Arctic Housing

It was pretty darn cold this morning, -26 without taking any windchill into account. The power went out around 7:30 am and I imagined us all huddled around the stove down stairs in the dark for the next four days while people worked furiously trying to get power restored. However, at 9:00am the lights came on and everything seemed a little better. Even with the stove going the furnace still kicks in regularly. Without the furnace the rest of the house is pretty cold. Anything less than -10 and the wood burning stove can't get the job done on its own.

After that near miss we played it safe and ate cheesy noodles and cheesy eggs for lunch. Then after mom came home we went out shopping for our gingerbread decorations. Smarties and Jelly Bellys, that is about as much diversity as I need. Trying to put to put the house together nearly gave me an aneurysm. The wife had to mention that this was a fun activity as I was snapping at the kids every time they bumped me or reached across the roof for more smarties. Once I got a handle on myself we had a great time decorating and sampling. We hope there will be some left by the time our guests arrive but we aren't making any promises. For dinner I massacred a few can's of tomatoes with some veggies and beef. It was a blood bath, or at least that's how it looks in the pictures. I added some of that curry paste in a jar to my first bowl and it was nice. My second bowl I had as is and it wasn't bad. I wouldn't share the recipe but it was food and now we are fed. Hope to get out for some skating tomorrow. It really was too cold to get in any turns today. Probably because the warmest part of the day was spent lunching and then shopping. They say it might be only minus five by Christmas Day. Perfect tobogganing temperature. It's gonna be great.