So Frozen

It is now 1:54 pm.  My adventure started at 1:00 am.  Here is what happened:

1:00 am I am awakened by coldness. Get out of bed, turn on heater and realize the power is off which is why my electric heaters aren't heating, hence it being cold.

It is minus 12 F.

The power comes on, goes off, comes on, goes off...for about 15 minutes. Finally stays on.  My 5th wheel is now cold and getting colder.  I wait until the power has stabilized and try lighting to burner on my stove to make sure I have propane.  Ignition! and all is well.  Turn on heater again.  Five minutes later it shuts off and I can still see my breath.  Light stove burner again, seems fine, turn on heater, goes off after five minutes of blowing very cold air around.

Put on frozen boots, gloves, hat and stuff and grab mini light and tromp outside.  Unhook the propane tank, struggle inserting the full propane tank, hook everything up.  Holding flashlight in my mouth, lips freeze to flashlight.  The dial is showing the tank as empty but I know this isn't true.  Close valve, unhook hose, give it a swirl and nothing is swirling.  Go through list of things to do to make the propane flow.  Vent propane lines by leaving burner on.  Turn burner off after 10 minutes, no propane in lines, no air either.

By now it is 5:14 am.  My toes hurt, my hands hurt, I can't feel my face and I think my thighs are frozen.  Go back into RV which might be about 30 F.  Electric heaters are trying their darnedest to heat, but losing the battle against the now minus 11 F.  I post on Facebook, I try and call my brother, I send a message to my son, no one is answering.  I text my father.  It is now 6:07 am.  My father says pour hot water on the tank and nozzle.  I boil water and do that but the water is freezing before it can do any good.  I believe that it was colder than what is posted online, seriously, this is stupid and I can't take it anymore.

I go into my son's house where it is warm, but the warmth hurts because I have a little bit of exposure going on now.  I'm so cold my body won't shiver.  I lay down on the couch to wait for my body to ignite like my heater was supposed to.

My son gets out of bed and we chat while he gets ready for work.  He pulls the frozen propane tank and brings it in the house to thaw out.  I figured I'd be warm again when the tank was thawed.  It feels like electric shocks running the length of my body as it warms up shoving the cold out through my toes.  After my son leaves for work, I get in the big recliner and sweet Lucy is right on me, helping out with her amazing dog heat.  That helped so much.

1:00 pm and I'm warm, but having muscle cramps and my joints are on fire.  I check the tank and it's fine, sounds a little slushy but that's okay.  Take it outside and hook it back up, check the burner which fires right up and then turn on the heater which also gave me the lovely WHOOMF sound when it ignites.  All is right with the RV for now.

My body is still unhappy.  I have the shakes.  Muscle cramps.  Cannot take a hot shower until things settle down.  Exhausted.  Parts of my body are doing weird shiver, electric things.  

I remember back about 25 years ago I did the annual "walk to the Irish bar" thing with my buddies the Five Drunken Irishmen (we were a gang ha ha) and it was 25 below that night.  We walked three miles and the only part of me that was disturbingly cold were the front of my thighs.  But then, that was 25 years ago. 

One bit of happiness in all of this is how far I managed to stitch the first page of BAM (Cute Angel Mermaid renamed Blue Angel Mermaid by my brother).  It is so wonderful.  I keep looking at it and remembering today I have to post before and after 10 stitches.  

Is that beautiful or what?  There are only two colors left on this page so the fill in will be easy I hope.  I'll probably stitch again this evening after the nap has happened.  By then I shouldn't hurt and should feel good enough to shower.  In case you didn't know;  when you have exposure or any kind of hypothermia, it's best to warm up naturally or have people or dogs share body heat.  Showering or having a hot bath will force the cold out of the muscles towards the bones.  That is not okay.  It's bad for you and leads to cooling your core as well...things tend to shut down when they get too cold.  Let your body do what it does naturally, or with a little help from furry friends or human friends/family.  

Also, the fastest way to help the muscle cramps to stop is to take a shot of Apple Cider Vinegar for a quick bit of potassium to the system.  Apparently I need two shots.  I'm still cramping.  

After living in Alaska for so long, guess I learned something living in the cold north, ha, ha.

I really mean it when I say stay safe and warm....seriously...not everyone is the Ice Queen like me.  Hug someone you love today and share a little body heat.

Until next time.....KEEP ON STITCHIN'!