Settling in for winter

Hi neighbors. There has been some frost on the pumpkins this week. I found myself forced to turn on the furnace. How I long for the smell of burning wood! Either as a fireplace or even a wood or pellet burning stove. I just hate the thought of being dependent upon one heat source with another winter coming on so quickly.

A winter ago, my cousin was living in Springfield when the power was out for three weeks. She said she almost froze to death trying to survive in her all-electric home. People with gas furnaces still faced the problem of no fans to push the warm air through their house.

It just seems like a scary prospect to me. I suppose I could get a 55 gallon drum and break up the furniture to burn if worse came to worst. Or just move south for the winter.

Nomadic tribes may have had more forethought than we give them credit for. It was only after we decided to stay in one place all year long that we had to figure out how to survive the changing seasons.

Maybe realizing that things were better a few thousand years ago is what prompted building all of those RVs. Some people just take their homes with them and move from state-to-state as the weather suits them.

There was a couple at the Bushwhacker Museum one day several years ago who were traveling across the country as the spirit moved them. They had sold their home when they retired, bought a slab of concrete in a trailer park for a home address and hit the road in a vehicle that costs more than their original home.

As a teen, inspired no doubt by the old Route 66 television show, I had thought traveling from place to place would be the ideal lifestyle. Of course that didn't become my reality; but with all the weather changes that option is looking more and more inviting.

My daughter keeps reminding me that Des Moines summers are usually pretty pleasant -- downtown flooding aside -- and that I should live there in the summer as it would be cooler than Nevada. The flooding she says, isn't as big a problem as tornadoes here in Missouri.

She tells me that since Vernon County has had some mild winters I could "winter" here or move to the desert. Gee, sounds like a lot of moving to me. And a lot of driving a huge vehicle along busy highways if I buy a rent-a-home.

Not really my cup of tea.

I'll wait till I win the lottery and then move around like a wealthy royal instead of like a gypsy. And with my luck at the lottery, that means lots more winters here in Nevada.

At least I have a place to call home, which is more than many people have. I guess people from New Orleans who were displaced by hurricane Katrina are still unable to get housing. Those who have moved away from Louisiana, some actually living here in Vernon County, are still unable to resolve their housing problems in New Orleans and may never return to that area.

The housing market is supposedly better now; if you call needing 20 percent down to buy a home "better." Safer for the banking industry might be a better definition. But what do I know about high finance? Nothing to very little is that answer.

Every year I tell myself I will prepare more for the oncoming bad weather. I still have my list -- but nothing on it purchased yet. Salt for the porch ice, de-icer spray for the car doors and windows, a shovel for the snow, an ice chisel for the icy sidewalks, boots, heavy gloves, a new hat, cat liter for the car trunk if I get stuck, emergency equipment for the car in case I get stuck in a snow bank for three days and nights ... you know just common things.

Most of the time the majority of us don't travel more than 10 miles from home every week. Most of those 10 miles are within the city limits for me. Instead of worrying about emergency equipment for driving; maybe I should just buy more cab coupons.

Until the next time friends, remember, when you can't avoid trouble or don't prepare ahead of time for trouble, just hope you can find your way around it without falling down.