Maine - December, 1982

We had a chimney sweep clean the chimney. The woman from whom we are renting said she would have it done but we had it cleaned just to be safe. He only charged $35 and told us the chimney was safe and tile-lined so even if we ever have a chimney fire it probably wouldn't do any damage. He said we should run the fire hot with the flu and vents wide open 1-2 hours per day to burn off the creosote deposit. We keep the fire going 24 hours per day damped down so there's considerable deposit... Monday morning it was about zero after going down to 5 below the previous night. My car wouldn't start so Dan had to jump start it. Dan installed a new five year battery. Monday night it went down to 10 below and was still 5 below at 7 am and even with the new battery and getting squirted with ether, my car still wouldn't start so Dan drove me to work. When we came home at lunch the temperature was up to 30 and my car started fine. Dan bought block heaters for the cars but hasn't installed them yet. Russ told us that once it starts going below zero, then when it's 20-30 degrees out, it seems real nice and almost warm. He was right! Anything above 20 we consider delightful weather now... My Christmas goose was delicious!