OC

Daniel was complaining as he was putting on his jacket this morning…he said Shelby’s parka must be warmer…because she never scrunches her shoulders to her ears on the bus. So, I made him try on one of my (slightly bulkier) parkas. As he tried it on..he said “no way Mom, I’m not wearing one of YOUR jackets…look at this big ugly thing…this is for people who live where it is REALLY REALLY cold.

????

Yesterday, it was cold enough for the shy fox to brave a visit to the bird feeder…and drive Denali crazy….
….which was a welcomed distraction, because she spends half of the day with her head on my lap waiting waiting…..waiting for me to take her out to play.

When I took the kids out to the bus this morning…the temperature gage on the car was dropping (it’s coldest at the mailbox…must be some sort of “Round Lake Effect” here—because it was only -39 in our driveway). Anyway, the temperature gauge showed -40, then -41….then it said OC. What does OC mean? Off the Charts? The kids decided “Oh Crap”

Outlandishly Cold???

The moon was full and the sky was bright, but we could still tell that the days are getting longer, the eastern horizon definitely lighter by the mailbox at 6:45am..not only will this cold snap break tomorrow…spring is coming!!!

1 Response

  1. Mike says:

    I like your guesses for what OC means on the temperature readout on your car. Very creative! What OC actually stands for is OPEN CIRCUIT. If the temperature were ever to go above 140 degrees F outside, the display would read SC for SHORT CIRCUIT. The ambient air temperature is deduced by using a device called an NTC thermistor that changes in electrical resistance with changes in temperature. In colder temperatures the resistance increases to the point that there is much less current flowing through the thermistor so it appears to the rest of the electronics that the device is unplugged or in other words the circuit is open as it would be if there were a break in the wires. At the other end of the temperature extreme the resistance of the thermistor is lower when very hot so it appears to the electronics as if the thermistor is shorted out or the wires are crossed. In any case do keep warm. I was glad I installed an engine block heater and battery warmer blanket in my Jeep before I spent last week up the Gunflint Trail. Sure made starting the Jeep easier and a quicker warm up inside. Those devices would have gotten a real workout this week were I still up there instead of back home again in Indiana. Thanks for all your postings. They are the next best thing to being there!