# Where have all my extension cords gone? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 23, 2017, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116 "2017-12-23T04:52:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2017, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/41 "2017-12-25T23:14:14Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Saskatchewan cold is a bit colder than New Zealand cold. It’s currently 26 below and dropping. Just heard on CBC that with windchill, our 26 below is equivalent to 44 below. Dangerous to be outdoors. I guess I’ll just have to force myself to stay in by the fire and nurse my Oyster Bay Sauvignon blanc. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2017, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/42 "2017-12-25T23:15:21Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Now that’s what I call understatement. Self-effacement is a Saskatchewan characteristic. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2017, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/43 "2017-12-25T23:23:09Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Self-effacement is a Saskatchewan characteristic. 🙂 Try saying that five times real fast. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2017, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/44 "2017-12-25T23:32:48Z")
Chilly here too, but not quite as bad as **Northern Piper** has it–we’re at -21C, with a wind chill of -27C. I went out for a walk through the neighbourhood and the local park this afternoon, and it wasn’t uncomfortable, but I was glad to get back to my warm house. And I made doubly-sure that my car was plugged in when I was outside. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/45 "2017-12-26T00:26:25Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Try saying that five times real fast. 😃 You did see the bit about nursing a bottle of Sauvignon blanc, right? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/46 "2017-12-26T00:41:24Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Just heard on CBC that with windchill, our 26 below is equivalent to 44 below. Dangerous to be outdoors. I guess I’ll just have to force myself to stay in by the fire and nurse my Oyster Bay Sauvignon blanc. 🙂 At dinner this evening, my neighbours expressed their dislike of driving across Saskatchewan due to the wind chill when they stop for gas. They have a familiy pass at a hill in eastern British Columbia that they use a few times each year, and we live in north-western Ontario, so crossing Saskatchewan is their most direct route. They don’t mind the full day’s (22-24 hr) drive – what they whinge about is the Saskatchewan wind chill at their single stop in the province. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/47 "2017-12-26T01:59:24Z")
Mystery solved: VIA Rail borrowed your extension cords when one of their trains crapped out due to the cold. (Kudos to the people of Spy Hill and the efforts of all involved.) > **[The 'remarkable' story of how a tiny Sask. village helped stuck Via Rail...](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/via-rail-stranded-spy-hill-1.4464542)** > > A Via Rail train from Vancouver to Toronto experienced a mechanical failure due to extreme cold and ended up in Spy Hill, Sask., stalling the Christmas Day travels of 98 passengers, but the tiny community stepped up to make sure they were taken care... ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/48 "2017-12-26T04:21:01Z")
My sister knows some people who were on that train. Family with young boys who’d been surprised with a train ride to Winnipeg (looking at the story, pretty sure its the boys in the second picture). They have reportedly just arrived at their destination. Currently sitting at -30 (-40 windchill) here, and my car that had been parked on the street at my sister’s all afternoon & evening did start unassisted, but it sure complained about it. I think I shall pour myself some rum. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/49 "2017-12-26T13:14:14Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Currently sitting at -30 (-40 windchill) here, and my car that had been parked on the street at my sister’s all afternoon & evening did start unassisted, but it sure complained about it. And that’s a pretty good reason for having a block heater, even if you have a new car with a high-capacity battery and fresh synthetic oil. Cold starts really are hard on the engine; I’ve been told that starting the engine in really cold weather wears the engine more than 300-500 km of driving when the engine is warm. Add an interior heater and a battery charger, and you can walk out of your door and jump into a nice, warm, ice-free car with a fully charged battery. It sure beats the heck out of first spending five minutes scraping ice off the windshield and windows to be able to see where you’re driving, and then freezing your butt off, teeth chattering, for the first fifteen minutes of the ride. Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/50 "2017-12-26T14:15:14Z")
> [@Sveltington](#): > > They are with the flowers and the girls? Nice. This is an old fart reply to “Where have all my extension cords gone?” The answer is everywhere. I remember one of our many changes in address, back in the old days when the kids were in school. As the packing wound down, things started to turn up from all over the place. Things that had been lost and replaced and lost again. The coat hangers were not really a surprise. Nor the pencils and pens. The number of hairbrushes were perplexing, but not the fact that there were extra ones. What surprised me was the number of extension cords, of various sizes. No really heavy duty ones, but the number was shocking. There were more than a dozen. I don’t remember buying that many. Maybe they were mating. That would explain why they were under beds and on the floor of closets. So, they’re everywhere. My best advice is try to think like a lonely extension cord seeking love. Moving would work, too, but that’s excessive. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/51 "2017-12-26T16:08:21Z")
> [@Norse](#): > > And that’s a pretty good reason for having a block heater, even if you have a new car with a high-capacity battery and fresh synthetic oil. Cold starts really are hard on the engine; I’ve been told that starting the engine in really cold weather wears the engine more than 300-500 km of driving when the engine is warm. Oh indeed. My block heater is running right now, as I’m heading out to the farm for family Christmas in a couple hours and the temperature’s sitting at -33 at the moment. But I plug in the block heater starting at about -10 just because I can. Less wear on the engine, and the heater starts blowing warm air a lot sooner, all for 10 or 15 cents. I’ve only backed out without unplugging once in the last 8 years, so I’m doing a little better than our resident **Piper** in that regard. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/52 "2017-12-27T07:19:43Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Call me a wimp but if I lived in a location where I had to plug my car in to get it started in the morning, I’d seriously reconsider my life choices that led me to live there. I mean – I lived in coastal Maine for a while which, while cold in the winter, _didn’t_ require block heaters and I left there for a warmer clime as soon as the navy would let me. I don’t like the heat. We took the PiperCub to Walt Disney World a while ago, and I hated the heat and humidity. Was so glad to get back home to a nice 15 C. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/53 "2017-12-27T10:17:49Z")
For me, it’s -20 to +25. Below -20 the pointy snow crystals are slow and often the lifts are closed for safety (e.g. yesterday and today . . . grrrrrburrrrr), and above +25 I am too hot to sleep and I stick to things ([I’m melting! I’m melting!](https://youtu.be/aopdD9Cu-So?t=25s)). One of the reasons I like living where I do is a climate that only occasionally goes outside of these bounds, making my going outside boundless. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/54 "2017-12-27T10:43:59Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > I don’t like the heat. We took the PiperCub to Walt Disney World a while ago, and I hated the heat and humidity. Ummmmm…one of these things is not like the other. There’s weather that you don’t like. After a couple hours of exposure, you might be really sweaty and uncomfortable. And then there’s weather that will frikin’ _kill_ you after 2 minutes of exposure. I prefer seeing Mickey Mouse a bit sweaty. It’s more fun than being dead. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/55 "2017-12-27T12:12:31Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > You did see the bit about nursing a bottle of Sauvignon blanc, right? OK then, try saying it once real slow. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/56 "2017-12-27T13:53:49Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Ummmmm…one of these things is not like the other. > > There’s weather that you don’t like. After a couple hours of exposure, you might be really sweaty and uncomfortable. > And then there’s weather that will frikin’ _kill_ you after 2 minutes of exposure. > > I prefer seeing Mickey Mouse a bit sweaty. It’s more fun than being dead. 🙂 Aside from when I’m bobbing [in a hot tub](https://images2.imgbox.com/ae/ca/htRIuZps_o.jpg) while gazing up at the stars, I tend to wear clothes when I am outside in the winter that keep me comfy. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/57 "2017-12-27T14:42:37Z")
Of course it’s a matter of both opinion and skill, but until they invent a spacesuit I’m not seeing how winter clothes can be comfy. Yes, I can keep most of my core and part of my periphery from not being in pain. But fingers or ears or nose or back of neck or lungs or something is always miserable 100% of the time if I’m out in cold weather beyond a couple minutes. Living in snow country for 20 years never did solve that problem for me. I just got more used to part of me being unhappy. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/58 "2017-12-27T16:40:30Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > Excellent. Have you tried Nerf battle with snow balls instead Nerf balls? You can’t make snowballs at -20C. The snow needs to be close to its melting point so it’s a bit wet and sticky. At -20C (hell, at -10C) the snow is just a powder. You might as well be trying to make balls out of dry flour. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/59 "2017-12-27T16:46:33Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Of course it’s a matter of both opinion and skill, but until they invent a spacesuit I’m not seeing how winter clothes can be comfy. Yes, I can keep most of my core and part of my periphery from not being in pain. > > But fingers or ears or nose or back of neck or lungs or something is always miserable 100% of the time if I’m out in cold weather beyond a couple minutes. Living in snow country for 20 years never did solve that problem for me. I just got more used to part of me being unhappy. [Winter dress can be as comfortable as diving into down](https://youtu.be/9SwXFlHWTTU?t=3m38s), but I’ll admit that the process of getting dressed is an embuggerance. Here’s an assembly line for getting it all on in the right order when dressing for minimal activity down where Celsius meets Fahrenheit (dress quickly in a cool room to avoid overheating, for perspiration impinges insulative clothing): Talcum powder on toes (possibly carcinogenic) Thin wicking socks Thin wicking briefs Thin wicking long bottoms Thick wool socks Mid-thick codpiece Mid-thick long fleece bottoms Thin wicking top Second thin wicking top Mid-thick long fleece top Thick wool pants with suspenders Thick down vest Pack boots with thick felt insulation Windproof bib pants with suspenders Windproof knee length thick down parka with full hood, long hood ruff and hood neck cover Close fitting goggles Thin wicking full balaclava Windproof balaclava with breathing chamber and breath deflector Thin wicking gloves Thick wicking inner mittens Windproof and durable outer mittens ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116/60 "2017-12-27T16:53:00Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > There’s weather that you don’t like. After a couple hours of exposure, you might be really sweaty and uncomfortable. > And then there’s weather that will frikin’ _kill_ you after 2 minutes of exposure. If it’s too cold, you can always put on an extra sweater. If it’s too hot, you just suffer. Unless, of course, you can crank up the AC (which, at least if you’re outdoors, is a mite difficult). I prefer being able to put on an extra sweater. It’s several thousand years since we invented clothes; it’s not as if you’ll gonna die just because it’s a bit chilly. Because It’s quite easy to put on an extra sweater. Or start up the fireplace. Or turn up the heating. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-have-all-my-extension-cords-gone/805116.md?page=4)