This morning I arose to a frosty world, -31C, wind chill -40C. We won’t be out walking this morning! The air source heat pump has shut itself down. and turned the job of heating over to the electric furnace, aka “the toaster”.
The air and everything in the house is dry, dry, dry. My hair, very fine and vulnerable to static electricity, is interesting.
There is a definite chill in the air, in the house, this morning, as the heating system cannot completely combat the lack of insulation in the walls. But this is easily compensated for by adding warm layers of clothing.
Despite the cold, and the fact that we sleep beside uninsulated walls on the north side of the house, we were comfortable over the course of the night. I folded crocheted blankets against the wall, and an extra blanket over the bed, in anticipation of the cold. It worked, I was warm and cozy when I awoke.
A winter sleeping trick I learned at the country house, where this kind of cold was the norm, and wood heating was used, was to wear a hoodie to bed. This kept my head warm, and protected my neck from exposure if I tossed around during the night. Another winter sleeping trick was to spread a thick wool blanket under the bottom fitted sheet on the mattress, that made a huge difference.
A fond memory is one I have when I visited my Granny and Grandpa during the winter. Granny was getting ready for bed, and to my surprise her night attire included a balaclava! Always innovative, I sure loved my Granny!
I haven’t needed to do any of those tactics here at Mist Cottage, because we have a thermostat and forced air heating, so that all the rooms in the house are roughly the same temperature. Heating with wood as we did at the country house, the heat is not like that. The further from the masonry heater the lower the temperature. The bedroom was very cold so special measures were needed.
So, I guess we go shopping at the big box store again today, to get our walk in!
Worldly
Weather
-31°C
Date: 6:00 AM EST Sunday 8 February 2026
Condition: Mainly Clear
Pressure: 102.9 kPa
Tendency: Rising
Temperature: -26.9°C
Dew point: -30.1°C
Humidity: 74%
Wind: W 10 km/h
Wind Chill: -40C
Visibility: 24 km
Quote
“The advantage of a bad memory is that one enjoys several times the same good things for the first time.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
1844 – 1900
Years pass, and as a result, I remember how the books and films made me feel, and have a vague recollection of the theme and characters. However, reading and watching them again, I am newly delighted!
Maggie, although our toaster strips rarely run, forced air heat is always drying. We use a cool mist humidifier and, although the one we have is small, it still keeps our house between 35% and 45% humidity. Your house is smaller, so I’m guessing one comparable to ours might be adequate.
For what it’s worth, here’s a link to what we have (yes, US version but it shows what I’m talking about): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HS45N13?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_2&th=1
Thank you Wendy! We find the forced air using the air source heat pump is not really a dry heat, I think because the air is never heated above the temperature on the thermostat. When the toaster runs, the air dries out pretty fast, and it did with the oil heat as well when we had the oil furnace. The humidifier is a great idea, We had a warm air humidifier that did not do a very good job, and kept breaking down, but have not tried the cool mist models. The link is helpful, I found a similar unit on the Canadian amazon site.
Maggie, we have heat pumps as well. I grew up with oil fired baseboard heat and have never adapted to forced air–hence my perception that it’s dry, even though it’s not dryer than anything else.
The link is just to the one we happen to have. We keep it fairly close to the downstairs air return and that seems to help.
Wendy, I guess that dryness is relative, certainly forced air is much drier than radiant heat sources, heat pumps on the lower end of the dryness scale for forced air, and electric toaster types on the high end of the dryness scale.
Great tip on where to place the humidifier, thank you!
I laughed out loud at that image — Gran in a balaclava! But if we ever have a long power outage in the winter, it’s something I will remember!
Kate, Granny’s strategy to keep warm was effective, in an uninsulated house with only a wood fired furnace in the basement and a wood stove in the kitchen, that had to be loaded with wood frequently in order to function. By morning their house was incredibly cold in the winter.
Her strategy inspired my use of a hoodie, as I did not have a balaclava at the time.
Over here, we’ve had 2 Levoit’s for a few years for the living room and have now added a new, smaller Dreo for the bedroom, at night. We use distilled water in them, so we don’t have fine, white mineral powder all over the house.
Teri, we have been relying on the daily drying of laundry, but this winter with so many nights of severe cold, it just the laundry strategy just cannot keep up. Great idea about using distilled water!
I wear a hoodie at night and it gets no where near as cold as it does in your area. I draw the cord to leave a smaller opening than for day time wear. Regarding the quote, I especially enjoy the rewatching of favorite shows and movies. I always get so much more from them than I did on the first watch.
Joan, hoodies are handy!
I find the same thing, and notice all sorts of things I missed on the first viewing, and of the first reading.