That popping sound

If you haven't heard, it's cold here in Minnesota. It's so cold that my car, after not driving it for two days, barely started and it has a nearly new battery in it. But more disturbing than that is what the cold weather is doing to my house.

No, the frost on the inside of the windows isn't anything to worry about. That's par for the course in a 110 year-old house. It's the loud popping sounds we've been hearing. In the last two days I've heard no less than half a dozen frighteningly loud pops. It sounds like someone is in my attic firing off shotgun shells. I even joked today that it's only a matter of time until part of the roof falls in on us and finally puts us out of our misery.

But I guess it really isn't a joking matter. The facts are as follows: there is at least a foot of, at one time, heavy and wet snow stuck to every inch of my roof. My gutters suck (I have those joke-like almost Lego snap-together pieces of shit) and are likely full of ice which will only back further up my roof when the snow melts in early June. The neighbors have laboriously drug roof rakes across their snow-laden roofs but I'm one to let nature take its course. With my fingers crossed I can say that I haven't had any water issues thus far with my roof and I have easy access to it from my spacious attic so I hope I'm safe.

But if I am woke up by another shotgun-like pop I'll do something about it. Probably buy a pair of ear plugs.

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