This morning I awoke to Diesel curled up at my feet, snoring to beat the band, and the wind howling and battering the house. It was quite a combination! We have blizzard conditions here at the little house in the city, a rare event!
I jumped out of bed and headed for the thermostat, changing the temperature to 20C, up from the 16C overnight setting.
16C (60.8F) is great for sleeping. It allows me to cuddle under my quilt in cozy comfort. It is not a great temperature for being awake and moving around the house. At 16C my hands and feet get cold. I could solve the cold feet issue by purchasing a pair of winter boots to wear exclusively in the house. I have not found a solution for my hands though. I have several pairs of gloves with the fingers cut out of them, but my hands still get cold, and I have to take them off to do dishes, or any activity that involves handling wet objects.
20C (68F) is a very comfortable temperature for daytime activities in the house. It is very easy to maintain this temperature at the little house in the city. Tap, tap, tap on the thermostat display and voila, instant and consistent heat! The thermostat is a miracle device, in my humble opinion.
At the country house, at it’s best, the daytime temperature is 20C on the indoor thermometer. The indoor thermometer is located on the central support beam of the house, which is right beside the chimney section of the masonry heater. It is the warmest spot in the room, and in the house. The temperature falls as one moves towards the exterior walls, and it falls further if one moves near the exterior windows. The temperature falls a full 5C by the time one reaches the exterior wall. If you are near the wall the temperature is 15C (59F). It is much colder by the windows. I do not find 15C comfortable for daily activities.
Then there are the windy frigid days, and nighttime lows, at the country house. These can be downright challenging! The temperature by the masonry heater usually falls to 17C, which is not all that comfortable, and requires layers of clothing to keep warm. By the exterior walls the indoor temperature falls to 12C (53.6F), and lower than that by the windows. This is downright chilly for an old gal like me! I have survived these interior conditions for the last ten years, and it has become more difficult to stay comfortable with each passing year. This is one of the many reasons I am staying the winter at the little house in the city, and loving my thermostat!
Back to the blizzard. The wind has caused the snow to drift into deep piles in the driveway. I won’t be going out to “shovel out”, until this weather abates. I am not too concerned about waiting to dig my way out, because Tank has huge wheels, tough tires, and sits high above the ground; it is an “off road” vehicle. I haven’t tested it yet, but I am confident that Tank could drive through the worst that mother nature can throw at me here at the little house in the city. At the country house, well, no, other than a snowmobile, I don’t think there is a vehicle that could handle the worst that mother nature throws at us at the country house. Luckily the blizzard has not moved that far north, which is good news for Attila.
Attila continues to work all day, then come home to shovel snow, chop wood, and keep the hearth fires burning. Right now he has felled several dead or dying trees, that he marked last summer. He will section the felled trees into logs, then section the logs into short lengths, then split the short lengths, then stack the split wood for next winter. Attila likes this type of project, and spends all his free time at it.
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Here is a bit of whimsy, my living room on Mother Earth News: My Living Room.
I stumbled onto this web page today 67 Books Every Geek Should Read to Their Kids Before Age 10
BY ERIK WECKS. It made me long for a child to read to! These books, most of which I’ve read, are delightful. It would be so wonderful to visit them with a child!
Worldly Distractions
Weather
BLOWING SNOW ADVISORY IN EFFECT
EXTREME COLD WARNING IN EFFECT
-18°C
Date: 6:39 AM EST Monday 2 February 2015
Condition: Light Snow
Pressure: 100.7 kPa
Tendency: falling
Visibility: 1 km
Temperature: -18.1°C
Dewpoint: -21.1°C
Humidity: 78%
Wind: NNE 40 gust 54 km/h
Wind Chill: -32
-18°C
Date: 6:19 AM EST Monday 2 February 2015
Condition: Light Snow
Pressure: 101.0 kPa
Visibility: 2 km
Temperature: -18.1°C
Dewpoint: -20.8°C
Humidity: 80%
Wind: NNE 9 km/h
Wind Chill: -25
Quote
“There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.”
Douglas Adams
1952 – 2001
I am so loving the picture of Diesel climbing up for some attention!
And it was interesting to note that the small house article linked back here to your blog. (I love to look at small houses and have periodically hoped to build one. Don’t know if that will ever happen though, as I’m beginning to think we’d be better off renting once we retire.)
When I’m downstairs, which is colder, I find that I often need to wear a snuggie (blanket with arms) to stay warm down there. Often, my cold hands are a sign that my core body temperature is low. Wearing the snuggie helps keep me and my hands warmer.
Interesting about the casters on all the furniture. Saves the back, too, when you want to move something.
So far, I don’t see all those “linked words” here on this page… so I must have fixed whatever was my problem. Fingers crossed…
I look at small houses a lot too Teri. If we ever wanted to build on our camp lot the largest building we could build would have a footprint of 600 square feet. That isn’t all that large, but if it were two stories high it would be 1200 square feet, which would be comfortable for the two of us. I don’t really want to build though, owning property that sits vacant for the winter is not a whole lot of fun. Worries over winter damage and break-ins are constant. I like just going and sitting in the bush, maybe a screened kitchen tent and a small trailer for sleeping. The tent could come down for the winter, and the trailer could be towed to wherever we are living for the winter.
But I still look at small house plans!
I keep hoping for great ideas to make the little house in the city even more comfortable than it already is.
Bex, the casters are really handy too for moving the furniture to warmer and cooler parts of the room, since heating with wood means close to the fire is hot, near the fire is warm, and near the windows is cold in the winter, and just the opposite in the summer!
Glad to hear you fixed your computer issues, what a pain in the neck to have to interrupt a regularly scheduled day for machines gone haywire! 🙂
Very little snow, but cold.
I recall that in the past I always felt suffocated when I visited people my age and older because their homes would be too warm. Until this winter, I used to keep my home at the same temps as you still do – In fact, I would set my thermostat to 58F and snuggle deep in down. I loved it, but would skittle to the thermostat each morning and crank the heat to 65. Can-no-do anymore. Like those suffocating homes I disliked, mine has turned into a veritable hothouse – and it feels good. I can’t explain the shift in need for warmth. In addition to the higher thermostat settings, I also wear everything but a snowsuit – down to my socks and Ugg slippers. My hands stay warm only because of the heat settings. With my illness my extremities (toes and fingers) have changed. They haven’t become clubbed, but the shapes are different – arched and more rounded. The body prioritizes its oxygen – extremities are a low priority. My thermostat settings are disgraceful per my standards, but I’ve opted for comfort these days.
I get a kick out of some of the names on your blog – Tank & Diesel especially tickle me. Diesel is PRECIOUS! Such good fortune for you to have his company. I do confess that I miss having a dog or cat the most – neither can be a part of my life now. I especially like cats for all the reasons I’m drawn to Diesel. He sounds like my Roger. I miss my Roger something fierce. I hope that whoever moves into the apartment might have a cat. That would be so perfect.
Comfort! Reenie comfort is all important! I don’t think there are any standards that we all should meet, other than we should be able to remain comfortable. Voluntary suffering is not warranted, for anyone, at any time, except maybe childbirth, yes that is optional but not unavoidable once the option is chosen.
Diesel is called Diesel because he purrs, loud, and almost all the time! Pets are great company, my days are passing so much more easily with a companion. I do hope that a cat moves into the apartment with his/her human/s!