I am not the OMG type but this has come close. I may have even said a bad word once or twice. Brrrr...
Of course it's cold. Its January. In Wisconsin. And it's not like it news to anyone. It's cold everywhere! But -40F is pushing it ...a lot.
Before the cold snap came along, we first got a dump of 6-8 inches of snow. On top of what we already had. It's up to my knees in some places. I wonder if hubby is running out of places to push it all to?
I am grateful for the fact that we are surrounded by trees. We used to live in North Dakota where there is no wind buffer. The wind takes advantage of that to its fullest, whipping about and seeping through every nook and cranny. Trees help a lot here!
Wood heat keeps the place cozy and warm even at these temps. And a pot of hot water on top means your always ready for a cuppa tea or cocoa. Being off-grid also saved us from the crazy rolling blackouts so many are suffering.
However, besides the obvious complaints in cold weather, living off-grid does have a couple of extra little glitches:
1.) Water. We have a hand pump for water. We are even blessed enough to have it right in the house at the kitchen sink. No carrying water for this old gal. Woo hoo! However, it's a shallow well sandpoint. We have all the water we need throughout most of the year. And it's deep enough to be plenty clean. On the other hand, it is shallow enough to rely on runoff. once the ground is good and frozen there is no water, well, "running off" so to speak. By about mid-January, we use up whatever was down there and we don't get water again until thaw in mid -April-ish. To be fair though that happens most winters. This cold just made it for sure this year.
2.) Outhouse. You know where I am going with this. 99% of the year the outhouse does not bother me in the least. We have been here for 5 years and right from the start it's been fine. Until it gets to more than -10F. When the alarm goes off at 6:00 a.m. and you have to put on more layers than most people wear to the Superbowl and trudge out there in the coldest part of the coldest day EVER (well maybe not ever but close enough) you start wondering if maybe you can just wait all the way until you get to work.
The one consolation in all this? The sun is shining and the view is good....
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