A Home in New England ?

Question

My husband and I purchased an old home in Northern New York State from two elderly sisters.

Winter was fast approaching and I was concerned about the house's lack of insulation. "If they could live here all those years, so can we!" my husband confidently declared.

One November night the temperature plunged to below zero, and we woke up to find interior walls covered with frost.

My husband called the sisters to ask how they had kept the house warm.
After a rather brief conversation, he hung up.

"For the past 30 years," he muttered, "they've gone to Florida for the winter."

Link: http://www.jokes4us.com/miscellaneousjokes/weatherjokes/coldjokes.html

Answer 1

That'll work!  

Comments

Lol, Rooster, Florida in winter would be indeed an alternative.

Answer 2

Um... didn't they have the heating system inspected before they bought the house?

Comments

Lol, T(h)ink, they seem to have forgotten about that.

Answer 3

Oh Marianne! In Iowa, that happened with a home designed by famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright...called Cedar Rock, near the town of Quasqueton. The home was quite small, only around 900 square feet I think, but it had lots of windows, skylights too! Well Iowa winters can easily get down to 20*F below zero (that's -29*C), so for thirty years the owners always left in the winter!

It was kinda sad really, because that home was one of Wright's Usonian line, designed to be affordable to the average American family! I have been to the home, and loved it - as almost everyone does, there is just something about it so wonderful. But you cannot move the furniture, it is all built into the floors! The couple had no children, so when they got too old they donated it to the State of Iowa.

Comments

Lol Virginia, that is an interesting story, sad and still very amazing.

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The house looks lovely, Virginia.  But the furniture is bolted down?

Did Wright think the feng shui of the house would be ruined by another arrangement?

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N'kay, O'Tink...this is what I learned about temperamental artist FLW...if you (the owner) agreed to keep his creation fully in line with his artistic intent, he would give the owners a signed plaque you could post in the house! 

...and, he had a habit of dropping in without notice to MAKE SURE you were not violating the artistic integrity thereof. So once he dropped into this house Cedar Rock, and the owners had displayed a set of canisters in the kitchen that FLW did not like; kerfuffle! Finally FLW agreed to let the canisters stay in the house but the wife had to keep them closed inside the pantry!

So yes, my guess would be that the furniture was immovable so as to ensure artistic lines...     but do go see this house if you are ever in Quasqueton, IA...it DOES seem to have a way of making people fall in love with it...I certainly did...

...and I think I recall this house is the ONLY one in Iowa that has his signed plaque, FLW and the owners had become good friends in the process of building Cedar Rock, 1948-1950, I think it was...

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OMG, Virginia, I hope FLW didn't drop in to find the beds unmade! 

He probably would have had a fit. 

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...a scenario too terrible to contemplate, O'Tink...

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