C is for clinched
In The Long Winter, Laura lies in bed and looks at the frost on every clinched nail overhead. I can't believe I had to look this one up, a real a-ha moment.

A clinched nail is one that has been hammered entirely through the wood so that some of the pointed end sticks out of the other side. The sticky-out nail ends are hammered at right angles into the wood so they lie flat. Clinched.

In Laura's case, it's the nails through the rafters and/or shingles that she sees, as the upstairs has not been ceiled overhead, so ceil is another "C is for" word! Btw, Laura properly uses the verb to ceil for both walls and ceilings.
- posted by pioneergirl at 8:36 AM