I always admired the rugged frontiersmen who pushed the bounds of this country.
- Those were the old school manly men who trapped furs, hunted their own food, made their own houses, and explored the places no one had ever been.
I am not one of those men, it turns out, no matter how badly I wished that I was. I find this out a little too late, having already bitten off more than I could chew by moving almost as far north as is geographically possible. I actually kind of like it here, but feel it may be too much for me to handle as a way of life. Where I used to live my house had a thermostat and a central heating system, and when I got cold I just turned it on. Up here the heating system stays engaged most of the time, and if it ever turns off I need to check on it. It is possible for the natural gas furnace, or more specifically the pipes leading in and out of it, to actually freeze because that’s how cold it gets here! In the old days when the heating didn’t turn on I put on a blanket and called the repair man. Up here if the heating doesn’t turn on I need to put on heavy winter clothes and start building a fire ASAP. Even going a few hours with no heating can be something you can’t come back from. That is what troubles me the most about living here, the fact that heating is all that stands between me and freezing to death.