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| This is warm |
Putting up with cold weather in Toowoomba is nothing new or unusual.
This winter, however is a bit strange. Mostly, you get about three days of westerlies ( lazy winds which can't be bothered blowing around and instead blow right through), but we've been freezing for a fortnight.
Toowoomba is always five degrees cooler than Brisbane, but during the last few weeks it's been closer to ten.
Even when the sun is shining, the south-westerlies are still blowing.
One of my sons lives in Adelaide, and I've always regarded it as a cold hole in winter.
For the last fortnight, Adelaide has been about three degrees warmer (minimums) than here.
It's bloody ridiculous.
The only antidote is to light the fire. Unfortunately, I'm the only one in the household that has mastered this basic skill (splitting wood) so when I head west as I am tomorrow, I have to split a wheelbarrow full to tide the rest of the family through whilst I'm away.
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| A block splitter is better than an axe. |
I can't complain. The motels I stay in have reverse-cycle air conditioning.
I'm not looking forward to heading towards Wandoan tomorrow at 6am.
The minimum forecast for tomorrow is zero. Looks like it will be the old warm water on the windscreen trick.
3 comments:
Years ago, I saw part of the last episode of "Frontier House", where they had a look at how much wood each family would need to survive a Montana winter. All would have frozen to death around Christmas, as they needed at least 8 cords of wood.
I had no idea what a cord was until tonight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cord_(unit)
Anyway, here's a description from the show about cutting wood. You need to become one with the wood:
Nate Brooks finished his haying a month ago, and is now stockpiling another winter must-have – firewood. Wife Kristin says that “chopping wood is about the manliest thing you can do. It’s all about the man out here.” We see Nate chopping away by the side of the house. Kristin jokes in a man’s voice, “That mountain and I climbed it – that wood and I split it. It’s like a man’s dream come true.” Nate expresses his Zen-master approach. He talks about “becoming one with the wood – it basically splits itself.” He goes on to say “Wood supplies me heat, which sustains life. The tree is now dead (he makes a martial arts type motion here), I will give it a second life,” swinging the axe.
I get to be one with the wood, or rather the wood gets to be one with me (splinters).
Wood can warm ya twice.
The first time when you cut it up.
The second time when you burn it!
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