Chicagoan here: If you’re not used to cold winters, here’s how to keep warm.
• Wear a stocking cap inside
• Make sure cracks around windows/doors are sealed. Use duct tape if you have to. It doesn't have to be pretty
• Use a heating pad
• Run your pjs through the dryer before you put them on before bed
• Keep your furnace temperature as low as you can stand it — it keeps the energy load low, so you don't tax the grid
• Drink hot beverages & eat soup
• Cover your feet
Freezing rain coated the streets with ice. I had to climb a hill to a gig, literally pulling myself hand over hand along the fence posts... 😅😅
I told a Hungarian tale called The Kingdom of Ice. Felt like the appropriate choice🌨❄️🌬
It was the first time in... I'd say at least two years that I got to wear the giant scarf I knit nearly 20 years ago! (Knit in the round, so it's double-thick, and about 10 feet long.)
I probably could have gone with one less layer, though, because I was overheated before I got to the end of the block.
As someone who spent a few cold Michigan winters in a house without running the electricity to save money, let me share some quick tips to folks experiencing -17 C weather.
set up a tent in a room connected to a bathroom and try to stay in it as much as possible. I bought a cheap 4 season tent used off Craigslist but it looks like Amazon has a ton for under $200.
wool socks and hats are your best friends
plastic wrap on the windows is a godsend but also hang blankets over the windows
seal off the house as much as possible.
get cheap tights, cut the legs off, fill them full of socks and use them to block the drafts under doors
if you have a second floor and it’s well insulated that’s gonna be your best bet
be very careful of any propane heater and always have a tested carbon monoxide detector in that room with you.
get a digital thermometer. You are shooting for as close to 18 C as you can get. Below 13 and you need to run a heater for a bit
contact the power company. I got a $300 credit for the winter that helped a lot.
if you are having trouble hitting 18 C during daylight then older folks, kids, pets etc shouldn’t be there. Younger adults in good physical condition should be fine but consider it a warning sign.
It's cold this morning, and it's supposed to stay cold all day. This is Louisiana and we're having a hard freeze. I think the coldest cold that I've ever felt is up in Minnesota, the winter weather there redefined the word cold for me ... that's a story I'd like to tell but it would take more characters than we have available on Mastodon. It's all relative you know; I've found that if you feel cold in the house then step outside for a few minutes then when you come back in, like magic, you will feel warm.
More coffee.
I have 17 minutes before it's "time to eat" for Ben and Charlie.
“Some folks swear that the first cold is by far the bitterest” - Will Leamon
“The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play. So we sat in the house. All that cold, cold, wet day.” - Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat
Noodles and sundogs and pyramids, oh my! Thank you to Q2 viewers Stacey, Sherri, Suzanne, and Bob for your great photos of our cold, beautiful weather!
implausibly real... layer cake of #Antarctic cloud, Victoria Land mountains (some being 4 km high) and an ocean right at the point of #seaice forming... we slowly drifted up to it before starting a sampling line moving up the coast. #oceanography#cold