Furnace

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The oil furnace kicked in last night, for the first time this fall. That means the temperature outside dropped below -7C last night. I am very relieved that the furnace worked as it should, as we had some trouble with it a few weeks ago. Attila fixed had fixed it, but the proof is in the pudding as they say. It worked, hooray! My Sister-The-Youngest-Girl was headed for a visit to our cousin in Ottawa, and chose a route going right by Mist Cottage. So she stopped by for a visit, and I cooked us a lunch to share. She is enjoying her time off work, and the drive was lovely she said, except trying to get through Toronto, that wasn’t much fun. I have not found it much fun either! My Mom sent along some picture for me, ones that I had thought were lost forever, I didn’t think they existed anymore. They were class pictures taken during my elementary school years. Oh my, what memories! I could remember the names of most of the teachers, and many of the other students, which surprised me, as I’ve not had any contact with any of them since, well, lets just … Continue reading →

Gales of November

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It is blustery, wet, and cold out there today. And the weather people predict snow this afternoon. The yard has been “winterized”. The Scarlet Runner Bean plants have been torn out and removed to the compost, as have all the garden plants except the rosemary, oregano, thyme, and my Granny’s Rose, which Attila has mulched to protect it from frost damage. It grew luxuriously for Granny, but in her yard it was covered all winter by deep snow, and we don’t get deep snow here, not like that. So mulch should help it weather the winter. On Sunday Attila cut the grass in the yard, using the clippings to top up the compost bins. Now that the garage roof is almost done, he has time and psychic freedom to concentrate on his real love, gardening. All compostables are now precious, no yard waste will be going to the curb in future. The tree branches that come down in the wind, or are cut when he is pruning the trees, are stored in a pile in the back yard, ready for use in the spring. Next spring I want to construct a raised bed inside the fenced area, a garden bed … Continue reading →

Thank Goodness

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Remembrance Day today. My family was lucky. My Grandpa fought in the first world war, and came home safe and sound, and so I am here with my fingers moving across the keyboard, due to sheer good luck. It is a day to remember those who did not come back, and their descendants that did not come to exist. A typical weekend here, and thank goodness there is a typical weekend! Yesterday the second bag of beef bones dragged up from the bottom of the old chest freezer. It was from the organic, grass-fed, half quarter of beef that we purchased from Terra’s neighbour, back in October of 2013. Yikes, that is five years ago! The day was cold and windy, so the Nesco portable oven was placed indoors, in the kitchen, to do its magic with the bones. The heat from the Nesco helped to heat the house, instead of the freezing winds on the porch. This is quite the opposite of summer us of the Nesco, when it is used on the back porch, to avoid heating up the house. The biggest disadvantage to having waited until the weather turned cold to make bone broth, is that it … Continue reading →

Furnace Fixed!

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The oil furnace is the auxiliary heat at Mist Cottage, and it wasn’t kicking in when it needed to. The first thing we thought of was the thermostat, but it seemed to be working as expected. When the temperature drops 2C below the target temperature, the oil furnace is supposed to come on to bring the interior temperature up to the target. This doesn’t happen very often when the heat pump is heating the house, as it kicks in if the temperature falls by 1C. It is only when the weather throws a quick and extreme temperature drop at us that this whole sequence comes into play. Attila had some ideas, and started with the simplest, checking all the wiring that was visible. Sure enough, one of the connectors was dislodged! He secured the connector, turned the heat up to 27C (from 21.5C) and bingo, the furnace instantly began to do what it is supposed to do! I turned the thermostat back down as soon as it was a sure thing that everything was working as it should. Relief!! This morning Attila looked very stern minutes after he got out of bed. He was pondering and worrying over the furnace … Continue reading →