[AT] test Now cold and tractor cabs

[Greg Hass]

I live near a place called Bad Axe, Michigan, 48413. It's in the middle 
of Michigans thumb or about 95 mile north-northeast of Detroit. I'm 66 
and remember one winter that was probably as bad or maybe worse but it 
is hard to judge as I was 45 years or so younger then and I could do 
things a lot easier then. Unfortunately, it now takes me 4 hours to do 
what I did in 30 minutes when I was 25.  I used to wonder why retired 
people always complained about being so busy; well now I know the 
answer, it takes all day to get anything done.  One of the biggest 
problems, the same as many people have, has been the extreme cost of 
heat. I should be happy that, even though our house is almost 100 years 
old, we have a good basement and frozen pipes have not been an issue. 
Around here, it is hard to get any new plumbing work done as plumbers 
cannot even keep up with broken furnaces and frozen pipes. Also as I 
said before I no longer have livestock, but when I did, every cold snap 
meant all day thawing pipes and waterers (even though they were heated , 
the wind chill would still freeze them). Also would spend hours chopping 
frozen silage and trying to keep silo unloaders running. To add insult 
to injury, it could also take a couple of hours chopping frozen manure 
to get the gutter cleaner running in the hog barn. Well, all this cold 
weather talk is making me depressed so I think I will go eat lunch, 
something I am good at and it shows.
Greg Hass