Dealing with the cold...

[Marrinan]

My friends-let a boy from the upper great plains, a place were we run 90 days below zero, a place with nine months of winter and three monts of bad sledding--http://www.caswellplating.com/aids/plastidip.html - first Item on the page, used to get from Nasco school supply-you can also use self vulcanizing rubber tape, used in eletrical panels (high voltage) -can also be used to seal a bottles air tight and leakproof-Fred

 

[joseph engraver]

Winter deepened, we retreated, and the studio became so cold that I could not touch my vise. It was now a block of frozen steel. I relocated into the laundry room, where there was no view and poor light, but at least there was a semi-efficient baseboard heater. We hung blankets over the doors, bought an electric blanket for our upstairs love nest. I stopped sleeping nude, bought thermal underwear. I was so tired at the end of the day, that the love nest had become simply “the nest.” The cold had become so intense that we would wear coats, hats, and gloves in the house. Franca’s glass of milk froze on her nightstand.

Joseph and Franca, Joseph -Oregon

 

[Karl Stubenvoll]

Dear Abigail,

I've used a blow dryer to thaw a pipe trap, but only because little critters took away a good share of the insulation to line their own nests. The colder winters of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan have taught us to bury water (and drain) pipes several feet deep and to cover the ground above with leaf piles or thick snow. About fifteen years ago, homes and businesses in a few Upper Michigan towns lost their municipal water supplies in some neighborhoods for a month or longer because of an extreme cold snap---water lines 10 feet deep froze solid.

I spent 25 winters in Michigan's Keweenaw peninsula where an average winter would bring 230 inches of snow and a good one over 300 inches. Shoveling off your roof was often essential if you didn't want it crashing down on you. After shoveling, the uphill side of my home had a snowbank that reached the eave. As a four year old, my son remembers climbing onto the roof and then sliding off next to me on our own mini sledding hill. The view out the window was just a soft white glow.

You can probably guess that a temperature of 80 F is uncomfortably warm for me, especially if it has a trace of humidity! Your summers down south are BRUTAL!

 

[Peter E]

I'll take all the snow mother nature wants to dump on us. ICE is a different story. In CT we had a really bad ice storm in 2003 that included serious thunder and lightning and everything was covered with a thick coat of ice. I was awakened by a loud THUD and went out to see a branch (over a foot in diameter) from my previously healthy red oak resting on my roof after crushing the top of my chimney. Another branch ripped my electrical service from my house and the wire from the street was draped over my truck in the driveway. That happened late Saturday nite and I was scheduled for work Sunday!

I was actually lucky to get electrical service back Wednesday afternoon. It got down to 50 degrees in my house by then. When I got a new electrical service installed, it included a generator and transfer switch.

I hope everyone fares well throughout the Holidays...and the rest of the year too!

Peter

 

[Robert Morales]

Well, here in Arkansas we get a little ice, little snow etc. But I'm from Miami so I'm a somewhat intolerant of cold weather. Luckily my wife let's me work in a spare room, within the house... I wrapped the vice surfaces you grip with a foam tape. Kinda like double sided tape but sticky on one side. I also put some on my Monarch too since it's so slick. You might find it at a pharmacy or medical supply store.