Yes I had to go outside. I had to feel what it felt like. I had to see what there was to see. I wanted to test out de-icing salts on the shadier section of the drive. (Useless at the rate of application I tried.) I did not get very far for very long. I neglected to bring gloves.
And then too there was the lack of water in the house that sent me back outside. After shutting off power to the well and pondering the situation I added a light and blanket to the well head over the existing thermostat controlled heating wire and insulation already on the above ground pipes. By late afternoon I had water back inside. Tonight water is left running in one sink.
It was COLD out there in a black and white world of snow and shadows.
I expected to see all kinds of tracks in the snow, some sign of the myriad sounds in the night. Sadly there are none. In all this snow, in all my wandering, discounting grand central station around the bird feeders, there have been two separate sets of what look to be solitary deer tracks. Even the resident possum has not left an impression.
The forest evidently makes a lot of noise on its own.
There's just me and my shadow squeaking and crunching as I shuffle through the snow.
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4 comments:
It was always hard for me to understand how water could freeze in pipes. I had a friend in Anchorage who had to let her water trickle all night.
On the news last night the weatherman said Chicago was the coldest place in the country right now, and I was all, "Oh yeah? What about Alaska?" Sure enough, it was 0 in Chicago and 25 deg F in Anchorage.
Ha, well it was minus 4 in Green Bay while the Packers were losing to the Giants, so I don't know what the weather guy in CA was drinking!
Christopher, I guess you are learning valuable things for when you build your own cabin! I go a bit stir crazy myself in the winters; try to do small construction projects (hypertufa troughs, etc.) inside and monitor my small garden under fluorescent lights. But the days are getting longer and we'll be out there again soon!
When it was minus 27 Fahrenheit in Illinois [probably early in 1985], Philo also had to go outside for a walk "to feel what it felt like". You would have understood that need, and now I wish I'd gone into the record cold for a minute or two.
Sorry about the pipes, Christopher - it sounds like you're coping and coming up with solutions.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Today I got the water back on in the kitchen sink, so the whole house is back on. The kitchen floor is in the air above ground, hence the pipes in the floor even insulated, possibly major mouse chewed insulation is not enough to prevent freezing in extreme cold. The good news it is flexible polyfiber pipe that doesn't crack to easily so no leaks that I can see. The kitchen sink will now be left running when it gets towards single digits. They just neglected to tell me that before.
My whole cabin will be above ground with pipes in the insulated floor. I will have to make very sure they are well protected.
I still wander outside because and have been having little flashbacks of living in Vail Colorado. I've done this before. I just need to rearrange again on the cellular level.
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