Damn! It's cold!

Damn It's Cold

Today, was a freezing day. The windows were whipping up, and the windchill was making it feel like -20.

For some reason, the windchill factor seems to have an effect on the water. Even though the windchill factor was designed to show how cold it feels for a human. Windy days tend to make the water freeze at the windchill temperature, not the actual temperature.

On cold days like this I dress warm. When it's below -10 (14 Fahrenheit) I wear snowboarding pants, or snowpants. I wear a thermal shirt, a solar fleece, a heavy goose down jacket, a touque, and for hand protection, I use snowboarding mitts (Kidd by Eskimo). I wear very warm boots.

I have been having problems with my boots. Although I spend a lot of money, on apparently good quality boots, I still tend to get a little bit of water in my boots. Which should never happen.

To keep the water from freezing, I use Methyl Hydrate (AKA, Methyl Alcohol). Using this product I can work at levels of lower windchills, then windshield washer fluid. I also don't like the soap in WWF, and I think I spend less money usning methyl hydrate than wwf.

I encounter a problem with working on these extremely cold days. It's hard to squeegee with a lot of methyl hydrate because the liquid is thinner, no matter how much soap is added, it can't soften the water so it's easier to squeegee. My water seemed when applied to the windows not to be even, heavy to squeegee too. Perhaps I'll have to add some softener or easy squeegee solution.

On days like this people wonder why you are cleaning the windows. But of course, on days like this, with snow on the ground, and sidewalks oversalted the windows are just filthy.

Word of advice - invest in boots. Make sure - that you get waterproof, warm boots if you live in a cold climate. Before I got these boots, I had very cheap boots, that made my feet freeze. As soon as your feet feel cold, you simply can't work, simple as that. Invest in boots.

I tend to go with very bulky warm clothes, instead of layering. However, I've reduced the amount of cotton I wear (T-Shirts, undershirts etc) I wear, since I found that I either feel overdressed, or it stiffles me.

What a winter it's been.