Winter is quickly approaching. Troy kept telling me he was getting nervous about being able to prepare everything for winter. Things like getting heat into our home. I kept thinking we'd have lots of time and then it snowed. Just a little bit, but enough to wake me up... and tell Troy he was right (we have a bit of a competition going around that -LOL!)
Don't get me wrong. We are not without any kind of heat source and we have a variety of options. It's that we want to make good decisions and they take time, effort and money. Time has been very dear this summer and to be honest, I'm completely surprised at how fast the season went by. I thought I'd have more time - famous last words, of course! We are also striving not to rush into anything and take the time to make long-term decisions.
Life out here is so different from living in the city. It's an eye-opener to really consider what we need and want versus what we've grown up with and think we need. Of course we need heat but it turns out there are quite a few options ranging from free to thousands of dollars. It isn't that we don't want to spend any money but Troy and I want to make good decisions about where the money is best spent. We've been so lucky that there have been so few truly cold days.
It's now the middle of February and it's actually raining right now. This winter was very mild which means we've been incredibly fortunate! We never did get the furnace going, nor did we install a fireplace. Just the space heaters for us. We still plan on getting these things set up but it seems like we won't need to panic and that gives Troy and I the time to do as much of the work ourselves.
The space heaters have worked really well but they do limit our activities. We can't both be gone from home with the heaters going because it just isn't a safe practice to leave them running unattended. Christmas was a bit of a challenge as it was one of the chilliest days but we really wanted to go see family. At any other time, one or the other us is home or the weather is nice enough that we can leave without the heat on. We don't have the water hooked up yet so there's no danger of freezing pipes.
When we got home on Christmas night, it was COLD in here!!! The coldest I've been all winter - we could see our breath. The space heaters got turned on but it was going to take a bit more to warm the place up and we were tired after a long day away. We got pretty creative with some options and each one of them had a positive impact. It took perhaps and hour and a half to two hours to truly warm the place up to normal.
Here are the steps we took to stay warm and to heat up our home:
Ah well. The rain is now part of gusting winds and I'm hoping there's no issue with the power. That would make things more challenging. Not a huge problem as we have a generator that we can use to run everything we need but it's down at the Quonset. When the weather isn't rainy with gusting winds, the walk to the Quonset isn't far at all but who wants to go out in this? Not I!
Don't get me wrong. We are not without any kind of heat source and we have a variety of options. It's that we want to make good decisions and they take time, effort and money. Time has been very dear this summer and to be honest, I'm completely surprised at how fast the season went by. I thought I'd have more time - famous last words, of course! We are also striving not to rush into anything and take the time to make long-term decisions.
Life out here is so different from living in the city. It's an eye-opener to really consider what we need and want versus what we've grown up with and think we need. Of course we need heat but it turns out there are quite a few options ranging from free to thousands of dollars. It isn't that we don't want to spend any money but Troy and I want to make good decisions about where the money is best spent. We've been so lucky that there have been so few truly cold days.
It's now the middle of February and it's actually raining right now. This winter was very mild which means we've been incredibly fortunate! We never did get the furnace going, nor did we install a fireplace. Just the space heaters for us. We still plan on getting these things set up but it seems like we won't need to panic and that gives Troy and I the time to do as much of the work ourselves.
The space heaters have worked really well but they do limit our activities. We can't both be gone from home with the heaters going because it just isn't a safe practice to leave them running unattended. Christmas was a bit of a challenge as it was one of the chilliest days but we really wanted to go see family. At any other time, one or the other us is home or the weather is nice enough that we can leave without the heat on. We don't have the water hooked up yet so there's no danger of freezing pipes.
When we got home on Christmas night, it was COLD in here!!! The coldest I've been all winter - we could see our breath. The space heaters got turned on but it was going to take a bit more to warm the place up and we were tired after a long day away. We got pretty creative with some options and each one of them had a positive impact. It took perhaps and hour and a half to two hours to truly warm the place up to normal.
Here are the steps we took to stay warm and to heat up our home:
- Layered clothing. We kept our coats on for a while and made sure our feet stayed warm wearing slippers. Troy kept his toque on, as well.
- Hot drinks. I like tea but hot chocolate, coffee or broth would be fine, too, I'd think.
- Candles. I'd stocked up on a variety of pillar, votive, tea and taper style candles. We lit some of everything. It was late and we wanted to go to bed but we stayed up for a while to keep an eye on the candles as you really don't want to leave them unattended!
- Hot water bottle or jar. If you don't have a hot water bottle, you can use a jar with a tight-fitting lid. I did this and only needed to half fill a quart jar; the heat lasted a couple of hours easy. I had to be careful for a while because it was really, really hot. If you try this one, maybe keep a towel around it so you don't get burned.
- Blankets. I always have blankets on the couch because I just like to curl up in them. They keep the heat in and when you tuck the hot water bottle in there with you, well, it's nice and toasty.
- Heater blanket on the bed. I can not tell you how delicious it felt to hop in to a very warm bed that night!!
Ah well. The rain is now part of gusting winds and I'm hoping there's no issue with the power. That would make things more challenging. Not a huge problem as we have a generator that we can use to run everything we need but it's down at the Quonset. When the weather isn't rainy with gusting winds, the walk to the Quonset isn't far at all but who wants to go out in this? Not I!
RSS Feed