This is the view behind us, it doesn’t look cold but its “Freezing”

The water coming into the house was frozen this morning. We were able to fill a teapot about half full of water, so we could heat it up to pour on the spigot where the water comes into the house….and viola the water is running!

That reminded me of how cold it was when we moved to the property. We lived in the trailer, a 1958 Nassau, 35 feet long and 10 feet wide, like the long long trailer in the movie of the same name. It had 1 small bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen and living room, it came with the awning for a porch, which we enclosed and made another bedroom. We paid $700 for it he trailer. We still have it, it’s covered by the garage/barn, we used it for a while as an office and now we use it for storage. Towing it up here is another story.

That first winter was the worst, really, they say it hadn’t snowed here like it did in 1991 since 1973. I didn’t think I would ever be warm again, even in the summer I wouldn’t warm up, my feet were cold for the first 4 or 5 years we lived here. Before we had running water to the property we would heat water in a teapot and then mix it with the cold in a pitcher and pour it over ourselves in the shower. The first “water heater” we had, after we brought water to the property, was a 1-2 liter electric immersion heater. So there was just enough hot water to wet yourself, turn off the water, lather up and then rinse off. Of course the water in the tub would freeze during this, so your feet would not be able to warm in a hot shower either. Even when we got the big propane water heater and with the water running hot, the water at the back of the tub would be frozen.

Our bed was in one half of the enclosed porch. Keri had the other half, her half was closed in with a wall and door for privacy, and Brian had the bedroom. We used a kerosene heater for heat. You could still see your breath with the heater on and if it got up to 50 degrees it was warm, but then condensation would build up on the metal awning and cause it to drip. That was really annoying if you were trying to read in bed. During the night the drips would turn to icicles, so if I would venture my head out from under the blankets, I would be dripped on. But I rarely came out from under the covers; I slept with a knit cap, gloves, sweats under my flannel nightgown, and socks. There were so many blankets and quilts on the bed it was hard to move under the weight, and I was still freezing.
And when the wind blew, and it always blows, the plastic sheeting we had over the screens on the screened in porch/our bedroom, would suck in and out, and it was like the trailer itself was breathing. So even if you could get past the freezing and get to sleep the noise from the “breathing” trailer would keep you awake. Actually I don’t think Randy and the kids suffered like I did, if they did they kept it to themselves, I don’t remember them complaining, probably because I was too busy whining about the cold myself. They really were troopers, always trying to get me to go out and see the snow and see how pretty it was, I would have none of it. They got me outside once; I made a snow angel and went back inside.

After moving here I discovered I have a phobia about freezing to death. It’s not so bad now that we’re in the house, but when I see the people who purposefully hike up into the snow covered mountains, the feeling of sheer terror overwhelms me, they seem insane to me.