Ho! Ho! It’s Too Cold Outside
Is It Even Possible to Prepare for a World of Bad Weather?
Xmas is around the corner, days away.
I live in a more northerly part of the Midwest near the Michigan/Indiana border. We’re supposed to get a few inches of snow right before Xmas followed by brutally cold weather and wind gusts up to 50 mph.
Now, don’t get me wrong.
I’m not one of those who has adopted the popular point of view that any weather that falls below thirty degrees is to be shunned at all cost. I’ve seen what my sister puts up with living in the state of Florida and it ain’t pretty. No thank you. Not only is Florida a sunny state for shady people, it’s way too hot for me for 9 months out of the year. I have no desire to buckle down the hatch every other month for a possible hurricane.
No thank you. The retired crowd of boomers can have at it.
Plus I love the changing seasons. I can’t imagine one shade of color covered in sweat beads being what I wake up to each day. However, once in a blue moon, even in my neck of the woods, we get a cold snap that threatens my state of mind.
Brrrr…
You see, I lived for 32 years in the great state of Maine at the end of a gravel road that turned into a logging trail running three miles through the woods behind our house. That’s right! We were Laura Ingalls Wilder in a house Pa built with his own two hands and when we lost power it could last for days.
Our saving grace was that for a good number of years we heated our house with wood.
And even after we modernized with an oil furnace, we still had our trusty wood stove to fall back on if we lost power. That was pretty comforting. Fortunately, we do have a fireplace in our current abode. We also have a power station to keep our freezer, fridge, and lights running and a gas generator to recharge our battery station. Also, I’m lucky that these extreme cold snaps are rare, I’ve only experienced one or two in 13 years.
If it doesn’t fall below 32 and stay there for very long, I’m equipped to weather the weather so to speak.
It looks like we’ll have the big blow followed by frigid weather for Xmas eve and Xmas day with temps slowly climbing back up to 40 degrees a few days after the festivities.
Everybody in the region seems to want snow for Xmas except me.
I could care less but then I’m not a big Xmas enthusiast. That’s another story altogether, however. I didn’t grow up celebrating Xmas, so it doesn’t have the same magical quality for me. I went from not celebrating Xmas to providing for Xmas overnight. We were poor for quite a long time after I had kids of my own so Xmas felt like a newly acquired burden at times.
Still, Xmas does give the poor working stiffs a paid holiday and that fact alone makes me happy.
I read that San Francisco is temporarily putting a ban on wood burning as so many people were using their wood stoves, pellet stoves, and fireplaces that it was creating too much smoke. This from a state that is shrouded in smoke a good part of the year. You can’t win these days.
As Macron, the prime minister of France said in a speech a few months ago — we are no longer living in the age of abundance. That is beginning to be rather apparent to me. Yet, I know plenty of people that have chosen to indulge mindless consumerism at an increased rate rather than listen to the scientists who steadfastly provide warnings to the public.
As Xmas approaches, I’m reminded that just a few weeks ago parts of the country were pommeled by tornadoes.
Tornadoes in December? Is that customary or am I dreaming? If there’s anything I hate worse than a cold snap with high winds, its tornadoes, and devastating hurricanes. Oh, wait, I hate floods, too. We’ve certainly seen an uptick in torrential rains in America. But wait! I guess I wouldn’t want to be in the path of the ferocious forest fires that have become so customary due to endless drought conditions.
Lordy!
Is there nowhere to live where we have eternal springtime? Or how about gentle change of seasons? No? Shucks. I guess I’ll get back to the business of preparedness. Xmas will come and go but I’ll still need to eat no matter the weather. That’s why I keep the larder full year-round.
Ho! Ho! Ho! Happy seasonal celebrations.
Teresa is an author, world traveler, and professional myth buster. You can find her books on Amazon.
