plotdesigner

princessnijireiki:

gallusrostromegalus:

poplitealqueen:

lynati:

replicated:

replicated:

Experiencing brutal cold for a period of time every year keeps you humble

That’s why Californians are like that

Time to plastic over the windows for the season.

????? Why??????????

You put the plastic on the windows to stop the heat from leaking out of your house from between the panes, through the glass itself, and where the window is attatched to the rest of the house. This does make a drastic difference in the temeprature of your house and the amount of gas/electricity needed to keep it warm.

Some other Winter Things:

If you think there’s going to be an exceptionally deep freeze, you open up all the cabinets in the house to warm the air in there and keep the pipes from freezing/bursting.

If you’re going to be away for a while in winter, it’s adviseable to turn your water off to avoid the same.

Putting an electric Blanket between your topcover and bedsheet and pre-heating your bed for half an hour so you don’t get a chill going to bed.

Applying literal vasaline to your lips if you’re going to be in the cold for an extended time (more than 10-20 min, depending on latitude), becuase chapstick won’t cut it and your lips will split and bleed and HURT

Doing the same to your nose

Your tears go from liquid to gooey trying to produce a similar protection for your eyes. You can also feel the water freeze on your eyes if you step directly out into the cold.

Also since I know you’re a socal person- in the far north you can get as little as eight hours of daylight. 7AM to 3 PM. You need to by the most obnoxiously bright light possible and sit beside it or you will actually literally develop psychosis in some cases. It’s 4:30 and you need to take the dog out? it’s pitch black out.

Everything is covered in ice, which will alternately cause you to slip and break something, burn, or actually tear off your skin.

Christmas and the pressure to be jolly is much stronger in places with Winter. Get your Holly Jolly On In this Frozen Black Hellscape!!! It’s why people go real bananas on the holiday lights. they’re trying to stave off the void.

Additional notes—

Home Interiors:

Heavy curtains also help with window insulation; or blankets (even moving blankets!) if you have any to spare + don’t have curtains already. This can also be done on doors (mostly interior doors) & open entryways between rooms.

Bubble wrap or styrofoam can also work instead of cling wrap, or those car windshield reflectors (reflector side should point towards where you want the heat to stay; in this case, in).

Home Exteriors:

FYI, you have to shovel your walk like every hour during heavy snowfall so it doesn’t build up (set an alarm) & salt your walk/driveway liberally for the ice. You will fuck up some pants & shoes off of it, but it’s better than busting your ass.

You also need to shovel your roof if you live in a house, or hire someone to do it if you have no experience on snowy / icy roofs (you can, like, literally die).

If you have a snowblower or someone is using one nearby, you will absolutely get beaned by a rock at some point.

Power / Heat:

If your power goes out & you don’t know when it’ll come back on: cut your pipes off (if you know how) so they don’t burst, and THEN run ALL YOUR TAPS to clear the water already in the pipes out, flush all the toilets, etc.… you should flush all your toilets once per day, too, to make sure the standing water in those pipes won’t start to freeze on you, but if you live with a bunch of people, it’s less of an issue than if you’re by yourself (bc the toilets get used anyway lol).

If you need emergency candles for light or those diy heaters (like this or this), craft store candles work just as well!

That said, whether for light, heat, or religious use (like with menorahs), fire should never go unattended, ever.

Electric blankets are usually much cheaper than cranking space heaters up if there’s poor ventilation going on!

The British style of electric blankets actually goes between your sheets & mattress… but don’t use American ones that way. And CHECK your cable for damage + make sure the temperatures are safely controlled (the chips can go bad!) before use, especially for kids & people with diabetes or nerve issues who might not feel themselves being burned until they’re already hurt.

That said, space heaters & Christmas trees are also MASSIVE fire hazards, so be careful of that (space heaters frequently contain oil, trees dry out & burn rapidly just from the heat of electric lights, and leaving heaters & electric blankets plugged in when not in use is not at all advised) & never leave them unattended or stored improperly.

And since so many people are using more power than usual (especially with indoor & outdoor extra lighting), blowing out your power or frying extension cords is really common. Unplug anything you’re not using. Know where your circuit breaker is & keep flashlights around, and have your landlord & utility providers’ numbers in your phone.

Cars:

@karouyamisaki has great driving tips on their reblog here (you can also use cat litter instead of sandbags, and some people use chains on their tires, too!)

WATCH OUT FOR SLEDDERS & FALLING PEDESTRIANS WHEN YOU DRIVE, ESPECIALLY AROUND CORNERS OR NEAR HILLS.

Watch out for deer, bear, etc. too if you live in the boonies!!! They’re always a driving hazard, especially at night, but ice & snow make everything exponentially more lethal, particularly if you’re far from help or don’t have reliable phone covg.

For sake of cold-weather clothing… don’t expect much shelter at a bus stop, and you should expect buses to be as cold as outside, too. YMMV with subways, but expect odor & puddles to be factors anywhere with heat.

Also of note: CO poisoning is massively, massively dangerous. People in idling cars trying to stay warm whose mufflers get backed up with snow, or who are in a running car in a garage, or using improperly hooked up generators die from this all the time… and even if you live, from experience, CO poisoning is extremely unpleasant. Kids are particularly susceptible to this & it’s tragic every time, but you hear about it in the news every single winter.

Clothes:

WEAR LAYERS. And build a winter wardrobe. My family used to store ours in plastic bins or wheeled garbage cans with cedar blocks & mothballs during warm weather, then swap them out for the fall & winter months.

INVEST IN LONG UNDERWEAR IF NECESSARY. You can get away with leggings UNDER pants / tights under leggings sometimes, but good thermals make a big ass difference.

Cover your mouth & nose if at all possible; a scarf might feel kinda funky because the moisture from your breath gets trapped, but it keeps your face warm & stops you from having to inhale frozen air directly into your throat & chest (it hurts a lot, can make a cough a whole lot worse, and personally gives me benign tachycardia).

Bonus old lady advice: old people will def say if you don’t cover your head / neck / chest you’ll get sick & if you don’t wear socks / gloves you’ll get arthritis… that’s not true but you’ll feel like shit + if you do have arthritis or do get sick, not dressing appropriately is really awful.

WEAR SLIPPERS & SWEATERS INSIDE! It can help keep your bills down (you don’t mess with the thermostat as much) & is also just more comfortable.

Protip: acrylic sweaters can be warmer than natural fibers & are softer on their own, but ime don’t hold up well to heavy daily wear. Wool is great, but needs special laundering and is expensive & itchy. Cotton & cotton blends are king.

INVEST IN A WATERPROOF PAIR OF BOOTS & ICE SPIKES / CLEATS.

Little hand warmers are a godsend as are electric boot warmers if you can get ‘em (they’re bougie but they’re rly nice)

…And if you’re gonna be on your phone outside / in the cold, get a pair of gloves with touchscreen things on them, it’s not worth your hands being cold, like, at all.

Bedding:

Cocoon yourself in layers of blankets to sleep if you can (a literal cocoon, only your mouth/nose should be exposed, if that, and at least 2-3 blankets).

If you’ll be sleeping in the cold, Vaseline can go on your eyebrows & eyelids too so you don’t have to worry about them wanting to freeze shut— not ideal, especially if you’re prone to styes, but better than the alternatives.

If you do have to sleep in the cold, you should also wear as many layers as you can, including as much underwear & socks as you can (and multiple pairs of socks on your hands, multiple hats / hoods if you have them, etc.), and use towels as scarves & extra body insulation between layers + to supplement your blankets. These tips help, too, especially if you have a sleeping bag.

Obviously… try not to sleep in the cold or sleep rough if you can, this polar vortex climate change stuff is no joke & people do die; but if you have to.

Health:

STAY HYDRATED

Humidifiers— I grew up using these in my bedroom at night in conjunction with the heat cranked on as a kid in MA, bc I got chronic nosebleeds & chapped lips & stuff from the dry cold air, and they’re a godsend… though despite recent trends, do not use essential oils with these, you’ll degrade the plastic & it can be super dangerous for kids, pets, and people with certain allergies.

VICKS VAPORUB IS YOUR FRIEND

Don’t go outside with wet hair… period.

Keep a thermometer, and trust yourself re: your body & your health. Paying an extra doctor’s copay for what turns out to be a basic cold sucks. Untreated strep throat turning into scarlet fever sucks worse. Be vigilant & go with your gut.

“Happy lights” for seasonal affective disorder are cheaper now than they used to be, though I’ve known ppl who were literally prescribed to go to tanning beds in the winter as an alternative (this was years ago, early ‘00s, but obvs is super unhealthy)… probably the Christmas / Yule light tradition stems from a sort of similar principle in like the primordial northerner & Scandinavian historical brain tbh; you scratch out whatever light you can against the dark, and it helps.

Pets:

Don’t forget your pets!!! They need weather safety, too, especially dogs walking on cement (cold temps, ice sticking to paw pads, and salt burning paw pads are all horrible) & pets who are either gonna be outside or in poorly insulated homes… if you have small pets especially, including rodents & birds, cold weather can kill them or make them really sick, and big dogs are already prone to arthritis & joint issues as-is that can be worse in bad weather. They can also develop teeth trouble.

And if you need to transport pets, long distance or even just to the vet, wrap carriers in blankets & put hand warmers under them (not in the crate; animals can get burned or try to bite them).