Oh! To follow up, have you ever taken her on a whale watch?? There are some great ones around, I went out of Kennebunkport recently and it was phenomenal. Seeing a whale in it's natural habitat beats a zoo any day.

Even as a kid it was very clear to me that the animals are in terrible conditions. I begged my mom to take me there once and then never wanted to go again. It's really sad and if your child is perceptive, they will notice it. Not a good time.

I felt like it had been awhile since we had such a long outage with it being so cold which definitely complicated things. We have a large stock of lanterns/flashlights and batteries but found that a lot of them had corroded from lack of use. Note for next time not to store with batteries in.

We have large and small indoor propane heaters. The small one went to the basement to keep the pipes warm and the large one was in the center of the house upstairs to try to heat the rest as much as possible. We also have a propane camp stove which was very useful.

We also made sure our CO2 alarms were functioning and placed next to each heater just in case.

We don't have a generator so the refrigerator is always a concern. We picked up a bunch of ice ahead of time and moved perishables to coolers and tried not to open the fridge.

We are fortunate to live in a somewhat densely populated area and tend to get power back relatively quickly, but with more and more severe storms I do think outages will become more common and sustained.

My biggest concerns are always keeping the pipes from freezing, losing as little food as possible, and keeping the animals warm. I have two guinea pigs that live in my semi finished basement so I keep an emergency cage on hand to bring them upstairs if it gets too cold in the basement.

As far as basic safety and avoiding damage to the house, the propane heaters are the most valuable asset. In terms of comfort, having the camp stove and the ability to eat hot food is a life saver. We always keep plenty of propane cans stocked in the garage.

Agreed. I can't do any other type of wool but merino is fine.

Don't worry about it too much. It's important to understand that the cold can be dangerous, but as long as you are prepared you'll be just fine.

In addition to a coat you should be sure to have a warm hat, thick socks (Marino wool is a great option), and warm gloves or mittens. You could also get some disposable hand warmers, the kind you crush to heat up.I also tend to wear a pair of leggings under my pants if I know I'll be outside for more than a couple minutes at a time in the cold.

Just walking around a city in the cold your biggest worry is probably going to be comfort. Cities often have a wind tunnel effect through tall buildings that can make certain spots very cold.

The danger with cold is should you ever be stranded out in it with nowhere to go to warm up. The most likely instance of this is your car breaking down and night and needing to wait for help. Just be sure you always have more warm clothing than you think you need stored in your car.

You will absolutely need a coat. I have lived in Maine my whole life. I am very used to the cold, and I would never consider going the winter without a very warm coat.

If you're not acclimated to cold weather, you will likely still be cold with a coat on. Make sure you buy one that is big enough for you to wear warm layers underneath.

I also read this for the first time recently and felt unimpressed. I think at the time it was published, the message of anti-imperialism and stark representation of it's impact was new for many readers and the novella's significance lies in being an early work in condemning colonization.

To modern readers, it feels like a shallow meditation on a topic that is very widely discussed and written about, so it's much less of a shock to us than it's original audience.