Frozen

Growing up on Cooper Mountain, I remember letting the pipes drip if the temperature dropped below 27. With temperatures dropping to 0 degrees Fahrenheit last night, applying this knowledge to our Holler House was a natural move. I did, however, forget that the HOT water also needs to run, especially if the hot water pipes get to close to an outside wall.

We awoke to frozen pipes. With no heating source in the house aside from a portable kerosene heater, a space heater for our bedroom and a space heater humming away in the pump house, we were in a bit of a pickle. We diverted all spare house heating sources to pipe heating. The inside temperature quickly plunged below 50.

A quick trip to the Doller General (about 14 miles) produced both a spare space heater and a hair dryer. This was meaningless, as the clogged hot water pipe and finally cleared itself up. Apparently, once hot water hits the ice in the pipes, thinks melt quickly. And there were no leaks.

Our outside cat, Sly, refuses to come inside, so we had to improvise stouter shelter for her. She now has a lovely sleeping bag cave, but we do not own a heating pad. With the nearest pet store about 45 miles away, we decided to try an experiment: Microwave 2 cups of dry rice in a pillowcase for about 2 minutes to heat it and place the resulting warming pad in the sleeping bag cave. It stays warm for several hours, then becomes extra insulation. Sly is snuggling up to it now...