How many days hath November?

30 days. And December had 31 but we missed them all on the blog. So I'll do a quick recap with photos if I can dig some up.

November was full of Nanny. She planned a nice long visit and it went beautifully, capped off with Elizabeth's birthday and Thanksgiving at Neil & Alicia's new home. Elizabeth was trilled to receive a Kindle from Aunt Jeannie and Nanny. Her first purchases for the Kindle were a collection of Sherlock Holmes stories and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (and sequels). She was blessed with many thoughtful gifts from loved ones near and far: antique pins from Aunt Claire whose relative also had the initials EGC, a new poncho hand-knit by Nonna with crazy pom-pom gloves to match and Star Wars pancake molds from Cousin Amelia (soon to be a Big Sister herself).

December was cold but that didn't stop Nonna from taking the kids on special trips. She took Robert to see a production of Robin Hood at the Children's Theater. Elizabeth accompanied Nonna to the Guthrie Theater to see A Midsummer Night's Dream, which happily prepared her for recent study of iambic pentameter in school. Colleen and Nonna had a great time together at the Nutcracker ballet. Also, Colleen and Amelia visited the Macy's Santaland display at Macy's downtown. The cold (rather the 20+ inches of snow that fell on Dec. 9-10) also contributed to the infamous Double Sleepover. Robert was sleeping over at Nonna and Da's while Colleen was with Amelia on Friday night. We weren't able to pick them up until Sunday and even then it was rough going on the Minneapolis streets.

That brings us right up to Christmas and post Christmas. Christmas was wonderful, low key and fun (kids looking happy/wacky on left). We did a small gathering at our house on Christmas Day, possibly the first time we've hosted but I'd have to check the record (aka ask Patrick). The next day all available Colemans gathered at Pat and Donna's. Then Patrick and I happily abandoned our children for a trip to Las Vegas :) Here we pose for a photo with the Hoover Dam.

I'd say they're acclimated

It's been another pretty nice day around here today, reminding me of a story Cate told about a warm day earlier in the week.

Robert was daring to go outside without a hat or gloves. It was a really warm day, up to about 40 when it was all said and done. Cate was telling him he needed to finished getting dressed to go outside.

"After all," I was told, "it's 30 degrees out!"

Robert gives a quizzical look at Cate, and says, "minus?"

Robert clearly knows the difference between 30 and minus-30 degrees.

Sheesh -- so cold!

It's been below zero essentially all week. When we get down into the minus-teens (and it was minus-20 this morning), some things tend to change. Some tales from the cold:

I drove the car this afternoon. Had it parked out in a sunny spot so it could get the maximum non-frozenness possible, not that it helped much. Most of the winter I could start the car and get out, scrape off the windshield while the car ran and the engine came up to speed, but not today. While the engine cranked and turned over without incident, I couldn't put it in neutral without it killing.

With a minimum of warmup, the gear shift was pretty stiff. Combine that with the stiff feet in the cold and it's not a great drive.

Amazingly, even at minus-10 degrees, there are still patches of water on the streets in the mid-afternoon in spots. Making a note so I don't drive down those streets after it refreezes.

Went through the drive-thru teller at the bank. Rolled down the window -- with some hesitation -- to talk to the teller, and she asked, "How are you today, other than cold?" I answered, "That's pretty much it, just cold."

Last night I walked to choir practice, two and a half blocks away, for this very reason. I figured the car wouldn't even begin to get warm or the stick get unstuck. I felt great about the decision at 6:15 p.m., walking there. Walking back at 8:30, however, was a different story.

Tomorrow, it's supposed to get above zero. I'll probably work from the office instead of home. But we'll see.

Feel the chill

Yesterday I should've listened to my instincts and stayed home. I'd told myself at the beginning of the winter that I would take advantage of my ability to work from home if it was cold out, and yesterday it was on the verge of being really cold. But I knew that it was only going to get worse, so I decided to suck it up and drive to work.

I was immediately regretting not asking for a spot in the garage the night before, since one was open, and was cursing scraping off the windshield.

I got about 10 blocks from the house when my back windshield basically shattered. It left a hole over about a tenth of the window, with the rest of it hairline cracked. I got out of the car (it was at a stoplight), looked in the hole and saw nothing that might have been thrown through it or could have fallen from a building. The guy in the truck behind me had no idea. (And he wasn't holding a rifle or anything.)

All I could think of was that the glass was simply tired of being heated and frozen twice a day this winter and gave out from the stress.

Turned around and limped home on back streets at about 20 mph, while the glass fell into the back seat piece by piece. (Commuting to work, no kids in the back seat, just my lunch.)

Today, new glass, and 15 degrees below zero when I left for work. (Yes, that's Fahrenheit.) Felt the moisture in my nostrils freeze within about 10 seconds. The car hesitated once but turned over. The thing has 110,000 miles on it and has been outside all winter but has yet to fail me on startup.

The trick today -- after starting the car and cleaning it off, I went back inside to trade off for a dry and warm pair of gloves. Much, much better.

Cate drove the kids to school today so they didn't have to wait for the bus. At least they start at 9:30 instead of 7:30.

Fun facts about the cold

It turns out Sprite Zero freezes at a higher temperature than Diet Coke or Caffeine Free Diet Coke does.

I have some of each in the trunk of the car. Weather chills it too well now.

Something winter this way comes

Temperature in the low 40s this morning. Hard to get out of bed, plus haven't gotten a lot of sleep lately because I'm doubling as the news editor at work for two weeks.

Pulled the winter coat out. It definitely kept me warm but I wonder how many layers I'll need a month from now.

Our old car, the one we were worried wouldn't get all the way to Minneapolis, is doing great with the colder mornings since I replaced the battery. I'm fairly proud of the original battery getting 109,000 miles but it had two bad mornings earlier this week and it had to go.

Meanwhile, in this weather, Elizabeth is still biking to school. We got her on a new bike this weekend and she loves it. It's a 21-speed that she only uses as a 1-speed at the moment, but it's a good size for her and hopefully she and I can get out and ride together before the end of the biking season.