By the way, do you know why Mr. Fahrenheit’s “freezing” is 32 degrees instead of zero? Because his zero degrees is the temperature at which salt water freezes. Just a little trivia.
Okay, back to it’s cold outside. It is also cold inside. Earlier my wife got up out of her recliner, walked over to the wall with the thermostat on it, and leaned over to give it a good look.
“Are you cold?” asked I.
“Yes,” she replied, “but I shouldn’t be. It says it’s 75!”
“And what would Uncle Frank say about that?”
My father’s older brother was in the heating and air conditioning business. He frequently got calls in the middle of the night from someone wanting him to come over right away to fix their furnace because even though their thermostat was set to 72, it was cold in their house. He said he wished thermostats didn’t have numbers, that they were basically meaningless.
“Well, what would Uncle Frank say?” I prompted.
“Don’t worry about the number.”
“And?”
“If you’re cold, turn it up.”
“Exactly right.”
She didn’t, though. Instead she took one of her comfy afghans and curled up under it. Thanks anyway, Uncle Frank.
