OT Ice Shanties

Here's a pretty picture of what they look like :

Here's the damage that they do:

's%20future/Ice%20Storm.JPG Count yourself fortunate. Of course, you have way more natural things in Australia that can kill you than we have here in Kansas. Ice just isn't one of them.

Cindy

We do a bit of snow occasionally, but there is only confusion for about

24 hours, and power cuts for longer than a couple of hours are unusual. We've had a lot of rain this year, but it has been warmer than a normal winter - only about 2 frosty mornings. Today it is about 10 degrees C, (50F)sunny and no wind, and I'm about to go in the garden (and join the woodpecker on the peanuts) to tackle some of the weeds. Yesterday was similar but no sun and I spent all day out there tidying up around my Christmas Roses and snowdrops. All the other bulbs are starting to break through the soil, but I will admit that I still have a few to plant - wasn't able to do it at the proper time because of the wet.

I can never understand why the UK has a bad reputation for weather. Admittedly we don't have ever-predictable sunshine every season (or every day in the summer), but we don't have extremes, and I like the gentle changing of the seasons. I can't take the heat we've had for the last two or three summers very well, but when I look at the temperatures some of you experience...........

We don't have dangerous wild animals either - no bears or alligators, just Beatrix Potter type creatures!

Commiserations to those of you worrying in the snow and ice and winds. I hope you have lots of quilts to wrap yourselves in, it won't be as bad as you fear and will be over quickly.

lol no dangerous animals? What about all those dragons?

LOL! I can't imagine life with NO dangerous animals/reptiles/insects/spiders, but it sounds very nice. Arizonans live with black widow and tarantula spiders, rattlesnakes, Gila monsters, mountain lions, poisonous centipedes and scorpions, and a few other assorted critters. Naturally, they are scarce in the city where I live, but I did see a live Gila monster in the wild a few weeks ago. Quite a lovely creature, really, but I kept my distance and just admired his pretty skin,

Then again there are Polly's gators, they are a wild creature to be reckoned with! Glad she keeps them so well fed.

And then there is this ice church in Romania :)

Julia > I have been reading about those who are facing ice storms in

We don't all do ice storms over here. Most of So. Cal. development is newer and a lot of the utilities are underground. We rarely lose power here. I don't think I can count on one hand the amount of times power stayed off for more than a flash. Here in the high desert it has not gotten below 10' in the 18 years we have had this place (that was once). We woke up to the low of 2' last night. I told dh it will be 100' hotter in 6 months time and I'll be griping about the heat. I hope all the folks that are in really bad weather now are staying safe. DD gave us an explanation of the global warming talk at dinner last night. (I love having educated, smart adult kids!) Nice to talk about warm even though it ain't happening here and now. Taria, jealous of Cheryl today.

CATS wrote:

When I first read your post, I immediately thought of our Maine version - ice fishing houses. These are put out on the rivers once the rivers have frozen over (at least 2" deep.). Avid ice-fishermen use them to keep warm in, and they cut holes in the ice to put their fishing lines through! Some even have cooking "stoves"!! This year has been exceptionally mild and there have been numerous warnings NOT to go out on the ice as it is NOT deep enough to support an ice shanty! Local fishermen (sports fishing - not commercial) are debating the legality (now that Ice Season is "open") of floating their fish-huts on large styrofoam sheets and fishing-as-usual.

We've had ice storms in the past up this way - the last big one in the late

90s - where the ice-covered trees brought down so many powerlines that several communities had no power for nearly a week. The local High School was closed for classes in order to make it into an emergency shelter. Luckily our neighborhood was without power only for a day or so, and we had a woodstove for warmth and could use our barbecue grill for cooking. Even so, we had about 8 folks staying here at our house because their power was out and they used oil furnaces (which require electricity to start up.) We had a fun time - played lots of cards and games by candlelight when the power was out. Ya gotta make do! (We have learned also to put aside a huge number of candles, a portable radio, flashlights and fresh batteries just in case of emergencies.)

Lots of positive thoughts to those in the Central U.S. who are going through quite a mess right now. Hopefully they can get power back and streets open soon.

ME-Judy (Where we are getting snow finally - with the remnants of what hit the central states due to hit us tonight and all day tomorrow.)

From the subject line, I was expecting you to burst into song:

- What Shall We Do With The Frozen Quilter

- The Girl With The Blue Dress (and four brown sweaters, three pairs of heavy tights and an orange anorak) On

- Johnny's Gone Down To Hilo (and he's not coming back till the weather forecast says no more of this)

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ============== Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760 for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975 stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557

"Cabin Fever" induces people here in the north to come up with some unusual forms of amusement. There is the Art Shanty Project that CATS referred to. More info at . It apparently was inspired by the shanties used for ice fishing. Of course, this winter has been so mild that there hasn't been much of that because the ice isn't thick enough. Then there is the annual fish house parade in Aitkin, MN, on the day after Thanksgiving. Pictures from this year's event at

Julia > I have been reading about those who are facing ice storms in

LOL

"Shanty" is a poor term for a solidly built and insulated one-room house with carpeting, bunks, table and chairs, a heating stove, and TV. Most ice houses on Mille Lacs Lake and Leech Lake (both in Minnesota) are fancy enough that a third-world person would love to have one!

Wondering about the St. Paul Carnival Ice Castle this year...

--Heidi

Plattsburgh (UPstate) NY

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Julia > "Cabin Fever" induces people here in the north to come up with some

They're doing an ice maze instead of an ice castle this year; I think it has something to do with safety issues. The problem is that there hasn't been enough ice for blocks to make the maze, either, so they considered using blocks of packed snow. We're getting cold weather now, so they may be able to use ice after all.

More about the St. Paul Winter Carnival, including links to the official carnival web site, at

Julia > Wondering about the St. Paul Carnival Ice Castle this year...