Walk-In Refrigerator

I don't know if you're following the weather lately but it's been ridiculously cold up here, even by New England standards. Not just in terms of temps, but duration, as well. When we first moved up here we would get a few days when the thermometer dropped below zero, with some days in the double-digit negatives, but again, it was a day or two. We've had what seems like about a weeks worth of bitterly cold days, and there's no end in sight. What exactly is going on? I like cold weather, but when it's below zero, with consecutive days at -20, that's pretty serious stuff. You realize how much you need a day or two in-between to thaw out. Starting the car has been a bit of a challenge, but so far we haven't had any major issues, at least not yet.

We haven't done much in terms outdoor activities, including a family favorite - skiing, it's just too darn cold. I would even go as far as to say it's dangerously cold, you really can't spend too much time before you have to come in. I've had to shelve my fleece gloves and wear heavy ski gloves all the time because my hands take a beating. To add to this drama, yesterday morning our power went out. I couldn't believe it, I was up getting the day started and around 6:00AM everything went dark. Fortunately we heat with wood so the house stayed warm, it was just dark, but it got me to thinking about people who don't heat with wood, which is most of us. During harsh winters like this, losing power could spell trouble. How do you keep your house warm? Everything is dependent on electricity, even if you heat with oil or propane.

If there's one silver lining to this, it's that our mudroom has become a walk-in refrigerator. We can store all our food out there and it stays fresh, or at least it doesn't spoil. We had the baseboard heating disconnected in that room, so freezing pipes are not an issue. Actually, they were in issue when we first moved in, bursting our first winter, so we had them disconnected. Boy did we learn a lot our first year living up here.

The forecast seems to indicate that the cold will stick around for some time, with some relief hopefully coming by the middle of next week, where it's supposed to rise to a balmy 18 degrees. That's when you know winter isn't messing around.

-->

Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to Mattijs Vormer for the pic.