Deep Freeze in the Sunny South

There was frost on my pumpkin Friday morning, or there would have been
if I had a pumpkin.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution predicted the lowest Georgia
temperatures in two years With "Deep Freeze in the South" headlines.
Strange to walk on frozen ground, like walking on concrete, the grass
glinting with ice crystals. Ice on the creek made it resemble a still pond,
but the water was flowing under the ice covering and tumbling over the
rocks just beyond the bridge. Buckie walked across the creek, then tested
the edges with his paw until he could press the ice down and drink the water
that puddled on top. We've had cold nights, plenty of frost and some ice,
but this was our first hard freeze.

After seeing the forecast, I crawled under the floor to check on the water
pipes. It was the first time I had been under since I repaired a bad leak in
mid-summer, and I was dismayed to see several wet spots on the ground,
indicating minor leaks and drips. Maybe those drips would help prevent
freezing, I thought, along with the faucets dripping inside all night. I hope to
be able to wait until spring to start replacing the pipes, for the builder who
sold the building to me wrapped all the pipes in plastic and wound electrical
tape around the plastic.It was harder to cut this material off than it was to
replace the cracked pipe last summer.

When I first acquired the building, there was an outside hydrant flush against
the house, but the water turn-off valve was past it, under the house, and there
was no way to turn off the water to this hydrant except by turning it off at the
meter. Builder had encased the shaft up to the handle and spout in concrete in
an effort to prevent its freezing, but it had apparently frozen anyway, for there
was a constant dribble through a crack in the concrete. Still, it came in handy
as my sole source of water when I had the hot water heater moved from the
pantry, where it crowded the space and was warping the floor, and a washer
connection installed in the utility room I had built on half the back porch. I
still haven't installed another outside hydrant. I made one attempt, but gave
up, there's a rock that will have to be broken up before pipe can be
connected. I've always just carried water from the creek for my plants.

My learning to plumb has been like someone re-inventing the wheel. I had
watched Gil when he laid a pipe from the old house to the garden, and
that was the first plumbing he ever did. Not long afterward, being faced
with being without water while he was away for several days was a great
incentive to my learning to replace a pipe or two. It was a skill that came
in handy during his long illness. It's amazing what one can learn when there's
little money and things have to be done. I also re-wired the telephones after
lightning struck and fried them.

Now I still repair when I can, replacing washers in faucets for instance, for I
can eat for a week for the total of one plumber's bill. My daughter-in-law,
who had to serve as an apprentice plumber for several months as training for
her job as office manager and sales rep for a huge plumbing supply company,
installed my new toilet and will be bringing a new faucet and spray set for my
kitchen sink, but she lives too far away to call on often. I've bought a new
pipe-cutting tool, no more tedious hacksawing and filing off burrs, and I'll be
working on the pipes next spring- if they only hold until then. And if only the
pipes outside under the ground don't freeze, as they did one year at the old
house.

By afternoon it was up to 40, the sun shining, the air still. Buckie and I
walked down the creek bank, breathing in the cold, clear air. The
ground stayed frozen and not much of the ice melted, for the sunshine was
pleasant, but seemed to lack heat. I finally had to come inside, my toes
were numb. Back down in the 'teens on Saturday night. The hard freezes
will kill off a lot of the destructive and annoying insects, unlike last winter
when, although it stayed cold longer than usual- I had to have heat in
early June- there were no really low temperatures. I read there were
problems with huge swarms of yellow jackets in Alabama, and this was
blamed on the lack of a hard winter.

Yes, I know our winters are a joke to those in the north. I lived in
Chicago for 20 years. But the cold here never lasts, it will gradually
warm up until it rains again. Then cold and freezing again. One can
never become used to the cold so that each cold spell is something of
a shock. But then again, after it has been so cold, a day when the
thermometer reaches 50 will feel almost balmy, especially if the sun
is shining and there's no cold wind.

I wish we would have a real snow this year. It's cold enough to snow
throughout the winter, but seldom does. When even a light snow is forecast,
people flock to the stores and buy up all the bread and milk, children are
sent home from school and the mills let the workers out early. We have hills
and no salting or snow removal equipment. A deeper snow can shut
everything down for days. If it warms up enough to partly melt and then
re-freeze at night, the ice can bring down power lines, and what is common
in the North can become a crisis here in the South.

I've filled jugs with water and stocked my pantry, and I still have the
concrete blocks and metal plate I used to heat food and water for coffee
by the gas wall heater the last time the power was out, so I'm ready.
Let it snow!