It's Still Cold in Tucson

I hope this is the last time I have to blog about cold weather in Tucson.  They are calling for a hard freeze tonight and then there will be a warm up to more normal temperatures starting Wednesday.  That will be a welcome relief for us.  

We did find out that the motor home handles cold weather very well.  It got down to 17 degrees last night/this morning and nothing froze in the basement bins.  We keep beer, wine and food down there and it made for a nice wine cellar and also kept the beer very cold.  Life is good.

There were a number of units here that were having problems with broken water pipes and hoses.  The water was turned off a couple times today so the park staff could repair the pipes.   We had fresh water in the holding tank so it wasn't a problem for us.  

All this cold reminded me of growing up in Central Illinois during the 40s & 50s.  It really got cold there and stayed cold from Thanksgiving until March.  Most of the time the ground was frozen solid and when it snowed, the snow stuck around for a while.  If we weren't getting snow, then it was sleet & ice storms.  There was so much ice one year that I was able to ice skate to school for a few days.   Yes, we had school even in ice storms.  If you couldn't make it, then you were counted as absent.

Our house was a two story house built in the 1860s and they didn't believe or have insulation in those days.  Central heating evidently wasn't around then and we had a pot bellied stove in the living room that heated the whole house.  Coal was used as fuel and the stove would glow red when fired up in the real cold weather.  I am sure the Fed Gov't would outlaw them now as a danger.  

It would heat the first floor very well and some heat would go up to the 2nd floor.  There were two bedrooms upstairs and that is where my siblings and I slept.  It would get so cold up there that water would freeze if you left it in a glass on a dresser.  We learned what a three dog night meant real early in life.  We would sneak our dog up there and let him sleep under the covers by our feet to keep us warm.  To this day I can't sleep in a warm bedroom and like it cold there.  At least I've gotten my wish the last few nights.