A brew of random things to start the day:
It is cold! The other night Don and I were both wearing scarves at dinner. My car sounds like a bucket of bolts when I start it. But there’s also a brutal beauty to the cold. I love that squeaking sound that really cold snow makes when I walk on it. Yesterday morning I went to Kittery Point and saw sea smoke. The nights have been crystal clear and that moon last week was stunning.
Anyway, here’s a cold related joke with South Berwick roots. This was passed to me from Norma Keim, via Wendy Pirsig. This joke comes from the 2008/9 Farmer’s Almanac (p. 205) — Nathaniel Low was a physician and amateur astronomer, who built and lived in the bright mustard colored house that is now 117 Portland Street. More about him on the OBHS website .
A Revolutionary Idea: High Heat, No Fire Needed
Nathaniel Low popularized this method in 1777, the year that General George Washington’s troops experienced bitter cold at Valley Forge:
“Take a billet (log) of wood, fling it out of the window into the yard, and then run downstairs as hard as you can, and when you have got the billet, run up again with the same measure of speed; and thus keep throwing down and fetching up, till the exercise shall have sufficiently heated you.”
“Repeat as often as the occasion shall require.”
There was some good news at Monday’s Town Council Meeting. Roberta Orsini reported that South Berwick got a federal disaster designation as a result of the ice storm and the storms of December 19 and 21. That means there will be assistance for the Town’s costs. She also reported that the Town has begun health benefits with a new provider. The change will yield a $13,000 saving for this fiscal year and will result in at least a $39,000 savings for next fiscal year.
