Frost On the Inside of My Patio Door

I knew it was cold outside last night, but I must admit I was surprised when I opened the thermal drapes over the patio door and found frost on the inside of the glass.  The glass plate is less than four feet away from the corner of my radiator, and five feet from the foot of my bed...  Hmmmm.  Anyway, it was so cold outside this morning that Nedi, for the first time in his life, did not want to run out the door and onto the patio.  The thermometer said it was -10, and the news person added that the wind chill made it feel like -25.  If I hadn't been wide awake, I could easily have gone back to bed.  Now, at 10:30, we have reached -1 degree... we hit a high of +1 degree yesterday.  This is unusually cold weather for Boulder in February - our normal high temperature is 38.  This is a photo from an outdoor pool yesterday afternoon - it had dropped to -14 that morning....  And, of course, we're expecting more snow this afternoon and evening.

The Winter Games have begun in Sochi, Russia.  I laughed when I read that Shaun White's main competitor in the Slopestyle Snowboarding event  said that Shaun's withdrawal should be counted as a failure on his Olympic record.  Shaun stated that he felt the Slopestyle course was too dangerous, and, after injuring himself in practice, decided to concentrate on winning a three-peat Gold Medal in Halfpipe Snowboarding.  Considering the number of times any athlete falls (and can incur a catastrophic injury), I don't blame White at all... his body has paid the price many times.  I think he's finally reaching maturity.  In case you don't remember, Shaun was known as the "Flying Tomato" in his younger days, before his hair darkened and he decided he didn't like that nickname any longer.
   I am going to have to make a trip to the grocery store again tomorrow - I have plenty of cat food, canned and dry, and plenty of kitty litter; I have extra bird seed, and extra nuts for the squirrels; I have a huge cauldron of homemade marinara sauce simmering away with a large number of homemade meatballs cooking in the sauce, and I have tons of pasta.  But I'm running short on Cheerios, blueberries for waffles and snacks, and - gasp! - Diet Coca-Cola.  The only hot drink that I enjoy these days is cocoa -  Maybe I haven't developed the taste, but hot tea, to me is hot colored water; and coffee is burnt, hot colored water.  While I will drink tea, I won't drink coffee, and I get a lot of strange looks in Colorado.  (But I'm different enough to be used to that!)
  I'll be doing genealogy research today, so I'll watch the Olympics on NBC tonight.    ** Cue the applause for our representative athletes! **

Cold Colorado and Sochi

Having slipped and fallen on the ice under the snow every day for the four days, I very stupidly ventured out this morning to remove trash and recyclables from my apartment.  I did not fall, for once.  But it is miserably cold outside - currently, a little after 9 a.m., the temperature is -4, with a wind chill of -25.  We're hoping to reach a high of 2 degrees today.  Luckily I'm stocked up on cat food, kitty litter, toilet paper, and food for me.  I also have extra nuts and seed for the squirrels and birds.  A solitary squirrel has been here and eaten a large number of peanuts and pecans so far; and there have been multiple juncos, chickadees, and starlings here as well.   Nedi and Lovey are curled up in the sunshine spilling through the window and patio door, lying so they can just open their eyes to see what's happening, if a commotion occurs outside.  Lovey refused to step out onto the patio this morning, while Nedi ran to the patios on either side of us.  I guess he decided it wasn't any warmer at either place, because he came right back inside with me, after I had fed the birds and squirrels.
   In Sochi, Russia, Shaun White has withdrawn from competing in the new Slopestyle snowboarding contest, and will concentrate on getting his third gold medal in the Halfpipe.  He practiced on the Slopestyle course yesterday, falling hard and jamming a wrist.  Several other competitors also fell and injured themselves yesterday.  The Slopestyle course is being modified today to make it safer.  ....  The Jamaican Bobsled team has arrived in Sochi - but their sled hasn't.  Here's hoping their equipment will show up quickly, so the guys can make a training test run on the course.  ....  Hacking into electronics is a way of life in Russia - if you go, please be prepared to have your smart phone and any other device hacked into. Protect your bank accounts and pass words by not taking all that information with you - get a pre-paid phone and remove all financial data from your other items before you land in Russia.  Richard Engles, the correspondent for NBC News, took two smart phones and two lap top computers with him to Sochi (this was set up as a test) - as soon as he used one of the phones in Sochi, it was hacked. Within 4 hours, all of his electronic devices had been hacked.  Be careful, please.