While the winter of 2015 hasn't been nearly as brutal as last year (so far, anyway-- knock on wood!), it's still cold and snowy enough here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes that a few things I usually take for granted ended up not working earlier this week.

Our thermometer this morning-- minus the outdoor reading.
Our thermometer this morning-- minus the outdoor reading.
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While our temperature Thursday morning wasn't nearly as cold as those mornings last year when it was 20 degrees below zero, it still was below zero this morning. Although just how much below zero, I couldn't say-- because the outside sensor on our temperature gauge just stopped working this morning. (Note the dashes where the outdoor temperature should be in the photo to the left.) Apparently, the outdoor sensor simply goes on strike when the mercury dips below the zero mark.

 

 

And Tuesday  night, when I returned to my car in the Quick Country parking lot in downtown Rochester, I found it covered in about 4 inches of snow. Again, that's not normally a big deal, as we're used to getting much more snow than that during the winter here in Minnesota, right? But, it was just enough snow-- combined with the ice that formed on the warm windshield as I drove into work-- that it shattered the plastic clip that attaches the driver's side windshield wiper blade to the arm. When I turned the wipers on, all I saw was the wiper arm scraping against the windshield. The blade itself was fine-- it was the plastic housing that apparently couldn't take the cold and snow.

My now-extra wiper blade, after the plastic clip shattered.
My now-extra wiper blade, after the plastic clip shattered.
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Both of these items not working correctly might indeed have been just a coincidence, because we all know it can get much colder and much snowier that it's been this week. But it just goes to show how what we consider to be even a 'mild' winter can still take its toll on things we normally just take for granted!

 

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