The blog is back after a few days of vacation, part of which was spent insulating water pipes in the basement. It was cold. Really cold. And the hot water line to the kitchen was frozen.

I've had a frozen pipe once before - there was no permanent damage - but it sure is annoying. Trying to located the ice cold draft that froze the pipe, I came across a newspaper from Dec. 26, 1959. It was almost impossible to unfold and read any of it, but I can tell you that the city was working on the Market-Greene Street connection, and that it was 95 cents to get into the Garland Theater to see "The Cattle Empire."

I guess that's the thing about blogs - they can't be used to insulate your water pipes. Anyway.

How are you holding up in the cold? Any good neighbor stories you'd like to share with the blog? Pictures from your snowy backyard? Send it all to piah@spokesman.com and I'll post it.