weather...

This is the second straight day of cold, constant rain. It's like Seattle moved to central Pennsylvania, which is all the convincing I need to never move to the Pacific Northwest. It could be a lot worse, though - some parts of the state are already getting snow. We're used to snow here, but it's nice when it waits until after Halloween.
My mom bought a woodstove fireplace insert to increase the efficiency of our standard hole-in-brick fireplace, but it needs some repairs. The blowers need new wiring, the firebrick needs to be replaced, and it needs new door gaskets and a coat of high heat paint. So it's in our garage, waiting to be fixed, and meanwhile it's been so chilly that I gave up and started burning wood in the regular fireplace again. Even with the fireplace roaring along, we still had to turn on the furnace. Can't wait to get that insert installed! We'll be modifying the walls in that room to allow the heat to pass through to other areas, and hopefully be able to keep from using too much oil for heat this winter. And if we do wind up having another historic PA winter like '96 with the rolling blackouts and weeks on end stuck at home, we'll still be toasty. Folks around here remember that as the winter one of the bridges in Harrisburg washed out on national news.
OK, funny parent moment. My son was just chattering to himself in his bed, and he got too loud. I called to him "Daniel, be quiet." and he didn't quiet down. So then I said "Daniel, do you want a spanking?" His answer - "NEVER!" (heroically).
Stay warm!