I don't know what it is with me and blogging. Inspiration is there and then it's gone. Like the water coming out of our taps. We go to bed with running water and get up without a drip.

That had something to do with cold and wind and 20 degree below zero windchills. I had to squirm into the crawlspace under the house to turn the heat gun on the water pipe where it comes up out of the ground, through the hole knocked in the concrete of the foundation.

The orange lights on the trusty heat tapes coiled around most the plumbing glowed softly through layers of dust and cobwebs. The tapes couldn't be extended to reach the full length of the water pipe. Don't ask me why. I'm not a plumber or an electrician.

At least it wasn't windy under the house. Presumably the spiders were all frozen solid.

I managed to push and pull myself over to the wall, avoiding wires and hanging insulation, and directed the heat gun into the rubble filled mouth of the pipe's den. It seemed to be a long time before I heard loosened ice rattling up the plastic pipes. Probably it didn't take more than fifteen minutes.

Winter arrived late this year but it finally got here. Yesterday morning I got up to go to the grocery and post office and found the hill had been rendred impassable by an overnight squall. I had to be content to get the trash hauled down to the road without ending up on my rear end.

Spring is less than two months away!