We had a small cabin out in the woods growing up. It was a one bedroom place with a woodstove and also electric heat that would take forever to warm up. We'd go there sometimes and it'd be -30 below zero and we'd crank the electric oven to 550 and stand in front of it until the place would warm up.
It was there that one of my friend's told me about this guy he heard of who went to his cabin when it was like -50 and to warm up the guy cracked a bottle of vodka from a cabinet, drank a swig, froze his throat and died.
I remember being at the place during the summer and when you were sitting there in silence, you could hear wood ants chewing on the interior of the place. There were piles of sawdust in the closet, too. Using an outhouse when it's below zero really, really sucks. The place had no running water, so we'd drive to town to visit McDonald's and take Mexican showers in the men's room.
_________________________
"Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars." - Martin Luther King, Jr.