10:21 – When I took Colin out to get the paper this morning, it was 14F (-10C). It had warmed up a bit by the time I took him out half an hour ago for his morning constitutional. As we walked down around the back of the house, he noticed something new in the back yard and pulled his way over to it, shouting, “Bob, Bob! There’s a submarine in our back yard!” Apparently, the submarine showed proper deference, so he just sniffed its rear end and then peed on it.
I did learn one interesting thing about our new propane cooktop. I just assumed that it would have a bi-metal strip that prevented gas from flowing until it heated up. That’s not the case. If we turn on a burner, gas comes out whether or not we ignite the burner. Good to know.
When I commented about it to Eric, he said that only gas appliances that have pilot lights use a bi-metal strip. The manufacturers assume that appliances that are supervised, including cooktops, don’t require such a safety mechanism. Which is complete reasonable. In this day and age, it surprises me that anyone would be completely reasonable about something like this.
Eric did mention one woman who nearly blew herself up. She’d left a burner spewing gas, and eventually noticed the foul odor of unburned gas. She called them to report the problem and as it was an emergency they sent Eric out immediately. When he arrived, the home stunk of gas. But the woman had decided to do something about the odor, so she set out and lit scented candles all over the house. Fortunately, he got there in time and aired out the house, or it might have exploded.
We’re re-watching The Irish R:M: on DVD, and just started watching the Netflix Original Medicis. I have problems with a lot of the historical series we watch because I actually know the real history. It’s sometimes painful to see the historical inaccuracies the writers introduce, usually for no good reason at all. I don’t have that problem with this series, because I remember almost nothing about 15th-century Italy.
We have kit stuff to do, including filling chemical bottles, but it’s too cold to work out in the garage. Fortunately, the previous owners insulated the garage when they built the house, but even so it gets a bit chilly out there. This morning, when it had gotten up to 16.8F on our outdoor thermometer, it was 42.3F in the garage.