A little bit of Chelsea and what I know about living in cold

The area next to cabin

Cabin after snowfall

Scrooge in The Christmas Carol (excellent production!)

Main Street at night from a moving car

More of Main Street

Neighborhood in Chelsea

Shop in Chelsea (snow has melted boohoo!)

House in Chelsea

More shops in Chelsea

Clocktower in Chelsea

I now know a few things about living in cold weather in a cabin that's not that insulated:

1. After you cook a meal or pour a cup of coffee, you must consume it immediately because everything cools off QUICKLY! There's no lingering over a steaming mug of cocoa because it rapidly becomes a tepid cup of quickly congealing semi-solid. On the plus side: a carton of milk is SOOOOOOO cold! I have never ever had milk at that perfect just-above-freezing but still liquid temperature! oooooohhhhhh nice!!!!

2. There's no such thing as darting in/darting out of anywhere. EVERYTIME you go outside you must spend TIME bundling up, even if it's just to get something out of the car that you forgot. THEN you must walk SLOWLY because it is so slippery. Ice ice everywhere! I've already fallen down twice, once just after I told Steve, "don't step there, it's slippery!" and then I stepped there and fell flat on my butt! Once you get inside anywhere that's civilized, it's HOT and so you must take time to divest yourself of layers, then reapply them before you venture out again.

3. We ordered a face cord of wood before we came and by my amateur calculation, at the rate we are blowing through the stack, we will be spending about $5000 on fuel each month. I might be exaggerating a little, but I can see why people in cold climes find it cheaper to rent a condo where there's warmer weather than try and heat their houses in winter!

4. Cold weather survival can easily make one a hypocrite! I was looking at a Town and Country magazine (probably not a good idea when living in a primitive cabin with furnishings by Value World) and saw ads for fur coats. My immediate thought was, "those look so beautiful and warm!" This from someone who was standing shoulder to shoulder with PETA just two weeks ago!

and finally!

5. Please let in snow for Christmas! I always wondered what the big deal was when people said they were hoping for a White Christmas but the landscape after a snowfall is so stunningly beautiful I can see why people look forward to snow falling at this time of year!

Maggie and Robert arrive late Monday! It snowed in Reno, so it's not going to be a big shock to their California bodies. I'll try to post more pics in the next post!