It got a bit chilly last weekend.

A low of 17 degrees Fahrenheit in south Louisiana might as well be 0 degrees Kelvin. We just don’t expect it.

According to different sources, my house is somewhere between 70 and 90 years old. It sits above the ground and has exposed plumbing in the crawlspace beneath. Nobody in the house’s entire history has insulated the pipes. Why? Because they never had to.

Last weekend brought an incredible cold spell. Despite the fact that we left our water dripping, the pipes froze and I had to use a heat gun to thaw them. We were lucky not to have any breaks. Three people on my hallway at work had some level of damage done by the freeze.

On a positive note, I am very familiar now with my plumbing system. I just hope I won’t be getting any more familiar with the pipes any time soon.