I am not ready for the cold weather.

The night the temperature dipped into the 30s, I immediately missed the month of September.

As I watched the fire build in our wood stove, I wondered how people stayed warm in the old days. Images of cavemen in bear hides huddled around a fire crossed my mind.

The smells of smoke and bear hides might not be appealing, but freezing is worse.

An old-timer once told me that it would be so cold at night, the top layer of the chamber pot would be frozen.

They kept warm with heated bricks wrapped in cloth in their beds.

Offthegridnews.com says people built smaller houses because they were easier to heat.

Kids slept in the loft where the heat rose from the fireplace.

Beds were piled high with quilts, and siblings all snuggled together and slept together in the same bed.

Girls and boys had serarate beds.

Beds warmed by a copper or brass pan filled with heated rocks or placed between bedding layers helped warm icy sheets before bedtime.

Men’s winter clothes included woolen cloaks, scarves, hats, mittens, shirts and long underwear.

Leather boots kept footsies nice and dry.

Men would sometimes wear extra pants stuffed with feathers, straw or leaves in the added pants layers for insulation.

Offgridnews.com reports women wore knit hosiery, bloomers, linen shifts under dresses made of linen, flannel and wool.

When going over the river to grandmother’s house in a horse-pulled sleigh ride, you would take layers of quilts and portable foot stoves. These were wood boxes filled with heated rocks. Heated soapstone wrapped in cloth and placed in gloves and pockets also kept hands warm.

The night before Christmas, the man in his stocking cap and wife in her kerchief were just donning proper warm winter clothing.

A fireplace or fire pit was a lifesaver in the old days.

In ancient times, the firepit was in the middle of the room. The smoke drifted up and out by a hole in the roof. Fireplaces, woodstoves and soapstone wood stoves kept rooms warm and cooked food. Some homes had a fireplace in every room.

The ancient Romans had hypocausts, central heating that circulates hot air below floors and through walls. Hot air and smoke from furnaces outside were used to produce the heat.

Homethingspast.com said tiled stoves called “Kachelpfen” were used in Northern Europe.

What our ancestors did to keep themselves warm and alive must have worked, because we are here today.