While I am crafting, I listen to audio books.  So currently, I am listening to "Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track:  Selected Letters of Richard P. Feynman".  When I am in a reading mood, and am able to focus on the written word and am not otherwise occupied with my hands; I've been reading "Tortilla Flat" by John Steinbeck.

It's been cold, especially for Mississippi.  I think that part of the chill that seems worse is because my home is a very old trailer.  Altho I have attempted to seal what I can, by layering plastic over the windows (this is something that I have done for years, not only to help with heat, but also to help with the cold...in general to reduce drafts); trailers are not known for being well insulated or even well constructed.  It seems the very walls are so porous that dank bone penetrating cold seeps in, settling into me.

I'm from PA, so I do know how cold it can be.  The house we lived in for the majority of my teen years was over 150 yrs old, yet had fewer drafts than this trailer.  I wear layers, keeping snuggled as much as possible and wear my hat to keep my head heat in, my ears warm, and most of the time I am ok.  The propane heater has two settings, low (which is three cells) and high (which is six cells).  I've been drinking hot tea, and have been warming me from the inside out.

Somehow, I missed the warmest window of the day, that early afternoon period when the air is the warmest.  I meant to take my shower then.  When I was a teenager, I didn't have running hot water.  So I took tons of sponge baths, or else took very tepid shallow baths in the tub.  At times like these, when I dreading shucking my clothes; I know that at any rate, I'd rather have the hot water my shower here provides than repeat that time in my life.

I know some folks think that it can't be that bad.  And since that is relative, I must agree; compared to folks who have no heat, and therefore are extremely cold inside as well as out, I do not have it that bad at all.  Compared to someone who is sitting inside a toasty home, even if the air is cold outside; well, perhaps there is no real comparison possible.  It is about ten degrees warmer in here than out there, and since out there is about 30 degrees right now; perhaps you can see my point.

Well, I'm off to shower (ahhhhh, heat!) and bundle up again.  I can't type when I wear gloves, but I have made some good wrist warmers that extend down over the backs of my hands, so that I do have some ability to move my fingers freely, typing and crafting are options then.  And next week, I will begin to visit the wellness center, taking showers there, and staying in the warm toastiness.  Plus, Leona may have opened the coffee shop so I can sit for hours with a two buck tea with refill.  And there is the library too, for siphoning their temperate air.  It's just that leaving the house isn't always an option for me, so here I am.

later, dude(tte)s!