Monday, Monday was not a bad day, but every other day may not be the same. Monday, Monday has passed, and Tuesday is not looking too good. The big storm from the midwest has arrived, and it's going to be a mess all along the eastern seaboard. We're just now starting to get the snow, and the forecasters are predicting a real winter precipitous mix, snow, sleet and rain, each rotating around for the next 48 hours. We'll not get it as bad here as in most other places such as Phil. and upstate NY, but it's likely the big event of the year. Even the maritimes will get quite a taste of this one..a bad biggy. Hopefully, this will be the last one for the winter, and we can get prepared for a decent spring. It looks as though that might be the case for Toronto and Ottawa where the temperatures are predicted to skyrocket a week from today. If that does occur, we'll see some major improvements in this area as well.

Closer to home, the new heater works pretty well and is a great improvement, so though it was purchased late in the wintry season I'm happy to have the warmth especially with the oncoming cold spell, and it runs on half the electricity the others use. Other than that, I'm the only one on the dock. Everyone else has run away to houses, condos and all sorts of other land accommodations. Pooh on them. Actually, it's quite pleasant without any disturbances or activity. I'm catching up on reading and doing some internal maintenance, and I don't have to feel guilty about not doing much. Label it as a welcome bit of R & R. There'll be plenty of time to get into the labor intensive stuff. I did fill the water tank yesterday just in case the cold weather that's predicted shuts off the outside water supply. We do have a neat trick to circumvent that problem, however. At the end of the dock there is a frost-free source, and we tap into that with a long hose that is primarily underwater except for the receiving and delivery ends. Usually, those ends are drained after each use, so we're able to hook up to the source with our own hose and fill the tank. It's a much better situation than I had in Midland, ON a number of years ago when I had to take 75 feet of coiled and frozen water hose to the local laundromat and put it in the drier to thaw it out and get rid of the ice. All the laundromat patrons thought I was completely nuts putting a spaghetti-like hose in the drier, but I said nothing and they just averted their eyes from mine. Mind you, when I did get the tank filled that time I used the water judiciously. Hmmmm, seems to me it was about the same time of the year but much colder than it is here. Now I'm off to fix a warm and tasty lunch. I had fresh from scratch tacos yesterday. Life is hard.

BoatTed