Today’s weekly blog installment has a headline that reads “Welcome to 40” but it has nothing to do with age. I’m way past 40. When I was 40, people who were being born at that time are now in college or beyond. How’s that for making my own bad self feel old and decrepit. No, it has to do solely with the weather. It’s still only October 11 and right now it’s 40 degrees in Woodbury with a stiff breeze making it feel much chillier. Yes, this is early. Heck, it was 90 here just a couple of weeks ago!
Everywhere you go people are talking about it, and this rapid drop off in the temperature has kickstarted autumn into full “all at once” mode. The geese are flying around in huge V formations, getting ready to head south. Ducks of various persuasions are flitting around as well, probably checking their calendars to see if it’s actually November now. And the trees? My gosh, every day it’s totally different.
Just a few days ago I saw the first hints of the leaves changing, and it was still so warm and sunny I thought there might be something wrong with those first few maples that started to change. Now, it’s on and there’s no going back. Leaves are not just changing overnight, they’re falling in this wind as if autumn is over, but it’s just started. I’m not sure I’ve seen such a rapid change, so early, in all the years we’ve lived here.
It snowed in Fargo last night, and up into the northern tier of Minnesota. That means it probably snowed up in Roseau, a place I now think about all the time since my visit after the Brainerd race. I figure it probably snowed there since you can’t really get much more northern than Roseau, without being in Manitoba. There’s even a chance we might get some flurries tonight down here, but we’ll be back up around 45 or 50 by Friday and the ground is still way too warm to hold any snow in the Twin Cities.
If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time you probably know all about the ceremony of pounding in the snow marker sticks along the curb and the sides of the driveway. If I do that before Halloween, Barbara makes fun of me. Right now, I’m a little worried we might have a hard freeze before Halloween and once the ground freezes it can be difficult to get the sticks pounded in. Oh what to do?
We are getting all of the sprinklers in our neighborhood blown out and serviced for the winter on Monday, so I’ve already turned the irrigation valve off in our utility room. We’ve had rain, mist, or drizzle all week and the ground is pretty much saturated. I also scheduled our winter check-up for the furnace and heating system, with a company we have a service contract with. The woman on the phone said, “It’s been crazy here the last couple of days. We can hardly get to all the calls when they come in.” And, then she informed me that the next available slot would not be in October. And it won’t be in November. Our appointment is for December 14. Good thing it seems to be working fine.
Another sign of the impending arrival of real-live Minnesota winter is connected to the fact the furnace is on these days. Like the ceremonial pounding in of the snow sticks, the ceremonial switching of the ventilation system happened a couple of days ago when it was just too chilly in here without the heat on. For a day or two we could just run the gas fireplace for 30 minutes here or there and that kept the house warm, but there then came a day when the boyz were snuggled up with each other in the morning, right between my legs and it was “for real” cold in here. You can’t just switch the thermostat from “Cool” to “Heat” though, because that would only solve half the problem.
The two main ducts that come out of the furnace are labeled. One has “Main Level” written on it and the other says “Lower Level” (as you might have guessed.) Each big duct has a little handle on the side that opens or closes a panel inside the duct. Even those are marked “Summer” and “Winter” in Sharpie, thanks to the guys who installed the system for a dummy like me. So, in the summer you send about 90% of the AC to the top floor, because cool are sinks and hot air rises. If you cool off the living room, kitchen, and master bedroom sufficiently, the cool air will also sink through the floor to the lower level. I just did the opposite this week. I closed the diverter panel in the duct for the upper level and opened it for the lower. Now, 90% of the heat comes down here and it then rises to keep the upstairs nice and cozy too. The wonders of science, on perfect display. To make it all work even better, I open all 10 of the vents that are in the lower level ceiling, to let the heat get through. In the summer, they’re all closed down tight or it gets way too cold down here once you get the main level where you want it. It’s a delicate balance.
See how much we’re learning here today? And there’s more! Once I change the diverters and open the vents, I also turn on the humidifier system. It stays off in the summer because that ambient humidity is pretty high. Even though it’s activated now, it hasn’t kicked on yet because we’ve had so much rain it’s very humid, even inside. It’s reading 55% humidity in the house, which is pretty high. But… Once we get into real Minnesota winter, when the temps drop below the 20s, the air gets really dry. Like bone dry. Like “walk across the carpet and get shocked by anything you touch” dry. It’s so dry it’s uncomfortable. So, there’s a dial on the humidifier controller that ranges from 1 to 7. It feels best to keep the humidity around 30% to 35% in the winter, so you adjust the dial to have it run that much. It’s a simple system, really. And it’s time for me to change out the metal grid inside it, where the drops of water cascade down while the heated air blows through it. It gets kind gunked up over the course of every winter.
People like my sister Mary, who live on a beach with trade winds blowing all the time, just adjust their windows or maybe turn on the AC for a bit. You’ve got to be almost a scientist up here in Minnesota when the seasons change. It’s a lot of work! And I still have those sticks to pound in. Sheesh.
Here’s another fun story. After I posted my blog last week, Barbara and I had plans for that Thursday night. We drove over to Minneapolis, where we had reservations and tickets for a super-cool place called the Dakota Jazz Club. Barb had been there before, but it was my first time. We were there to eat a fabulous dinner, drink some fantastic wine, and listen to the stories and music of Livingston Taylor. If you’ve never heard of Livingston Taylor, you almost certainly have heard of his brother, James. Livingston has had his own terrific musical career, and he’s still out there serenading fans with his version of Carolina music. But what’s even better is the fact he’s now a music professor as well. He teaches courses at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, and his classes are so popular it’s hard to even get him on your schedule.
All of that skill was obvious for the two hours he performed. He didn’t just play songs, he explained them and talked about the chord sequences and how he wrote the lyrics, and sometimes he just went off on tangents and told amusing stories. He’s kind of a whimsical guy. He even played some Broadway show tunes on his guitar or piano, to give us examples of those genres. It was absolutely fascinating, and really funny. For a guy now in his 70s, it was as one of the coolest shows I’ve ever seen. I did have a Livingston Taylor album back in high school. I’d heard the song “Carolina Day” on the radio and loved it, and I remember thinking “How come he’s every bit as good as his brother but James is the one that got famous?” I don’t know the answer, but after the show I can tell you that he’s enjoyed every bit of his own musical ride. He and James have very similar voices and demeanors, and every now and then Livingston would crack a wry smile and he looked just like his brother. Really a neat deal, and the idea of sitting there in such a small venue (we figured maybe 200 or 225 seats) eating fantastic cuisine and sipping a bottle of wine recommended by our server, is just brilliance.
We looked at the club’s upcoming schedule and have already reserved a private booth for another show. If you’ve ever heard of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer the first names of those three rock giants were Keith, Greg, and Carl. That same Carl Palmer will be playing with some backing musicians, highlighting various techniques and styles of ELP from their heyday. Can’t wait!
Well, that’s about it. I have stuff to do yet, here today. Barbara’s sister Kitty is flying up from Orlando tomorrow, to spend the weekend with us, and I’m superintendent of hospitality and housekeeping. I’m about half done doing all the laundry for her and then I have vacuum duty down here after that. I hope she brings a jacket!
And finally, all my positive thoughts and good vibes are being sent to everyone impacted by the horrendous power of Hurricane Michael. My niece, Rhiannon, is the general manager of the Hampton Inn in the Fort Walton Beach area of the panhandle, and I’m sure they got pounded pretty hard. She’s tagged herself as “Safe” on Facebook but man there’s going to be a long recovery from this massive storm, and I’m sadly assuming that we’re going to hear more bad news as the search and rescue operations continue. There are places so cut off no one has been able to get there yet. Scary stuff, even for someone this far from it, and for me it’s personal knowing Rhiannon, her kids, and her hotel staff were all in the crosshairs. Much love to all of you!
I’ll see you all next week. Thanks for playing along!
As always, I love those “Likes” we get when you click on the “Like” button at the top. Those are cool. I dig “Likes” for sure.
Bob Wilber, waiting for winter but singing “Carolina Day”…