Baby its Cold Outside

As I sit here typing, sipping tea and eating dark chocolate m&m's my mom sent me I am also watching it snow through my glass sliding doors. It snowed 2 inched last night and has intermittently continued throughout the day. I'm a big fan of snow. Watching it fall is just about as peaceful as looking on as tree's sway with the wind or as water runs down a mountain creek.

Funny thing about snow though, its got to be pretty cold to witness it, and cold it has gotten here. The cold probably wouldn't even be worth mentioning if I had just two of the modern day conveniences some of us take for granted. Central heating and wall insulation.

To compensate for the lack of these glorious yet unavailable luxuries the folks here have a come up with several other methods of keeping the toes from getting too cold. Many of these I acquiesced from the house that was home to many of the other previous Shinji ALT's before myself. Everything in there technically is mine, or so I am told, and as I find need for certain items....I first check this house of mystery and wonder. Before yesterday I had already scored from it a table, rolling chair, rug, futon and electric mixer.

So in every apartment and house you will find one of these. It cools, de-humidifies, recirculates air and also acts an a heater. Overall it is what i use the most to keep this little casa to my liking. The only problem, and correct me if I'm wrong is that heat rises....and in case its hard to tell....well, this thing is at the ceiling. Hence maybe why it's not as handy as anyone wishes it was.

The Kotatsu. Also standard issue among most JET's in Shimane and I would imagine Japan. Its a brilliant little coffee table in the summer and in the winter, you simply remove the top, place a thick comforter like blanket over the whole thing and put the table part back on. It does indeed keep your lower half warm. I'm not too flexible, and I'm 6'3". So this little guy gets used on a fairly infrequent basis.

Heated rugs and blankets. I have neither but my buddy bill swears by the heated rugs. His predecessor left him one and he talks about so much that I am convinced that if Bill were to meet his maker while in Japan, he'd have the heated rug wrapped around his torso like a tribal Indian chief as he approached St. Pete.

The kerosene heaters. All of the heaters in the schools are juiced by kerosene like this guy is. I was a disbeliever in said heating method, that is until I ate dinner at a friends house and it was the sole source keeping us from freezing. Downside is that is does smell a bit like gas....and there's not too much room for error when using this guy. I believe there is a story of an ALT burning down her house some years back because this was too close to something flammable. When I went to the house of mystery and wonder yesterday it was to get something else...but I saw this guy and thought, "Well, just in case.". I bought some juice on the way home plugged her in to see if it worked and its been the only heating mechanism running since. So what if I lose a couple of brain cells to the inhalation of kerosene fumes....at least I'll be warm while doing so.

Of course there are electric heaters like these guys. They work, but when you run out of plugs...one starts to wonder how that electricity bill be come the end of the month. In fact, every appliance I've shown above is run by electricity. The kerosene heater even plugs in to run its electric clock function. I'm figuring the next three months will be a process of me figuring out what indeed is the most cost efficient way to keep my toes from getting cold...and about the time I got it pegged April will have arrived.

And then, there is always the beloved candle. Doesn't give much heat but it does provide light. Of course there is even more of a chance of burning something down with a candle...but there's just something inspiring about the open flame. Who knows, I might spend the winter huddled around one of these guys. Hell, that's all I had last year, to a slightly larger degree and I kinda miss it right now. That wood burning stove I used up in the cabin would rock my little shack so hard I'd be drinking boxed wine, reading, eating canned chili while waltzing around in longjohns. It was too hot to wear anything else.

Winter is good, walk ing the snow is good and I'm absolutely ready to get out back on the mountain doing some powder runs somewhere. Nagano has been a thought. So let her snow...me and my electricity bill are ready.

This below picture is of my mushing buddy john from last winter...the stove in the back is something I'll be telling stories about from ages.