Frozen Feet Under a Foot

In this uniquely frozen winter we are again under foot...a foot of snow. There clear grass, on the lawn in front of the kitchen, that is because there is now a four foot high drift of snow mounded up across the width of the road in front of the house. I don't know how I will get through that when I have to leave, but I am not going to worry about it too much. Maybe it will be melted by then. In this part of the country there aren't too many snow plows. In general, people just wait a couple of hours and the snow melts away. This year waiting for the melt has proven an ineffective solution to snow removal because the wait has grown to be the length of a Rip Van Winkle snooze. This has been a very unusual winter weather season.

This old house just can't seem to come up to par in the heat department. Most rooms are fine but our main sitting room is just plain Yukon territory. The heat is set on 68, but it never seems to rise above 60. I plugged in an electric heater five hours ago. About two hours ago it seemed to be up to 64 degrees, a damned heat wave! 

I have given a lot of thought as to how humans lived in these conditions 140 years ago when this house was built. Are you asking yourself why I would be considering such a random subject? Well it is because I have a complex. I am sure the previous residents of this house are spreading rumors that I am a whiny wimp. Think about it, no insulation to speak of,  less than an inch of floor wood underfoot...and it has open slits  between the lovely random width boards,  no insulation in the walls or under the floors, single pain (not a misspelling) windows (if any windows at all), no central heat, no heated water...in fact no running water! Now that I think of it, no bathrooms either, just a "backahousa" as Mrs. Scorcese calls it. Usually a detached kitchen too. Mr reminds me that he believes the circulator is not working to circulate the heat in the room. This problem has been recognized for about seven weeks now...still not fixed. Frustrating! Wouldn't it seem like a priority? Alright I will stop whining momentarily. Hell if I'm not moaning here what's the point? Oh, back to the subject at hand...how did they live in this house in the old days? No mystery-direct heat! Wood stove, coal stove, fireplace....FIRE..controlled fire, but fire. I admit it, my life is back to the stone age. I want a personal affectionate cuddling up warm fireplace or stove. Is the universe listening?