Will Rogers once said "If you don't like the weather in Oklahoma, wait a minute and it'll
change." Well, I think it
is safe to say that winter has finally started to set in. We are starting to
see long sustaining swathes of cold weather now. Thankfully, we still have
power. I have to admit, the store’s heating system amounts to shit.
The back room has these heaters that hang from
the ceiling and kick on. The first time they kick on, the stench of what I can
only describe as burning dust is pretty horrific. Don’t get me wrong, they get
the job done but it is more of an ambient heat. There is nowhere you can really
go and stand and have that sensation like a home where you could stand in front
of the fireplace or directly over an air conditioning vent to really feel that
blast of heat or cold.
As long as we have power, we should be in good
shape. No one likes to talk about it but I think everyone knows that the power
could go out at any time. From a heating standpoint, things could get really
difficult if the power goes down.
I think everyone is taking a “let’s worry about
it when there is something to worry about” attitude. And it is not like we are
extremely limited on options. I am sure there are Kerosene heaters that we
could scavenge for.
One idea that we came up with was the option of
shutting down the coolant and the fans in the ice cream cooler. It is designed
to keep cold in, so in theory, if we all bunked in there, the body heat alone
would probably keep us pretty darn warm and one Kerosene heater would be more
than enough. But is that a recipe for all of us dying from Carbon Monoxide
poisoning?
Admittedly, I am not crazy about that idea,
suffocation notwithstanding. Sleeping like sardines in a can does not sound
like a lot of fun. It is certainly better than freezing in February but it has
not come to that yet. Most of us sleep fairly spread out amongst the cooler
tops to give us security and a little bit of privacy.
I guess all of this is a moot point really. I am
worried about things before they have even happened. And while I am all for
having contingency plans, excessive worrying about things that are out of your
control can make you lose your mind, especially in this environment.
I will try to think of better things to occupy
my mind with… More later.
