I have always admired the rugged frontiersmen who pushed the bounds of this country. Those were the old school tough guys who trapped furs, hunted their own dinner, made their own shelter and went to places no one had ever been. I am not one of those guys, it turns out, no matter how badly I tried to be. 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 really kind of love it here, but know it may be too much for me to handle as a way of everyday life! Where I used to live my house had a thermostat and a central gas furnace, and when I got cold I just turned it on… Up here the heating system stays turned on 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 entirely freeze because that’s how cold it gets here! In the ancient afternoons when the heating didn’t turn on I put on a blanket and called the service man. Up here if the heating doesn’t turn on I need to put on heavy winter clothes and start building a fire right away! Even going a few hours with no heating can be something you can’t come back from. That is what concerns me the most about living here, the fact that heating is all that stands between me and freezing to death.