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A few things I learned this week...
Feb. 1st, 2009 08:52 am1. Washing dishes in ice water when it's 48 degrees in your house causes sores to form on your hands. Are these chillblains?
2. The pre-electrical peasants did not produce great art, music, or books for a reason: hand-to-mouth existences take up an awful lot of mental energy. It takes hours to cut enough firewood to keep you warm, and hours to make dinner with limited supplies (although foil dinners are yummy).
3. Oral storytelling in the dark, however, is great because it is dark for HOURS and HOURS in the winter.
4. Being in the dark all the time is almost worse than freezing.
5. People in the Olden Days did not have small houses because they were ignorant bumpkins. They had them because they were warm. We really don't need half our house.
6. Hard floors are possibly overrated. I can see now why medieval folks threw rushes and the like on the floors. With all the organic gunk from the (sometimes wet) logs dragged over your floor to the fireplace, it's easier to shovel out old rushes and bring in new than try to keep a wet, cold, hard, slimy floor clean and dry. Also, hard floors are COLD.
7. Eiderdown quilts (or the modern synthetic equivalent) are not just luxury items. They allow you to survive cold.
8. How did the Ice Age people survive??? Sure, caves, but brr!! I guess they managed to produce quite a bit of amazing art, but notice that it was deep in the cave. How did they stand the darkness all the time?
9. We need to invest in a lot of camping equipment. The gas cooker someone lent us was great, but if we had a Dutch oven and some better capability for heating water, we would have been better off. Why did we buy things like legos for Christmas? We should have bought books like 101 Ways Not to Freeze or Starve.
10. The tent, however, was great. Four kids in a tent made for warm nights.
11. Stock up on D batteries NOW, because once the disaster starts, they are the first things to sell out.
12. Keep a paper copy of all the important documents you need--not just on the computer.
13. Keep cash on hand, since when the power is out, you can't use EFT or credit cards.
14. Keep your gas tank filled, since you can't pump gas without power, too.
15. Do all your laundry BEFORE the disaster hits. (You will still have to do some later.)
16. Keep disposable dishware on hand, and plenty of canned food.
2. The pre-electrical peasants did not produce great art, music, or books for a reason: hand-to-mouth existences take up an awful lot of mental energy. It takes hours to cut enough firewood to keep you warm, and hours to make dinner with limited supplies (although foil dinners are yummy).
3. Oral storytelling in the dark, however, is great because it is dark for HOURS and HOURS in the winter.
4. Being in the dark all the time is almost worse than freezing.
5. People in the Olden Days did not have small houses because they were ignorant bumpkins. They had them because they were warm. We really don't need half our house.
6. Hard floors are possibly overrated. I can see now why medieval folks threw rushes and the like on the floors. With all the organic gunk from the (sometimes wet) logs dragged over your floor to the fireplace, it's easier to shovel out old rushes and bring in new than try to keep a wet, cold, hard, slimy floor clean and dry. Also, hard floors are COLD.
7. Eiderdown quilts (or the modern synthetic equivalent) are not just luxury items. They allow you to survive cold.
8. How did the Ice Age people survive??? Sure, caves, but brr!! I guess they managed to produce quite a bit of amazing art, but notice that it was deep in the cave. How did they stand the darkness all the time?
9. We need to invest in a lot of camping equipment. The gas cooker someone lent us was great, but if we had a Dutch oven and some better capability for heating water, we would have been better off. Why did we buy things like legos for Christmas? We should have bought books like 101 Ways Not to Freeze or Starve.
10. The tent, however, was great. Four kids in a tent made for warm nights.
11. Stock up on D batteries NOW, because once the disaster starts, they are the first things to sell out.
12. Keep a paper copy of all the important documents you need--not just on the computer.
13. Keep cash on hand, since when the power is out, you can't use EFT or credit cards.
14. Keep your gas tank filled, since you can't pump gas without power, too.
15. Do all your laundry BEFORE the disaster hits. (You will still have to do some later.)
16. Keep disposable dishware on hand, and plenty of canned food.
