Let It Snow….Part II

The Snow.

Well, we got it.  All of one inch.  You would have thought it was the Second Coming of Christ the way the weatherfolk were predicting this event.

And it’s not that snow is exactly unknown in Atlanta or Georgia.  March 1 last year we had 6 inches in a lovely day where the city streets and landscape were turned into a fairyland.

So with one week’s advance notice, the populace was set into a frenzy of milk/bread/beer/chips buying.

Though the amount of snow was just pretty…the temperatures of 16 degrees and lower, combined with strong winds caused havoc here.

Though there was no need for massive snow plowing, the black ice apparently took its toll on roads.  One county had over 300 auto accidents in one day/night.  It was slick out there and even walking down the driveway was tricky.

But the dogs loved it…or most of them.  Our 15 year old Husky, Charlie did…and snorted and pranced in the snow like a sled dog.  He’s never seen a sled, the Deep South not needing them, though we do have two red sleds just in case.

Our big mook of a shepherd/Dane looked worried and kept picking up his big feet every time he touched the cold stuff.  The golden didn’t like it much either.  Our English Field Spaniel, who is a rather odd dog, thinks he’s a cat….growled at the snow. Only the Husky gloried in his natural environment and kept barking advice from the snow, trying to get someone to play with him.

The cats were much smarter about the weather.  They meowed to go out, saw the white stuff and ran back in fast….back to their beds.

With the in and out of the dogs all day, the hauling in more and more firewood from the stack, the bitter cold (it didn’t hit 28 for a high today), well, it saps your strength.  It takes a lot of energy to stay warm.

The darker side of all of this are the tragedies across Georgia.  Our neighbor walked out his kitchen and locked himself outside.  He suffered a stroke three years ago, and the cold almost got him for good.  He was too weak to call for attention, but managed to throw some sticks of wood at the neighbor’s house.  Luckily,  this neighbor was home, which was unusual.  He thought it was a cat outside, and being a cat lover, he was concerned with the frigid weather.  He saw our neighbor and raced over there, saving his life.

People here don’t do well in the cold.  They make fires in chimneys that haven’t worked for years, they burn candles for light when the power goes off and what happens is usually full scale damage to life and property.

We have never had an extended amount of cold of this duration.  It’s not that it’s just cold, it’s unusual.  We don’t usually get 14-16 degree weather overnight and into the days, where even the sun doesn’t do much good.  And these temps have been going on for almost two weeks now.  They are going to continue well into next week.  This is apparently, already a record.

Pipes are bursting all over Atlanta, even parts of the expressway has flooded from some underground means (though they can’t yet figure out where it’s coming from)  making it very dangerous for drivers.

I love winter, but the effects of weather of this extreme takes a lot from people.  I am amazed that our one wood stove heats this house.  Of course, it doesn’t heat the closed off rooms, but the way my husband built and rebuilt this house makes  for the rest of the house heat-able. The second story is open to a large balcony and the stove pipe from the first floor runs 26 feet high.  That is a lot of pipe  exposed to the air and it does a good job of heating most of the upstairs rooms.

Our friends and neighbors are getting wise to the gas bills and still their houses are chilly.  But I think any house is chilly with these temps.  They are asking advice about installing a wood stove, but it’s not so easy, nor is it inexpensive.

We are very fortunate, or perhaps I should say I am very fortunate.  I am married to a man who can do all this sort of work and does for our house.  Five years ago he constructed a hearth of Pennsylvania flagstone, all 600 lbs. of stone.  Actually three main pieces of flagstone, with smaller bits to fill in.  The hearth is huge and solid.  But it’s not the work that most would go to.  He had to construct a floor system beneath it when he built this portion of the house to sustain such weight.  Add a 400 lb. wood stove and that’s 1000 lbs. of weight in one place.  Add the weight of those shivering around the wood stove and you get what I mean.

This is the second wood stove we have had in 25 years.  We buy our wood stoves from Lehman’s in Ohio.  They are an Amish outfit and very easy to work with.  We bought  the Consolidated Dutchwest model we had before, but I have my eye on a beautiful soapstone Irish Waterford stove.  I would have said that the winters down here can not sustain the expense of this  expensive stove, but this year might prove me wrong.

There is something  primordial  in our relationship to heat. We know without it, and a steady supply of it, we die.  Here my son would have said: “Duh, Mom.”

This weather has realigned my priorities. I am home all day and know that I am only warm by my efforts, my labors.  Though the wood pile is only yards from the back porch, I have insisted on stacking the split logs the width of the porch and at least 4 feet high.  I can look out the back door and see the wood.  It represents wealth…riches beyond barter to me.  I get more satisfaction knowing that warmth and comfort is just a few feet away.  It’s more than that: it’s life.

Lady Nyo

Tags: frigid temperatures in the South, Snow, warmth, Winter, Wood stoves