Well, here I am, in three layers of clothing, my hands are freezing off. We're having the coldest weekend in Portland, Oregon, so far this year, and my furnace has broken down. Waiting for the repairman to come tomorrow morning (I hope it's in the morning!), and I can't do anything because it's so cold! Can't render anything because I'm so cold I can't concentrate on anything I'm doing. So, here I am, suffering from Poser withdrawals! So there you are! :( Melanie

Rendering will work the CPU there by generating heat.

Hmm, good thought! If I could only thaw out my hands long enought to use the mouse. It's a real challenge just coming in here to the forum. Melanie

socks on the hands gripping pencils. use the erasers to type numbers into the menus. I have a freind that has handicaps using hands, she's come up with very creative ways to type pencil erasers (cause they grip when typing), ways to use the mouse and work on the computer. She has also setup voice control for menu's using Via Voice program. there are always ways to do what you really want to. Now if I could just listen to my own advice I'd probably get some work done hahaha.

And if you happen to have a 21" CRT on all day, that could be hotter than the furnace.

YOU POOR THING, I PRAY THAT THE MORNING COMES FAST. : ( MachineClaw...GOOD IDEA

Bake something. Or make soup from scratch. Nothing like running the stove or oven for a few hours to warm the place up a bit and thaw yourself out. Besides, it smells good and you have a tasty meal at the end of it. If at the computer, place a heating pad on your legs and rest your hands on it regularly. You can use it as a wrist-rest also, but be very careful - too much constant pressure can lead to burns. A better method for a wrist-rest is a hot-water bottle, if you have one, or a towel that's been put in the dryer for a few minutes on high. Yes, I feel cold a lot. :)

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even the mouse.... poor thing good luck Scarab

If the furnace is out, she probably can't bake (a good stove being gas-fired). I'm going to suggest wearing a hat with ear coverings. You lose a lot of body heat through the top of the head, and retaining that heat will leave your body more to send to the fingers and toes. Also if you can heat water... hot chocolate will keep your body hotter longer than tea or coffee because of the fats in it. Carolly

I went 2 months without a computer till I got the new one. I feel for you. I really know what withdrawls are. At lest you have power to surf. Nothing like a hot drink of any kind to warm the hand up. Hope you get heat soon. Lots of snow here too.

Carolly, I didn't know that! How do you know all these things? :) Melanie, I hate to be cold; I hope your furnace will get fixed very soon. Sue

Sue88, I used to live in the mountains. 4 years on the Yosemite border. I had the top half of a Victorian... drafty to say the least! (And at 500 square foot, it qualified as a garret.) There were holes big enough for the bats to fly in and out. It fascinated my cat who'd jump all over the place trying to catch them... while I was doing delicate pen & ink stippling. Since those were mosquito-eating bats, I'd escort them outside safely. (I'm allergic to insect bites, and anything which eats its weight in mosquitoes is worth helping.) Meanwhile, in the winter the fuel bills were higher than the rent, even though I only had a tiny inefficient wall-heater. When it died and took the landlord a couple weeks to get around to fixing, I nearly froze. The electric stove wasn't enough strong to heat the room either, but hot chicken soup in a mug (for wrapping hands around) helped, and the lipids in the chicken fats kept the health up. I miss my 27 acres with creek! However, I don't miss starving, or driving 4 hours to get a hug and game of scrabble with friends. Now winters here are not anything like New York blizzards (California really is a mild state even at moderate elevations), but I understand how hard it is to work with cold stiff fingers, and hope that Melanie's repairperson is on his way right now! Carolly

Wow, Carolly, you didn't have it very easy, did you? I'm sure I wouldn't have lasted 4 years...

Thanks everyone for the kind thoughts. They repairman came out this morning and we thought he had it fixed, but it looks like we'll need a new boiler. Carolly, the furnace is gas, but fortunately our kitchen stove is electric. Great about hot chocolate. I have a huge box from Costco, so that'll help. The hot water bottle is a great idea, too, april. THanks for the suggestion. I love this community! :) Melanie

Sue88, It was peaceful... a halfway house on the road to Yosemite where friends and friends of friends could stop by, even if I wasn't there. One of my friends lost a brother and another needed to hole up for a week to polish his dissertation and others just needed a place to break the long drive from San Diego or the Bay Area. Coarsegold Creek is a pretty little creek. A friend showed me how to pan for gold in it, and we actually found a few grains. The Chuckchansi indians called it Turtle Creek (the cottage was on the site of the old village), and I rescued turtles who managed to strand themselves when the water dropped in the summer. Too many tiny dams upstream. :grrrr: There were two SCA groups vying for my membership... until I realized that they didn't want me or my persona (one group was heavily Christian), but my land. Nothing changes in a thousand years! Living alone in the mountains is hard, but worthwhile when you really want to hermit and get some art done. If I'd had the Internet back then and enough money to live on, I'd probably still be there! Carolly, feeling nostalgic

Sounds like a very interesting experience, Carolly. Worthy of a book or movie. :)

Not that interesting, compared to some of my neighbors. Another artist lived a couple ridges over from me. One day she got home from work (we were drafting for the same architect) to find a mountain lion in her garage. Lots of bears over there, too. Late one night she heard a yowling and ran out in her nightie with rifle only to see a big cat make off with one of her housecats. She debated chasing it through the dark (1 am), but figured that her pet was already dead. She didn't have PG&E, so after surgery from breast cancer she was out chopping her own firewood when a neighbor drove up and gave her the what-for. 4th generation rancher and as independent as they come. THAT is a lady with some stories! Carolly