So we woke up Sunday morning to an unusually cold house. I admit that we turn the heat down quite a bit at night, and I admit that I keep the bedroom window open a crack even in the winter time – making it a pretty chilly room sometimes. . . . . . But THIS was cold even for me!
It didn’t take a rocket scientist to confirm that our stupid furnace wasn’t working. Oh Burrrrruther! SO not convenient! 
In fact, we suspected it may have stopped working the day before. We had been out most of the day and went to bed as soon as we got home. Upon reflection it did seem a little chilly to me. . . . . . Could have been off a good 24 hours before we discovered it. Sheesh! Its November in Edmonton! You don’t get along for too long without a dependable heat source!
Lucky for me Dan was home, so he could take charge of figuring it out – LOL. I hate doing that sorta thing. Unfortunately however, none of his ideas worked. Lucky for both of us, our son in law Ray lives within an hour’s drive. He’s a pretty smart guy, AND he works with furnaces. He put his Sunday going-to-church-with-his-family plans aside so that he could come help Dan fix the furnace. (Thanks again Ray) It was a bigger problem than any of us expected and he needed a part that could not be purchased on Sunday. So that meant another 24+ hours without our furnace running. This was SO not in the plan for a cold November day.
The thing about these kinds of occurrences is that they seldom are “IN the plan“, but planning for their possibilities makes all the difference in how you get through them. They quickly move to the top of your list of priorities without much warning. Seriously, in Edmonton a furnace is pretty close to the top of any priority list in November. Fortunately for us it wasn’t bitter cold outside and fortunately for us again, there wasn’t a strong wind blowing. Both things to be grateful for, but there were other things to be grateful for too. Factors that contributed to how this next 48 hours played out.
Let me tell you the “rest of the journey”.
Among the many factors that went into making this experience easier for us, I want to focus on four. Things that we were very glad to have paid attention to when they were manageable and affordable. Perhaps you might find them helpful too, so here they are.
Factor #1
At the beginning of our married life, we committed to do our very best to prepare our home and family for potential hardships.
That early decision smoothed out many difficulties over the years and prevented undue stress at times when we would have been least able to deal with it.
We knew some of these preparatory projects would cost hard-to-come-by-money in those early years. We committed to make those things a priority, and sometimes priorities require sacrifice. We also knew we couldn’t afford to do everything at once. It would be a work in progress, that we would complete one step at a time. As we could afford it.
Factor #2
As part of that ongoing commitment to prepare ourselves, several years ago – maybe 15 years ago, we invested in reinsulating our house. (We also re-insulated the first house we owned many many years ago. It seemed like a good investment. And it certainly paid off.) We paid particular attention to the attic where Dan blew a special insulation all over the surface of it. This may seem like an unusual project in preparation for future hardship, but remember, we live in Edmonton. ….. We planned for the extra insulation keeping our house more efficient winter and summer. Truly it has paid off. Big time. Many times we continue to still be amazed at how long the house keeps its warmth in the winter, and how long it keeps a morning coolness in the summer.
Factor #3
About a decade ago, we decided to save up and buy a wood burning stove. 
We did considerable research before choosing one, and we had it installed in our basement that November. It became a major part of our Christmas that year. We opted for a free standing woodstove that had a flat top upon which we could boil water and perhaps even cook a meal if needed. We positioned it to be on the other side of the wall of a 250 gallon water tank which stands in the adjoining laundry room. No mistake on the positioning of it. Having 250 gallons of clean water is a wonderful thing, but losing heat in an Edmonton winter could freeze that water, and turn a very good thing – VERY bad. That was a major concern of ours, and we deliberated upon how to prevent potential freezing in the event of heat loss. The wood stove would serve a dual purpose. Heat the basement, and prevent the water from freezing.
Factor #4
A wood burning stove is useless without a lotta wood! 
So we purchased a few cords of clean-burning wood and stored it in our backyard. We have a stash close to the back door, and we have a bin in the basement close to the stove. We keep kindling nearby, and of course matches. We learned the trick of lighting a fire in a wood burning stove when the outside chimney is 40 below zero. If you think that isn’t important, then you have never tried it. Cold air in the chimney makes it impossible for lighter warm air to rise above it. The result? A smoked out house that takes weeks to get the smoke smell out. Don’t ask me how I know this.
Factor #5
We tried for years to put a few dollars aside for emergencies. We weren’t always successful but our hearts were in it and we tried to make it a priority. Sometimes that is more difficult than one might imagine. We get it. However, a little here and a little there is what makes the difference. Some thing is better than nothing. Having a few extra dollars on hand can take a potential tragedy and turn it into an inconvenience. And the opposite is equally true.
So with these factors in mind, let’s return to our Sunday without a furnace. There were so many things to be grateful for that turned our experience into nothing more than an inconvenience. The absence of some of the preparatory steps however could have had a completely different outcome.
Good thing / Bad thing
I like to play the good thing – bad thing game. It helps me put things into perspective and appreciate blessings in my life.
* Good thing – this happened on a day that Dan was home. Yay for me.
* Bad thing – he couldn’t fix it. Boo.
* Good thing – Ray was in town and able to come and help. Yay.
* Bad thing – he couldn’t fix it without an important component (the board), that could not be purchased on Sunday. Boo.
* Good thing – we have a gas fireplace upstairs. We turned it on as soon as we realized we had no other heat. We also have a wood stove in the basement. Dan lit the fire right away and added some logs to it.
* Good thing – the wood stove downstairs soon heated the basement to a toasty warm and we only needed a few logs to maintain it.
* Good thing – Dan kept a supply of house suitable logs cut and accessible for winter burning.
* Good thing – we were surprised at not only how sufficiently the wood stove heated the basement, but how much of that heat flowed upward to keep the main level comfortable. It wasn’t long before we were able to turn the gas fireplace off. Of course sweaters and slippers were useful in keeping us comfortable.
* Good thing: once the house was comfortably heated again, it retained that warmth for an exceptionally long time. Thank goodness for good insulation.
* Good thing – extra quilts and duvets made sleeping comfortable.
* Good thing – we had set enough aside for emergencies, to cover the unexpectedly high cost of the new furnace piece we needed. Something to be especially grateful for.
By Sunday afternoon, we understood the earliest we would have a working furnace was late afternoon the following day. Before bed we stoked the fire and kept it burning low. Fortunately we still had embers in the morning that made reigniting it quick and easy. We were pleased and surprised to note that the house had maintained a reasonable warmth during the night, and that the next morning was considerably less chilly than the previous one.
The moral of the story is to plan for and be prepared for emergencies which are reasonable in your area. Sometimes those emergencies take the form of unfortunate situations. Prepare for those too. Sometimes that preparedness is the result of years of effort and commitment. Usually that is the case.
One of my favourite mottos is “Best time to start was yesterday. Second best time is right now.”
Warmly,
Cindy Suelzle
but it was usually too early and a late spring frost or big wind or something else we couldn’t control would eliminate any serious promise of the blossoms fruiting out. Until one year. The stars all lined up I guess. Beautiful blossoms. No late frost. No big wind. We were surprised to see cute little green apricots form. Still we had no expectations out of them. No sense putting our hope in unrealistic places. …. But they continued to grow, and they ripened into that beautiful apricot-orange we’re so familiar with. Being the eternal skeptics, we figured they’d be lousy because … well, EDMONTON! Hello! You don’t grow apricots in Edmonton.
(from beta-carotene). When my kids were little, dried apricots were a real treat, and apricot nectar (though pricey) was the fruit juice that I bought for whoever happened to be sick at any given time. The sick person got to drink a whole container apricot nectar all to themselves. It was their special food-medicine because it is so rich in infection fighting and immune enhancing vitamins A and C as well as minerals and so many antioxidants that are known to fight free radicals in the body, and protect us from disease. When appetite is minimal anyway, it never made any sense wasting it on anything that wasn’t going to help heal.
For eleven months of the year, I choose to eat FREEZE DRIED Apricots. After tree-ripened ‘FRESH’ – which lets face it, doesn’t happen too often in Alberta, freeze dried is the MOST nutritious source of apricots. Of course nutrition is optimised when care and attention are given to the ‘quickness’ of the process, ensuring fruit was tree-ripened and that time between harvest and flash freezing is measured in hours rather than days. Although the method of freeze drying is standard, the care of beginning with the best possible fruit varies from company to company. There are many different brands of Freeze Dried fruits. Do your investigation and find the one that guarantees best nutrition. A good source of freeze dried apricots could yield up to 95% of the original food value. And bonus: if packed properly in an oxygen free can, the shelf life could exceed twenty five years. This is a pretty impressive and stable way to keep apricots on hand for everyday use all year long.
Pineapples – those wonderful tropical fruits that are so gorgeously delicious – are even more nutritious than you may have believed. I live in Canada, so the pineapple I grew up on was the same as what my parents had available – canned. Dole or Del Monte. We thought that was delicious enough – imagine my delight when I discovered “fresh” pineapple in the produce department when I was all grown up and buying my own groceries! Oh My!
We all know that fruits and vegetables are at their peak of perfection in every way – including nutritionally when they are picked fully ripe – having ripened ON the plant. Harvesting before ripe means of course that the nutrients have not had a chance to fully develop, and so are sadly lacking right from the beginning. Since fruits like pineapples and bananas have to travel half way across the world to reach us, taking two to three weeks minimally before we see them on the grocery store shelf we cannot hope to have them picked ripe. But wait a minute, must they always be less than they should be for those of us who don’t live in tropical countries?
Most fruits and vegetables are an excellent source of dietary fibre, and pineapple is particularly fibrous – which is essential in keeping our intestines clean and healthy. But pineapple is also known as a wonderful source of digestive enzymes, perhaps the most important one being BROMELAIN, an enzyme that breaks down protein, being particularly beneficial in aiding in digestion.
Since it is so perishable, it was not only a rarity in the early days, but many attempts have been made over the centuries to preserve it so that those of us not living in tropical climates can enjoy it. For centuries it was glazed in a sugar coating and dried as a luxurious treat for those who could afford it.
Although the process of 
This tough, leafy green is loaded with vitamins A, C and K as well as immune-system booster beta carotene and bone-building calcium. It is a virtual powerhouse of antioxidants as well as having anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. We all know ‘raw and fresh’ is best, so add it into a coleslaw. But don’t stop there. Lightly saute it with olive oil and red wine vinegar, just till the colour is that gorgeous bright green and it becomes tender to the fork. Add Kale to stir fries, omelettes and many other vegetable-friendly dishes toward the end of the cooking process. Think outside the box. Be creative.
Sprouted in nature and packed with nutrients, 
Broccoli is probably the best known and most commonly used cruciferous vegetable in Canada and the United States, but make no mistake broccoli is not to be underestimated. There is nothing ‘common’ about it.