Yesterday we woke up to -15. Not wind-chill. Just -15 on the thermometer. Today the cold water faucet in my kitchen froze. But I live in Wisconsin so I know to open the cabinet below and put in a space heater. A hairdryer works too.
Most things are closed. Not the stores. But schools were closed Friday. No reason. But people are getting soft. When its -15 we stay inside. We can still run errands. My car is fine. And we know how to dress.
I like to remember that Laura Ingalls and her family lived a few miles west of me in Wisconsin before they moved further west. They had no down parkas. They had no radiators. Just a one room mud and log house. With a stove and wood. The Indians had TPs. The cavemen 1000 years earlier had less. And the earth was colder in all those times than it is now.
So, my kitchen faucet seems a small discomfort. We have little snow. We know how to shovel and plow. Winter is a thing, every year. God gives you fewer chances in winter. But he does give you enough if you don’t waste them. You would not be alive today. If millions of people did not weather harsher winters with less comforts than we have. Just read “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”. That gives you some perspective and stops your complaining.
Outside all the time.
Shower? Nope.
Hot food? maybe.
And being shot at.
When you think about it like that this is an inconvenience.