Hypothermia OR The Frigid Flip Side of Hypothermia

After nearly seven years in Vermont and a lifetime in New England, I know cold.

Last night, however, was the lowest recorded temperature here I have ever seen: -37 on one thermometer, -44 on another. I suspect it was colder actually; our remote weather probes are spread out but all have some buffering.

And, as always happens in extreme cold, everything breaks, like heating mechanisms. Main heating stopped working, and then the woodstove pipe began to back smoke up into the house, so we had to shut that down.

The result? Not nice. Everything that had water in the house was thick ice today.

We're now up to - wow! - all of 47 degrees inside and climbing. While this sounds bad (and it is), we hit a low inside around the freezing mark overnight.

Tis OK.... I look great blue, with icicles dripping from me. (I'd snort but my nose remains frozen.) Outside now, the temp is a toasty 0.6 (again, reality is probably quite a bit colder).

My only wish? That George Bush and Dick Cheney could have "enjoyed" this with me.