Help it's cold out here

[Stephanie]

This isn't the lowest I've seen a thermometer go up here in Northern Alaska, I've seen one go DOWN to -65 degree's. aaaaahhhhhhh. Sorry about the picture quality, I was jacking around with it to try to get on the board.

 

[Nienna]

Wow! It's 51 here now, and it's not even 9 am. Depressing, actually. I wish we had a little more snow this year. But this is Ohio; I could still get my wish... in April!

 

[dilloduck]

This isn't the lowest I've seen a thermometer go up here in Northern Alaska, I've seen one go DOWN to -65 degree's. aaaaahhhhhhh. Sorry about the picture quality, I was jacking around with it to try to get on the board.

Steph---there are places where you don't have to see your thermometer do that ! I was trapped in Minnesta and South Dakota for 16 years and have been free since

 

[Nienna]

Steph---there are places where you don't have to see your thermometer do that ! I was trapped in Minnesta and South Dakota for 16 years and have been free since

Dillo, you may be the perfect person to to whom to ask this question...

I have been reading the Little House series to my kids, and I wondered if the blizzards they describe in those books still happen that way. Do they come up so suddenly? Does the light go dark, then a wall of wind crash into the house? Can you hear the sound of shrieking voices in the wind? Does it go on for days? Does the wind swirl from all directions?

 

[Shattered]

Dillo, you may be the perfect person to to whom to ask this question...

I have been reading the Little House series to my kids, and I wondered if the blizzards they describe in those books still happen that way. Do they come up so suddenly? Does the light go dark, then a wall of wind crash into the house? Can you hear the sound of shrieking voices in the wind? Does it go on for days? Does the wind swirl from all directions?

Hey.. Those were MY favorite books when I was a kid.. I used to average reading one book per day (instead of doing what I was supposed to be doing at the time)...

 

[dilloduck]

Dillo, you may be the perfect person to to whom to ask this question...

I have been reading the Little House series to my kids, and I wondered if the blizzards they describe in those books still happen that way. Do they come up so suddenly? Does the light go dark, then a wall of wind crash into the house? Can you hear the sound of shrieking voices in the wind? Does it go on for days? Does the wind swirl from all directions?

Naturally we have modern science to thank for some warning however if you didn't have it you certainly could be taken by surprise and trapped. Rural electricity was quite an iffy prospect and high winds could knock out power easily. The blizzards I was in in South Dakota DID last for days. I remember opening my grandfathers' door often just to see if we were buried in snow because all you could see was white outside. Snowdrifts went to the top of the barn, house and other out buildings. It was not unusual for people to die trying to get from the barn to the house. The wind blew snow into every tiny crack so we ran around sticking rags where we found it coming in. It sucked.

 

[Nienna]

Hey.. Those were MY favorite books when I was a kid.. I used to average reading one book per day (instead of doing what I was supposed to be doing at the time)...

Me too! I was a bookworm. I think I've read the entire series through probably ten times.

Now I'm reading them to my kids, and the boys are pretty interested in them, too. She describes playing in creeks, looking at bugs and birds. Stuff like that is a complete novelty to my kids.

 

[Nienna]

Naturally we have modern science to thank for some warning however if you didn't have it you certainly could be taken by surprise and trapped. Rural electricity was quite an iffy prospect and high winds could knock out power easily. The blizzards I was in in South Dakota DID last for days. I remember opening my grandfathers' door often just to see if we were buried in snow because all you could see was white outside. Snowdrifts went to the top of the barn, house and other out buildings. It was not unusual for people to die trying to get from the barn to the house. The wind blew snow into every tiny crack so we ran around sticking rags where we found it coming in. It sucked.

Wow, it sounds just like what she describes in the books. She mentioned that the government was trying to entice people to plant trees everywhere in hopes of changing the climate, making it a little milder by breaking the wind. I just wondered if it worked.

I visited SD when I was about 11. It was Rapid City, though, not the really rural areas. I couldn't remember what the topography was like. Thanks!

 

[Abbey Normal]

This isn't the lowest I've seen a thermometer go up here in Northern Alaska, I've seen one go DOWN to -65 degree's. aaaaahhhhhhh. Sorry about the picture quality, I was jacking around with it to try to get on the board.

Do you go out when it's this cold?

 

[dilloduck]

Wow, it sounds just like what she describes in the books. She mentioned that the government was trying to entice people to plant trees everywhere in hopes of changing the climate, making it a little milder by breaking the wind. I just wondered if it worked.

I visited SD when I was about 11. It was Rapid City, though, not the really rural areas. I couldn't remember what the topography was like. Thanks!

All my relatives farmed within a 70 mile radius of De Smet where Wilder lived. They all homesteaded the land and broke sod to begin their living in some pretty unforgiving land. The did plant tree lines to serve as windbreaks but naturally kept every foot of land available for growing crops and raising animals. Rapid City is in the Black Hills in western SD and the topography consists of low moutains unsuitable for farming but very beautiful.
SD is fairly boring to city folks but there is some great pioneer history to be found there. I highly recommend the Pioneer Museum in Freeman SD.

http://www.freemanmuseum.org/

 

[dilloduck]

In this link the summer kitchen that is on display is my great-grandmothers' original kitchen---yup--I'm old--54 years worth.

 

[Stephanie]

Do you go out when it's this cold?

Yes. Everybody up here braves this and colder to get to work and school. After 50 below your car runs a little weird, and it can be dangerous if you break down, so hopefuly everybody has winter survival gear with them in case. Most big store's and your job has places to plug in your car, or it wouldn't start if you didn't start it every two hrs.

I hope to move in a yr or two, for now I'm stuck.

This picture I took taking my son to school this morning at 8:00 am.