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Friday, November 16, 2018

The good snow



We have good snow cover and this current storm will give us at least another six inches. I'm actually pretty relieved to have some early snow.

Why is that? Regular readers may remember all the fun I had with my water line from the well. In the end I went with plan B. The supply line is buried too shallow for our climate, but not it's also covered with two inch thick high density foam insulation panels. Having snow on top of unfrozen ground provides a lot of additional insulation.

Most people don't realize how good insulation snow is. Think about it though. What's insulation? Usually it's a material that traps air pockets. Snow has a lot of air trapped between the crystals.

There's a reason the people of the north lived in igloos. You would not think that being in a house of snow is all that warm. It's not T-shirt warm, but it's a huge improvement over outside conditions. When it's forty below with the wind blowing, being out of the wind in a 30 degree shelter is a big step up.

Some years ago a friend and myself went on a snowshoeing adventure. We decided to build an igloo to test it out. It was a fair amount of work, but it was comfortable. We did make one major mistake. The weather was pretty nasty out so we decided to cook breakfast in the igloo. Pro tip: don't fry bacon in an igloo. The camp stove put out enough heat to melt the roof causing water to drip into the hot grease. The cooking was quickly moved outside.

People tend to think of snow as a being a killer, but it can be put to good use.

-Sixbears

10 comments:

  1. LOL - Yeah, the only flames I've ever seen pictured in an igloo were burning whale blubber with a flame not much bigger than a candle. I guess there was a reason they ate the blubber raw.

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    1. It's a downside that all the National Geographic magazines never tell you about. :)

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  2. I would rather snow than rain. We've had enough rain to last us the rest of the year. While it's cold enough to snow this morning, the sky is clear and the temps are supposed to reach the 60's. Go figure. ...Momlady

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    1. I've got pretty good ground cover now and the long range forecast doesn't show it getting very warm anytime soon. In fact, there's more snow on the way.

      At least you don't have to shovel rain.

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  3. Back when I lived up north, I didn't need any excuse to get out in the snow. I loved it.

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    1. I used to enjoy it a lot more before my lung injury. However, this winter I'm trying a breathing mask for really cold days.

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  4. I'll stay in when and if it snows again here. Sorry, but I just don't like the stuff. I am glad that it serves as an insulation for your water pipes, though.

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    1. Snow in places that don't get a lot of it is always a crisis. Nobody knows how to drive in it and there's very few plows.

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  5. As a Boy Scout in the the late 1960s we did extensive winter camping, which included building igloos. They were pretty hospitable inside with just a single candle burning.

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    1. Back in the day our scout troop did a lot of camping. We even did things like ice fishing. Dont't think the scouts do much of that anymore.

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