Keeping Warm

Photo From Here

Photo From Here

Multnomah Falls - both frozen and flowing. I had the good fortune to ride by and see the Falls when I did the Portland to Missoula bicycle ride a few years back. Nice and warm on the day we rode through, unlike the weather we've been having around here.

Photo From Here

I worked as a welder for a short time 43 years ago when the weather was about like it is here these days (that being a temperature of -1 and a 20 mph wind).The only heat in the plant was a few 55 gallon drums with a gas jet in the bottom of them. They made big storage tanks, so material was shipped in on railroad flatcars and the finished product went out the same way. They'd open up the doors to let the trains in and any heat that was in the building all went out. All of the welders had some type of device like the lady in the picture is holding for warming up their lunch. Most of them were made from brazing rod or TIG filler rod. There was a lunch room that was heated but by the time you took off all your heavy clothes and left enough time to put them all back on again, you didn't hardly have enough time to sit down and eat, so most guys just ate in the shop sitting on a 5 gallon bucket next to the salamander. That was the coldest place I ever worked. Some days it was warmer outside than in. 

I'm currently reading a book about Roald Amundsen, the first man to set foot at the South Pole, among other things. Hard to bellyache too much about the cold around here when he had to suffer through temperatures of - 70 and colder and eat seal and dog meat not only for sustenance but to prevent scurvy. Hardy souls, those explorers. I read the Shackleton story a few years back. Amazing what those men went through. At least Amundsen and Shackleton made it back and got to bask in the glory for a while, unlike Scott. Amundsen's life story doesn't exactly end on a happy note, however. I should probably be reading Robinson Crusoe or something now and save Amundsen for this summer when it's about 95 degrees out, but if he could take it, so can I. 

Stay warm.