This time of year…

... brings out the worst in everything.

At least I mean the cold brings out the worst, not Christmas.

I for one have experienced two things already because of the cold. First the Artist's car has done some weird thing that I can not figure out. It made a violent loud grinding noise with accompanying hot smell, which stopped as fast as it started, and I can’t get it to do it again. I’m hoping it was something like ice getting thrown up into the fan and belt area and grinding that up. I have talked to two mechanics and both say unless it is showing symptoms, there is not much that can be done. ...

The second issue was on our Craftsman project. We had the laundry room washer control box freeze up. Fortunately it is an easy fix. It could have been much worse if say this happened when the homeowner was out of town and it was allowed to stay frozen for several days. Water lines would have probably split and water would have been flowing out until someone came home. Can’t even think about that!

The point to both of these situations is this. If something is going to be vulnerable in any way, extreme cold is the best way to have that vulnerability exposed.

Whether in houses, or cars, extreme cold can be an enemy. If you let your guard down in any way be it a service issue or a installation issue of some kind, Mr. Frosty will humble you real fast!

I will be checking every little corner on our next insulation installation to make sure not a draft will enter!

~ The Carpenter.