If it's this cold here....

 ... how cold is it in Asheville?  And other deep thoughts.

Yesterday was also jolly cold so I hopped in the car to brother-in-law Bryce's house (as I had no work to do and was not going to kid anyone to the contrary).  It's quite a long boring slog to Topsail Island from here and I spent most of the drive trying to decide whether I'd feel better if I got 30 mpg out of my tank or if I got there a few minutes sooner.  The few minutes sooner and the 70 mph speed limit in NC really kicked the arse of my mileage so my final average for the day was 26.7.  Still not bad for the heap of metal I drive around.  I'm waiting for a Tesla with the cargo capacity of an Outback.

Had a goodly few hours with Bryce including lunch at the Sushi Gem Asian Bistro.  Susan very kindly verified for me that they served more than raw fish (which Bryce had) and I had a brilliant Shrimp Massuman curry.  It was such an enormous serving that I planned to save half of it for lunch today but there was no half left by the time I was done.  The grilled cheese sandwich was OK, though.

Today was cold and blowy and I made the mistake of walking a mile or so on the beach with the icy wind behind me.  It was defintely three miles back the other way and fighting with that bloody combination lock with frozen fingers was more fun than I really deserved.  Susan, Gawd bless er, has packed me a box of stuff I forgot (notably my bike helmet) and that provided a lot of phone time talking to UPS and Fedex, completing their "How jolly was your visit to our site?" surveys and gettting absolutely nowhere in getting the box shipped.  In desperation I called my shipper of choice, the US Postal Service, to see if I could get a large poriority mail box shipped to the nearest post office here.  "Of course!" was the reply.  "Write your address on it, slap on some stamps and come and pick it up a day or two from now."  Up yours, Fedes & UPS (there isn't a ticky box on their survey for that).  So I am eagerlty awaiting bike helmet, comb, horseradish and tea towels.  Can't stand the excitement.

Just frozen my proverbials off on the beach again.  Really blowing arcticly from the north so, to get some decent exercise, I ventured into Home Depot in seach of Cardinal Flower seeds for the hummingbirds.  Needless to say, they didn't have any and, as I had anticipated buying seed trays and compost, it cost Home Depot a pretty penny in lost sale.  Sell you shares now.

Right - the evil moment has come - time to finish the sky on the jigsaw from my Aunt Rosemary.  Looks like about 300 pieces though they are definitely far from identical which should make life a bit easier.

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