up. 


I traded shifts with another workamper. We started splitting and sharing our long 12-16 hour shifts, to make it a tad easier on ourselves. Normally I do the early shift and he does the late shift. But when the temperatures plummet, we trade around because I have health problems when I am plunged into the c-c-c-cold. The early morning dew around here is very heavy, making the chill factor even cooler. 


Harley dog is wearing a thick sweater, wrapped up in the afghan on my bed with the electric mattress warmer. 


Yesterday the temps were warmish but we had these frigid cold winds. Matter of fact, when I first took him outside yesterday, he made an abrupt U-turn, then ran back inside. I had to put a coat over his sweater to coax him back out to go water some bushes. We both shivered and shook, making the other workampers laugh at us. They are all northerners who think it's not cold until it freezes. If they aren't cold, then why do they flock to Florida???


My Caribbean blood has just never really adjusted to the c-c-c-cold in the 27 months I have been in America. I just turned on the propane heater, to make sure it is working OK and to kick in a little extra heat. I try to avoid using the propane much, since it's not included as a perk with the workamping. Electricity, water and sewer are provided, so most everyone working here, tries to heat by electric only. 


The sunrise this morning was spectacular with incredible pink and orange hues, but I just couldn't brave the frigid temps to get a picture of it. I thought about opening the window to take a photo, but I was afraid all my heat would escape and I would freeze to death. Then who would walk the dog?


I am wearing a pile of clothes, but I think I will put on more. Why not wear my entire winter wardrobe at once?  That might warm me up!


By the way, those gremlins hid my camera cord in the underwear drawer. I was rummaging around looking for undies when I found it. This may sound crazy...  But there is a method to my madness. When I drive my mini-motorhome, I need to put away my laptop and breakables. So I relocated my undies to a big drawer.  Now  there is room for the fragile items. The soft undies give it safe padding for bouncing down the road.  I guess when I put the computer stuff in there to drive to volunteer the other morning, the camera cord must have found its way in there too. 


It's impossible to keep the hunters check-in station warm with the the concrete floor, uninsulated single plywood walls and the anemic heater they supplied us. I plan to drive my wheel estate to work for the late shift and use it as the substitute office. Even though I won't be plugged into electricity, I can still run my propane furnace to stay warm. The fan on the furnace operates on 12volt battery.  It sure beats freezing to death while volunteering!


Early this morning, the air inside the wheel estate became so stuffy (lack of oxygen) that I had to turn on the exhaust fan to circulate some fresh air inside. I could feel fresh air sucking in around the windows and door with the exhaust fan on. I guess the dog and I had used up all the fresh oxygen overnight. 


Finally at 8:30am, I was forced to go outside to allow Harley dog to do his thing in the bushes. He wore a tshirt, with a long sweater and his thick shearling coat he got for his birthday. He still shook and shivered. I wore my entire winter wardrobe with the trench coat on top of everything for good measure. I was still pretty darn cold. At this point, I felt about as wide as I am tall, due to the multi-layers of clothes. 


He wanted to race around to stay warm, I was speed walking and shivering at the same time. The guy from Michigan kept saying this wasn't cold. (Have you ever felt like slapping someone senseless?)  


33F degrees with 15mph winds is C-C-C-COLD in my book. 


When I get rich and infamous, I am going to go further south for the winters, like a sane mermaid. 

The cows are up to something.
Do you know it was so cold their cow poop patties were steaming on the road today?
It looked like they were cooking...