Febrrrrruary Ice Storm
The latest Mid-Atlantic storm dumped a healthy amount of ice here. A piddling amount of snow, much sleet, and covered all with freezing rain. So, on schedule, the power went out at 6:15 AM on Wednesday, as the winds really picked up. The power finally came on at about 10:00 AM today, Thursday morning. Not too bad for around here. It was under 20 degrees last night, though I didn't bother to look at the thermometer outside. My estimate is that it was under 50 degrees in the house, because it was a balmy 40 degrees on the glassed in porch, and it felt a bit colder there than in here. Where is that stupid indoor thermometer?? I must have put it in a really good place. I will find it in July. Anyway, here was my favorite thing:
My brother gave me this Coleman single burner camp stove for Christmas, because I lose power so regularly. Hot tea, hot cocoa, fried eggs and ham, hot soup! Heaven in the cold. And the defunct dryer was a perfect base to work from on the porch.
Not pictured are my other Christmas gifts... a hand crank AM/FM/Weather radio (kept me amused) and hand crank flashlight. Both worked really well. No dead batteries! There are about 20 gallon jugs of water in the pantry for times like this, since the well is electric. I use an oil lamp for primary lighting, with a candle for the kitchen. I can read easily by the lamp (it has a white chimney, which is essential), so I read the newspaper, and a library book, and some of Thoreau's Walden.
I found the bit about the non-necessity of artificial heating sources amusing, and fairly accurate. Thoreau points out that Native Americans were uncomfortably hot near a campfire, and wore hardly any clothing (compared to Europeans) in winter. He said that since you naturally eat more in winter (!) your body is perfectly capable of keeping itself warm, with minimal shelter. I read this while sitting on the sofa by the lamp, wearing normal clothes, ball cap, sweat jacket with hood, and wrapped more or less in a blanket that I shared with my dog. No gloves. Not really that much extra. No parka, hand warmer, or snow boots.
No shivering. I wasn't cold. I was fine. And I tried to wear extra clothes to bed, but didn't succeed, I just got too hot. I added one thin extra blanket to the bed, but that was mostly for the dog to snuggle in. (He loved it.) The occasional hot meal was wonderful, and the fact that I could heat water to wash my face and hands was lovely. So the lack of heat didn't bother me. (It didn't even bother my goldfish, who seemed to sleep through the cold.)
I chopped the ice off the sidewalk and car yesterday, and today they were still pretty clean, but it looked like there had been a wild party, with lots of broken bottles:
Tubes of ice looked exactly like broken bottle glass. The dog does NOT like walking on this barefoot. Below, icicles on the shed. There weren't any on the house, and that's surprising.
My brother gave me this Coleman single burner camp stove for Christmas, because I lose power so regularly. Hot tea, hot cocoa, fried eggs and ham, hot soup! Heaven in the cold. And the defunct dryer was a perfect base to work from on the porch.
Not pictured are my other Christmas gifts... a hand crank AM/FM/Weather radio (kept me amused) and hand crank flashlight. Both worked really well. No dead batteries! There are about 20 gallon jugs of water in the pantry for times like this, since the well is electric. I use an oil lamp for primary lighting, with a candle for the kitchen. I can read easily by the lamp (it has a white chimney, which is essential), so I read the newspaper, and a library book, and some of Thoreau's Walden.
I found the bit about the non-necessity of artificial heating sources amusing, and fairly accurate. Thoreau points out that Native Americans were uncomfortably hot near a campfire, and wore hardly any clothing (compared to Europeans) in winter. He said that since you naturally eat more in winter (!) your body is perfectly capable of keeping itself warm, with minimal shelter. I read this while sitting on the sofa by the lamp, wearing normal clothes, ball cap, sweat jacket with hood, and wrapped more or less in a blanket that I shared with my dog. No gloves. Not really that much extra. No parka, hand warmer, or snow boots.
No shivering. I wasn't cold. I was fine. And I tried to wear extra clothes to bed, but didn't succeed, I just got too hot. I added one thin extra blanket to the bed, but that was mostly for the dog to snuggle in. (He loved it.) The occasional hot meal was wonderful, and the fact that I could heat water to wash my face and hands was lovely. So the lack of heat didn't bother me. (It didn't even bother my goldfish, who seemed to sleep through the cold.)
I chopped the ice off the sidewalk and car yesterday, and today they were still pretty clean, but it looked like there had been a wild party, with lots of broken bottles:
Tubes of ice looked exactly like broken bottle glass. The dog does NOT like walking on this barefoot. Below, icicles on the shed. There weren't any on the house, and that's surprising.
Labels: camp stove, cold, Ice storm