A New Definition of Frigid and the Historic Nauvoo Post Office

How cold is it in Nauvoo in January you ask? 

So cold that when I dialed 911, a recorded message said to phone back in the spring!

So cold that the fire department advises that you set your house on fire.

So cold that   you can bake a cake, set it out to cool, and 10 minutes later it's frosted.

So cold that  when Elder Johnson put on his coat to take out the garbage, it didn't want to.

So cold that I chipped a tooth on my soup!

So cold that when we milked the cows, we got ice cream! When we milked the brown cows - we got chocolate ice cream!

So cold that we pulled everything out of the freezer and huddled inside it to warm up!

So cold that when we parked the sled, we either had to plug in the dogs - or keep them running in place!

So cold that  roosters were rushing into Kentucky Fried Chicken and begging to use the pressure cooker! 

Oh woops, it's So cold in Nauvoo that both fast food restaurants have closed down til spring so it couldn't have been Kentucky Fried (this one's true and so are the rest).

 So cold that we closed down all the sites one day and canceled a training meeting due to the wind chill factor being 23 degrees below zero.

 So cold that if there wasn't a $1000 fine for setting foot on the iced over Mississippi River, Nauvoo missionaries would make a run for it.

 So cold and icy that we are advised to wear cleats to stay upright.

 And you thought cleats were just for soccer, or football (is that why the broncos lost-no cleats?)

So cold that any adventure outside for any length of time requires a full set of winter gear for the whole self including hands, head, and neck. Wool socks and lined leggings are under all my cloths while warm boots, several layers of coats zipped up tight, hats, heavy gloves, and scarves are the norm for both of us with every venture outside. Sun shining through our window means absolutely nothing with respect to warmer weather like it does in Colorado--and frigid is an understatement.

When we're not trying to avoid frost bite, we are working on musical numbers for upcoming events. Don't you worry....we're busy while we're not busy and freezing to death. :)


Historic Nauvoo Post Office

We got to serve in the Post Office for the first time today. Someone should have thought of email a lot sooner don't you agree? Did you know in the 1840's it cost six cents to send a one page letter 30 miles away. Then if you wanted to send one page 400 miles away it cost a quarter. Keep in mind a skilled laborer made about a dollar a day. To top it off, letters didn't always make their destination so in order to insure the destiny of important news, they would send several letters--one going by boat and another by stage coach. Many people had the nerve of sending a letter COD. If the recipients couldn't pay the fee, they didn't get the letter and it wasn't even notated who the sender was. After a time, unclaimed letters were sent to Washington DC and destroyed.

Again, why not email? What were they thinking? :)

 Mail slots in the 1840's typically didn't have names and were commonly located in someone's kitchen or part of a dry goods store which is the case in Nauvoo.

Pottery, tools, groceries, and dry goods were sold at Frederick Merryweather's Post Office in Nauvoo since running the Post Office has never been very lucrative. (Why hasn't someone learned that lesson yet?)

Below are tools  that may have been sold here used to separate wheat from tares.

I love Christ's analogy of not pulling up the tares too early and causing damage to the young wheat plants.

Which plant are you going to be--wheat or tares? It's up to you ya know. I invite you to visit Wheat and Tares