a biting kind of cold

Today is the first day that really feels like winter. The air is cold and biting. It’s been cold recently, but not a biting kind of cold until today, and the sky hangs low and thick and beautifully mottled gray.

It’s not cold enough to snow yet, though, so the precipitation yesterday came in the form of rain. Rain is good; we haven’t had any in a while. We needed it. However… the rain also brought us the unpleasant realization that our car has sprung a leak in its roof. We’re not quite sure where, but I’m betting it involves the sunroof. The ceiling upholstery was soaking, as was the driver’s side sunvisor and the floorboard on the driver’s side.

On a related note, we love our tiny 3-liter wet/dry shopvac. And you know that crystal cat litter? The stuff that is made of chunks of silica gel instead of clay? Our cats would rather use the carpet than that type of litter (and have told us so, quite literally, as we watched), but it is marvelous for drying out wet upholstery! Sprinkle on a thick layer and let it sit for a day or so. Maybe I should write to the cat litter company and let them know about another use for their product.

Here is another tip about the cat litter: if you plan to use your shopvac to suck it up so you can use it again another time, make sure you do it OUTSIDE or provide adequate ventilation in your garage, and wear a dust filter mask. Trust me on this; I learned the hard way that some of the stuff gets pulverized in the vac and blown out the exhaust vent.

We got our holiday tree this evening. We plan to add lights to it, but no ornaments yet, and use it as the “stage” for the Bad Art Holiday Ornaments this weekend. I’m really looking forward to this party. My rule this time is that everyone takes their ornaments home with them! We don’t want to be left with any at our house. I have my own decorations for the tree this year, thank you very much, and I’m very excited about getting to use them.

We have to come up with a good name for the tree. Last year we named our tree Oswald. Oswald was a Frasier fir, and we bought him because he was pricier than the regular Scotch Pines and Douglas Firs, and we figured he was thus a better quality tree and would last longer. Plus, he was quite pretty. That theory was pretty much shot to hell within two weeks’ time when he started turning brown. So this year we went with a cheap Scotch Pine, which looks quite nice, but we have yet to name him. It is a him, by the way… this tree just doesn’t seem like a girl tree. Go figure. Got any name ideas? Send them my way!