The Trent Report / How's the Weather

As I am writing this up, we are on our second day of cancelled school for snow and mainly ice. The temperature is finally high enough that the rain is melting the ice on the driveway. The tree branches and bushes are still iced over though they are melting as well. A couple of weeks ago, we woke up to a 56 degree house. The weather report said it was 3 degrees outside. When our home teacher called to check on us, I learned that heat pumps stop working at around 20 degrees. Boy did that explain a lot (like why the house fell to 56 degrees overnight). Thank goodness for the propane fireplace. It heats the living room up quickly and well.

You get the idea. It is winter. Therefore, it is cold. Our highs are going to be in the upper 40s for the rest of the week. We might see the 50s on Sunday.

Trent has been able to call us every Sunday he has been gone so far. They are short calls, but it is always great to hear from him. It means he is working late, but I guess that is o.k. He is currently working at Camp Victory rather than in the Embassy and has been doing some operational law work. He is doing well overall. We got a package off to him this week, so I guess we will see where it falls in the 1 to 3 weeks time frame.

Why do I bring up our cold weather? It is because Trent noted that it is still "cool" there. He says he has to wear his fleece in the mornings and evenings but takes it off otherwise. I looked at the 10 day forecast for Baghdad. They have forecast highs in the 70s and lows in the 40s. Cool indeed. This last Saturday, it was a warm (50s) and sunny afternoon. I felt like a cat or a reptile in my attempt to bask in any ray of warm sunshine I could.

The funny thing is that when these things happen, it seems that Trent is out of town. In California summer of '06, we had a few days of over 100 degree weather. Our house didn't have an air conditioner, because with a few exceptions, we didn't really need one. It got so hot in the house that I slept all the kids downstairs with a window open and fan blowing on them. Our great friends, the Perrys, took pity on us and entertained and fed us all Sunday one day so that we could be somewhere where there was air conditioning. Trent was at scout camp that week where the temperatures were pleasant. It is somewhat ironic that for the super cold spell, he is in a more moderate climate.