The Big Chill

Gertrude is a Red Hat Lady
Friday, January 8, I was up at 6:30. The low was 25 degrees outside and it is 55 here in the living room. We spend the day keeping warm. Before we can have breakfast we tear up the Peanuts puzzle. I make Christmas Date Cake from "Sugar Cookie Murder" by Joanne Fluke. Bob lights the oven for me and then retires to the bedroom to read as it is 15 degrees warmer in there.

I have the oven on for two hours; 80 minutes for the cake and 1/2 hour to preheat and burn off the 'new oven' chemicals. This is the first time I'm using my new propane oven as I have been so enamoured with my new convection oven because it doesn't heat up the RV. Today I'm baking a cake for the sole purpose of heating up the RV. It's working as I gain seven degrees; from 61 to 68 in the living room. The high only gets to 37 degrees outside. We don't see the sun until late afternoon. Bob gets cabin fever at 11:30 and opens the day/night shades even if we lose some heat. It is just too dark and depressing with them closed.

Peanuts Photomosaic Puzzle-Thanks Holly!

We were sad that UT lost last night and even more sad for Colt McCoy who was injured on the 5th play. The freshman QB, Gilbert, made a valiant effort in the second half. Sure wished we could have watched it with Glenda. She tells me later she couldn't bear to watch the second half and turned it off. I knew she needed us to be there.

For my cake I used up all of my sugar (I need 3 cups and only had 2 3/4 so I faked it with packets in my purse.) And I used all of my stick butter plus two pats from go boxes. And I used all of my flour (I need 3 cups and had 2 1/2 so I used wheat flour.) My oven works well and the date cake turns out nicely; almost like nut bread with chocolate chips and pecans.

I clean up the kitchen and myself and then drive to the Shell station for a paper around 3:00. Before I left I walked to the trash can and it sure feels cold; 30 degrees with a north wind at 15 to 20 mph. Big Bertha fires right up. Bob is surfing for soup recipes. We had grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch plus a piece of my still-warm cake. We read the paper and work the puzzles.

Later I made breakfast for dinner after boiling potatoes to keep warm. Then I washed the whole kitchen full of dishes that I saved up three times today in an effort to keep the RV warm by cooking. I save water in the freshwater tank by doing them all at once. Hey, we're roughing it. This evening we watch the movie Four Brothers. It's 7:45 p.m. and 29 degrees. The high was 32; it never got above freezing. More on that tomorrow.