Cold and colder

It's ridiculously cold outside. Even for Northern Canada in winter ridiculously cold. It was -52 C this morning with the wind chill. That's -61 F for my US readers. Just ponder that for a couple of minutes....


back again? Stupid cold. I remote started the van this morning, and it made the most pathetic whiny noise, like it was completely unimpressed with me calling it to life. I really didn't blame it. We have 3 inches or more of ice on the bottom of our upstairs windows....and the basement windows are frosted over almost completely. There are chilly drafts from our doors, and the windows just seep cold air. Which makes me so happy for a working furnace and good heat that compensates for some air leaks. We don't have a fireplace of any variety, so it's nice to have a warm house from whatever source it comes - a fireplace dvd is a decent replacement to still have the visual of a fire.

Unless the power goes out. Which it did last night. According to the "power line" recording, they didn't know what the problem was, nor when it would be back on. I dug up our tealights and holders, and started lighting them like a mad woman. Both for light, and for some warmth. Then we threw warmer clothes on the kids, and sweaters on the grownups and settled in to enjoy the darkness. Sort of. The kids were all wired up because we were expecting to go to a party, and the excitement of that, plus unanticipated darkness was *so exciting*. I sent them to get some board games and tried to clean up the kitchen in the semi-darkness. Then we read aloud to them, and considered what our sleeping arrangements would look like in an ever colder house.

It was getting chillier in the house by the minute. Thankfully, the power was back within 2 hours. I really think that I take our electricity for granted some days. It's so nice to flip a switch and get light, power, hot water...all at our fingertips. It's so easy to become disconnected with the elements and the world around us until it smacks us in the face. We don't have a fireplace, we can't heat our home without electricity. We can't cook without it (unless we BBQ...which is wintering in the garage, and it's too cold to go out to BBQ anyhow). It's kind of sobering to realize how much we depend "on the grid".

When the power came back on, we headed out to our party, an hour behind our scheduled time. It was nice to be warmed by a glass of wine and good conversation with wonderful friends. It's also good to know who has fireplaces around town...

If you have never been in -40 or colder cold...it's really hard to describe. It's a brain hurting cold. Breathing in just *hurts*. The inside of your nose sticks together when you breathe in, and it's like you get an automatic tension headache from the chill on your face. It's just so, so cold. Your jacket will creak as you move, as though it's about to crack right off your body. It's pretty wild. I can't even fathom NOT having heat in those temperatures. Yet, our ancestors managed. Granted, they had stoves, fire places...but could you imagine not having central heat all day and night? Outhouses in the winter? No performance fabrics like fleece? Heavy winter boots? Brrrrr....