Coffee Time! #8

Good morning everyone! The sun is shining beautifully and the sky is a clear, light blue. And it’s chilly. They just issued a cold warning for us. I am curious as to why they didn’t do so earlier, usually they know well in advance that it’s going to be cold. This seemed to catch our weather people off guard a little bit. It is presently at -40, which is the temperature where both Celsius and Fahrenheit are the same.

That makes today a good day for staying indoors and drinking coffee. Or tea if you prefer. I can feel the cold penetrating through that window where I sit. There is a light breeze outside, but nothing serious, which is good, a strong wind at this temperature would be bad. The coldest on record for our town is -80F (-62C), a temperature that stayed with us 4 days in a row.

Red-Breasted Nuthatch.

We did hit -100F (-73C) with the windchill factored in on one day. Those were cold days. A friend and I went for a walk on one of those days. We had to take some medication to his parents who lived out on an island. Their car wouldn’t start due to the cold and they were too old to try walking into town. So, we drove across the ice to the island and parked along the shore.

From there we had to walk slightly over one mile, about 1.7kms. We were dressed very warmly, but it was still an amazingly cold walk. We got to warm up at his parents house before walking back, which was good. We had to face the wind walking to his parents house, but the wind was at our backs walking out, which made the walk much easier, though still cold. Very cold.

Boreal Chickadee on suet feeder.

People were warned not to go outside that day because it was just too dangerous. But, his parents needed the medication on that day and it was safer walking with someone, rather than walking alone. I didn’t mind doing it either, it was necessary, so I said “absolutely, I will come along.” At his parents we had hot chocolate and fresh homemade donuts.

I could eat donuts back then, not anymore. Sigh. They are so good. Hmm, the only birds I have seen flying around today are the ravens. The other birds hide when it’s cold, but they still need to move around and look for food.

Black-Capped Chickadee getting a peanut piece.

Those poor tiny birds, like chickadees and nuthatches, if they don’t get enough food on a day like today, then they don’t make it through the night. A lot die in cold weather like this, due to lack of food. Talking about all this cold reminds me I need some more coffee. I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

©2025 Steve McLeod.