No one has had it easy

The two weeks since Christmas have certainly been a trial by ice and cold and snow for almost all of our country.  Certainly here in the Northeast the ongoing penetrating cold has been relentless.

Things that never froze, froze.

Things that never broke, broke.

People who never got sick, got sick - really really sick!

One branch of my family got together (all of them) for the first time in many Christmases - their reward?  Sick.....some really really sick, especially the little ones.  Time spent in hospitals and time spent shifting schedules around so the sickest could be with mom and dad no matter what.

And once that was all past, the ones who hadn't had "time to be sick" - got sick.

There have been no new posts on here for quite a while because what do you say about the worst cold in years?  It's cold?  It's really really cold?  That has been more than self evident.

I had a few tricks I pulled out of mental mothballs:

Got a new battery put in the car - replaced the 5 year old one pretty much just in time.

Kept the gas tank as full as possible but still need to get some dry gas into that tank.

Hung a drop light by the plumbing that is exposed to the most "outside influence" in my cellar - it's amazing what a difference that makes.

Put a tarp over the big cellar door, rolled blankets at the base of the door and put a board across over the blankets.

Rolled up towels at the base of all my living room and dining room windows - and at the bottom of the outside door.

Kept the blinds closed - one more layer of air between me and the cold.

Made damn sure that when I took the dog out I either had a key to the door in my pocket or the door was unlocked.  The wind chill was at some points 30 below zero and that's not the time to be trying to wade through snow drifts to get to the hide-a-key.

I have made my peace with apparently being the "elderly neighbor that people need to check on".  My next door neighbor did all my snow blowing for every storm and emailed in advance telling me to stay inside and keep warm.  All I had to do was shovel and that at my leisure.

I guess all the home made bread and jam that I have shuttled their way over time has come back to me 10 times over in the help they have given me.

I hope that everyone had the food supplies and necessities in place before this all hit.  If not? 

Winter is far from over.

Just sayin!