As a matter of clarification to anyone who might live in the north and deals with the nasty cold weather on a regular basis or to whom 21 doesn't seem bad.... When your house is built without a FURNACE because it's in the south and winter usually consists of a few days of 40 degree weather at a time.... 21 degrees is COLD. When the definition of a "coat" means you own a hoodie..... 21 degrees is cold. I moved here from Indiana- along the shores of Lake Michigan. The cold is different. Maybe because there's no trees here to block any of the wind and we're so far out in the country that houses are few and far between. Maybe because they don't own a sand, snow, or plow truck around here so icy roads just have to be waited out. I moved here after we got 17 1/2 inches of snow in about 6-7 hours one year in IN (in March). They were on the news telling people to go shovel their ROOFS because people's roofs were caving in. (side note: lake effect blizzards are full of heavy snow) I had a houseful of people because I had gas so my stove still worked and the hot water even if the furnace didn't and no electricity for 5 days. Our food was buried in snow drifts on the front porch. It was me, 2 other women and 9 kids. No tv, no lights, everyone sleeping in one room- a great big slumber party. Lets not forget the broken water lines upstairs that we were gifted with that week. I moved south before school started the next year. I was born and raised in Toledo. So, for all my friends who live where the weather lets that white stuff fall from the sky on a regular basis- I'm sorry. Unless you enjoy it- then congratulations! It's your time of year. For me and my joints- we will do much better today when it's supposed to be almost 60. The electric heaters I have tell me that it's 69 in my house this morning- much better than the 58 I awoke to yesterday.
Off to set dynamite under the teenagers to drag them out of bed. Have a great day all!
4 comments:
I love looking at snow, but not driving in it or having to shovel it! I too, live in Indiana, so I know what you mean.
Sorry if I came off sounding harsh.
OK, no furnace gives you some justification - but who the hell builds a house with no furnace? How does the water get hot? No electric baseboards or whatever? Ya gotta keep something lying around for the rare cold day.
In Fort Lauderdale some years back there was a wicked cold snap, below freezing, and the utility (Florida Power and Light) lost power all over the place because their outdoor hardware wasn't equipped for cold conditions and there were system-wide breakdowns. A court later ruled that they were REQUIRED to build with some cold resistance in mind and had to upgrade all their older hardware for just such cold snaps, which, while not common, do happen maybe once a year or so. I hope you have something like that where you live...
Funny side note: when my ex and I bought the marital residence, we moved in just a few months before the worst snowstorm in over 50 years. People on the block were complaining that they never had storms like that before WE joined the neighborhood... In retrospect, the marriage itself was maybe a category 3 at least...
Yikes. After reading about that, I am very grateful to be living in the desert. Although now you have a cool story to tell people- I don't have any "My Side of the Mountain" stories about burying my food in snow. You rock!
You are totally cracking me up with the cold in the south. I live in a state where we see LOTS of cold, but I went to school in Texas. One of my funniest memories was when we got hit with an ice storm. Everything on earth was cancelled. After Texas, I moved to Tennessee and the cold and ice there was very similar. It's true that the southern states are ill-prepared for anything that borders on freezing.
Having a coat does really mean having a hoodie! :)
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