Commode a la mode

Coming from the warm California clime, I don’t think we truly understood the cold that we were to encounter at Powell. Sure, Kate and I had some experience in the Sierras but the Idaho/Montana mountains can be COLD! We found that out in a hurry!

I forget which of these two events happened first but one morning, not long after school had started for the day, I got a call from Kate that she was trapped in the mobile home, the door would not open no matter how hard she turned the handle. This had happened with our dual-pane windows before. The earth stove was so efficient in keeping the inside toasty, the condensation would form on the INSIDE of the windows and walls too. This of course, would freeze with the cold air coming in between the walls and the window frames, door frames too, as it turns out!

Marshalling up the forces (all eight of the students) and declaring an early recess, we all trudged down the road to our living space. I had an audience watching intently as I tried to pry the door open with a screw driver…NO LUCK. Brute force was what was needed! Tying together two jump ropes that the students had fortunately brought along (for a normal recess) I tied them onto the doorknob. Getting the children to pull on the rope along with me, and motioning Kate to push from inside while turning the handle we had success. BANG! The door flew open revealing a smiling duo of Dan and Cece and then Kate. However, the victim of the event, the doorknob stayed tied to the rope and had pulled out of the door. Luckily it was an easy fix and another cold weather legend was born.

Memory being what it is, I think the above happened just before the frozen toilet episode. That had the makings of a REAL tragedy that was thankfully averted!!!! Believing that we were seasoned Pacific Northwest dwellers, we left our faucets dripping a bit. Leaving Powell for a week at Christmastime, 1981, we had a wonderful time being feted on Ronnie Way by G and G. Flying home via Denver, (The airline never new we had stowed away an un-paying passenger, a tiny embryonic Becca!  Many used barf bags were a testament to her presence…poor Kate!), returning to Missoula and driving over the pass, safely this time, on our still-new studs, we came home to find the toilet totally frozen; the bowl was an oval of solid ice. That was a scary sight! The faucets were fine, the pipes were ok but the toilet was a solid lump.

Boiling water on the stove, eventually we were able to thaw the tank and bowl out enough to be operational. Thank God there were no cracks, no damage had been done except to our nerves. The oldies about, experienced Forest Service personnel, laughed when they heard and informed us after the fact, that they would usually flush anti-freeze a couple of times and then fill the bowl with it when leaving for extended winter periods. That is knowledge that we thankfully have not had to use again to this day.

9-3-2010