Monday, November 2, 2009

One Degree


Winter is truly upon us here in Deering. You could politely describe the weather over the last several days as FROSTY. Our lows have been BELOW zero and on Sunday we were lucky to top off the day in the double digits. To kick things off we had frozen pipes. All day Sunday we relied on drinking water from the school and we flushed the toilet with water from the ocean. We got along rather swimmingly; Paul made a vat of chili and I made chocolate chip cookies. Oh and we ate way too much left over Halloween candy.We have a sink FULL of dishes to show for our culinary delights, but now that the water is flowing again everything is alright.
Paul luckily took a shower Saturday night before the frozen pipe extravaganza. I, however, was planning on taking mine Sunday morning...no such luck. I got to sport an extra day and half of greasy hair. Ahhh....what bliss to be in the Arctic...greasy hair and stinking arm pits. Eloise didn't really know the difference. We opted for disposable diapers all day Sunday and Monday. Who wants a back log of dirty cloth diapers? STINKY!
Frozen pipes is right up our ally you could say. We spent five winters crawling underneath the little log cabin to thaw out frozen traps and drain lines. The silver lining about things freezing here was that it wasn't our problem to fix. Score for renting from the school district. The district office had a plumber scheduled to come out Monday morning anyway. Great timing!
By Monday afternoon we were back on line again. I immediately hit the showers. I made sure to use extra shampoo...more suds=cleaner hair...right? Eloise and I were fine spirits when Paul got home at 4:30 from school (way earlier than usual). There is nothing like a much needed shower to lift the spirits.
Here we are now, its Monday evening. We are snuggled warm in our house. The water is running without any problems. The thermometer says 15 degrees and falling. The wind outside has started to pick up and the for the first time in our lives we behold the breath-taking view from our window of real frozen ocean. From the shore to a distance of about 200 yards the ocean has gone from syrupy and slushy to solidifying ice. The waves are crashing further out and lapping against the ever thickening and lengthening mass. All of this has taken place in a day. Even this afternoon as the sun was descending three and half minutes earlier than the previous day the ocean was not yet unified into a single growing ice sheet. I had no idea that this metamorphosis would be so rapid. I promise to brave the frigid air in the morning to take pictures.



Dig in folks...we are in for a real adventure.
Love to you all.

2 comments:

  1. Update: this morning there is ice as far as the eye can see. There is a thin dark like at the horizon. That thin dark line is the water holding out in some vain attempt to remain liquid. I took pictures as first fragments of sunlight washed over the cliffs to the west of the village.

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  2. Hey You Three:

    Glad to hear water is running once again. We can brave hardship under a few important conditions: ample warmth, food and water.

    The weather here is colder at night (29 degrees) but still reaching mid-fifties during the day. I would say this is a gentler autumn. I'm all for it.

    Well, I need my shower. I'd forgotten that it was a privilege to have hot water. I'll be more mindful from here on out.

    Love & Blessings to you!
    Mom

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