Cold, cold, cold!!

It is really cold here in Portland. Maybe not by Minnesota standards or anywhere in the Midwest, but really cold for Portland. Temperatures in the teens and below, with a strong east wind. The house we live in is pretty new so the weather doesn't affect the comfort level inside the house. Well insulated, double pane windows, water pipes buried to an appropriate depth and an efficient furnace keep it a warm and toasty 70 in the house. This is a far cry from the houses we lived in out on the farm. 
The first 14 years after getting out of college I lived in houses that did not have central heat. They were heated by wood stoves located in the living rooms. They were also on well water which required some special care to make sure your water did not freeze up. These houses were built in the early 1900's by farmers who didn't waste money on insulation. They were drafty and poorly constructed. We learned pretty quickly to pay attention to the weather forecast and make sure there was a heat lamp in the pump house and plenty of wood on the porch if the forecast was for below freezing temps and snow. Often it would get cold enough in the bathroom for ice to form in the toilet. 
The morning routine would involve getting up and starting the electric heater in the bathroom and then getting the wood stove going again. Usually it would be down to coals and took a little coaxing to get it going to begin heating the house up. Wood heat is wonderfully warm but it took a while to spread out and warm the house. The kids would get dressed in the bathroom where the electric heater would warm it up to a comfortable level. It took about an hour for the house to get into the 60's and we would be headed out the door to work and school about then. 
The other issue with living in the country was frequent power outages. When the power went out in cold weather the water pump would freeze up when the heat lamps went off. When this happened it was a couple of unpleasant hours thawing the pump and pipes to get water back. In the late 70's we had an extended cold snap and 2days without power. We never did get the water un-thawed till the temperatures got above freezing and went about 2 weeks without water in the house. We had to haul water in from the neighbors to flush our toilet and visit friends and relatives to get a shower every couple of days. 
When we moved into the city in 1990 we had central heat that came on automatically in the morning and pipes that didn't freeze, no matter how cold it got. It took us a while to get used to not having to go through a frantic routine every time it snowed and got cold. All in all I appreciate the well insulated, well heated and well built house I live in now, but still have fond memories of waking up and still having running water and how good it felt to stand next to the wood stove and feel the heat warm you to the bone on those cold country mornings.