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Cold feet

I think I am becoming a southerner. We arrived at the ski house at about 7
pm, and it had been below freezing all day, so the house was cold. Not
freezing, but very very cold. We turned on the floor heat, which makes the
house toasty, but it takes a long time to warm up. All night my feet were so
cold that even Michael couldn't warm them up. I was afraid we would have to
leave because I was such a wimp about being cold.

Of course, in the morning the house was up to 65 degrees. The whole story
reminded me of when Laura Ingalls spent the first blizzard of the Long Winter
in the claim shanty. It was very cold, but somehow in the middle of the night
it got warmer. She realized why in the morning when she had to be shoveled
out of her bed.

The house eventually got up to 70 degrees, a bit warm if you are dressed for
skiing. Then the wind picked up. Radiant floor heat is very very
comfortable, but it does not heat the air very fast -- when we woke up this
morning, the house was back down to 59 degrees. We're having “Israeli
couscous” for breakfast with hot cocoa and hot coffee, putting on our sweaters
and socks, and are pretty comfortable.

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Anonymous said…
That's funny that you were channeling "The Long Winter". When I was up in the middle of the night with Anders it was often very cold in his room since the walls were made of stone and didn't keep the room well insulated (we kept him warm with a snuggly sleeper, but the room itself was cold, as was I). I read the Ingalls Wilder series during those nights and felt like I got the full experience of the long winter - sensory experience and all.

Also, I think that the MD school system is creating weather wimps by not letting the kids out for recess when it falls below 40 degrees. I'll have to remind Anders that he was once much tougher.
January 24, 2009 at 7:25 AM
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