We have a light coating of ice this morning. We are surrounded with 90 year growth. Large canopies. The storm we had over three decades ago took out most of our pine trees. I would sit out in the quiet of the night and hear the distinct cracking of wood followed by the crash of the tree. No electric for 10 days.
Neighbors had a tree fall across their pool early on. The canopy is holding it above the pool for now.
I spent hours listening to history lessons about how people and military dealt with deadly cold. Learned a lot. I have a tester bed with 7 1/2 foot posts. Always been told this bed was big in the South because of air circulation. But I learned that the first rule of surviving cold was to get off the floor. Put more quilts under than on top and use straw because it's hollow and retains heat. Thatched roofs were a survival tool, as were Norwegian dug out houses. Also learned about the amazing east European and german stoves with the maze chimneys where 90 minutes of burn would provide radiant heat for 12 hours.
And did you know you can cook with a muffin tin and four little tea candles and heat an enclosed space with tea candles and two clay pots? And you can make a candle that burns for 72 hours with crisco?
We haven't yet lost electric but I learned a lot of useful stuff.
We have a light coating of ice this morning. We are surrounded with 90 year growth. Large canopies. The storm we had over three decades ago took out most of our pine trees. I would sit out in the quiet of the night and hear the distinct cracking of wood followed by the crash of the tree. No electric for 10 days.
Neighbors had a tree fall across their pool early on. The canopy is holding it above the pool for now.
I spent hours listening to history lessons about how people and military dealt with deadly cold. Learned a lot. I have a tester bed with 7 1/2 foot posts. Always been told this bed was big in the South because of air circulation. But I learned that the first rule of surviving cold was to get off the floor. Put more quilts under than on top and use straw because it's hollow and retains heat. Thatched roofs were a survival tool, as were Norwegian dug out houses. Also learned about the amazing east European and german stoves with the maze chimneys where 90 minutes of burn would provide radiant heat for 12 hours.
And did you know you can cook with a muffin tin and four little tea candles and heat an enclosed space with tea candles and two clay pots? And you can make a candle that burns for 72 hours with crisco?
We haven't yet lost electric but I learned a lot of useful stuff.