Old Man Winter Cometh

[Mt_Rider]

DH is saying that he never wants to see frigid Minn in the winter every again.  It was below zero all day and nite while he was there.  And he and his sister were working on her vehicle....changing batteries, etc.     ....yeah, now we remember how VERY SUBZERO COLD EVEN IN DAYTIME it used to be in Minn!!  It warms up here when the sun shines. 

 

 

MtRider  ....which is why we're starting to have a horrid ICE problem ....again...  Melt/FREEZE/Melt/FREEZE

[Jeepers]

I'm dreading the middle of the week. Tuesday the low is supposed to be -8,  Wednesday -12,  Thursday -2.  Big heat wave at +9 on Friday. Son said they were supposed to get down to -22 Wednesday night at my house.

 

Pray for the furnaces. Not only that they keep people and pipes warm but also so son won't get a call to go out and work on one in the middle of the night.

 

Anyone facing that kind of cold, don't forget to start your car a couple of times during the night if you want them to start the next day. Also, keep your animals safe and warm.

[The WE2's]

Good advice Jeepers!  Fortunately we have a carport over the truck and we're not supposed to get those frigid temps, even though it will get really cold!  We also have a battery minder that we could put on the truck if we felt we needed to as well as a trickle charger.  Miss B...sits out so we start her periodically anyway to charge both the regular and the house batteries.  It's wonderful to know if the regular battery won't start the engine, we have the house battery button that will.  That's why we must keep her started, cold or not.  Today was a fairly mild day, got up to about 40 or so, but it's supposed to start dropping again tonight.  Wednesday they say 9...but a wind chill will make it feel much colder.  Stay warm and safe friends and yes...pray for those who are in the northern part of our country where it's going to be getting to dreadfully lows.

[Mt_Rider]

Stay safe everyone! 

 

MtRider  .....arctic vortex coming down?   

[kathy003]

I'm not looking forward to the frigid temperatures!  The high point is, we will all be snowed in so that means a lot of family time!

 

Makes being snowed in well worth it!

[out_of_the_ordinary]

-1 here this morning.      I'm not looking forward to temps later this week.   

[The WE2's]

Very cold and windy here today and the temp started dropping very quickly.  They're calling for lower temps tomorrow (about 13 but with wind chill advisory below zero) and then Wednesday 9, but no wind chill (so far).  Hubby started Miss B up and let her run for about a half hour while he put on his vinyl disposable glove and "cleaned up" Abby-girl's yard area.  He just loves it  but when we adopted our girl he agreed to that task.  Before we ever brought her home we both agreed to do the necessary things that make one a responsible owner...and keeping her yard free of "youknowwhat" is part of that since it's a small space.  Over at the homestead it's not quite so often since she had a very big yard and isn't there that often...yet.

[The WE2's]

A friend's son works with heating etc., and he's telling all his friends and family that when this frigid cold comes in that furnaces will struggle to maintain their regular temps, and if you want your home to be a certain temp that you need to set your thermostat 10 degrees higher than normal.  We've got both of our Eden Pur's ready for use should we need them to supplement.  I am so thankful that hubby was able to get the furnace/heat pump system up and running at the homestead, but the Eden Pur is still there in front of the kitchen sink area should we need to turn it on.  So...friends, prep up and you may want to take some advice from the heating man...if you want to keep your home at it's normal temp.  Otherwise...where's the long-johns! 

[TheCG]

12 hours ago, The WE2's said:

A friend's son works with heating etc., and he's telling all his friends and family that when this frigid cold comes in that furnaces will struggle to maintain their regular temps, and if you want your home to be a certain temp that you need to set your thermostat 10 degrees higher than normal.  We've got both of our Eden Pur's ready for use should we need them to supplement.  I am so thankful that hubby was able to get the furnace/heat pump system up and running at the homestead, but the Eden Pur is still there in front of the kitchen sink area should we need to turn it on.  So...friends, prep up and you may want to take some advice from the heating man...if you want to keep your home at it's normal temp.  Otherwise...where's the long-johns! 

I wonder at what temperature that really goes into effect.  Probably depends on insulation, your individual heating system, and 53 bajillion other things.

[Cowgirl]

It was about 5*F this morning when I went out to do chores. The wind was stout and the windchill was well below zero. I bundled up and was fine, except my face. I need to find my balaclava, because tomorrow is going to be MUCH COLDER.

 

The furnace is struggling to keep up, so this is a sweater and long johns day, even indoors. The dogs are all inside. I have a heat lamp on in the chicken house.

 

This is a good day for baking, I think. The house could use the extra heat, and some comfort foods would be nice. Need to decide what to bake and get busy!

 

Hope you all stay safe and warm, wherever you are!

[Annarchy]

Hoping everyone stays warm & safe. Sounds horrible. 

 

58* this morning, light clouds around the mountains to the north & west. That’s why so many people come here in the winter. Most can’t handle the heat tho.

[Ambergris]

The heater guy left.  The heater still does not work.  Hurray for Florida!

[out_of_the_ordinary]

Tomorrow's windchill here is going to be  -25.        

I won't be online as I'm going to keep DD and I in rooms that are warmer than the room with the computer in it.

 

[Jeepers]

The temp stayed fairly decent today. It didn't get past 15 degrees but that's 'decent' compared to what I know is coming. It's starting to drop like a rock now. It's at 5 degrees at 7:00pm.

 

Last night the wind was really howling and it was raining. Made it seem colder than ever.

 

I have some bills to drop in the box at the post office and then I'm going to gas up the Jeep. After that I'm hunkering down. I'm prepared for anything except a power (electric) outage. Plan A is to let all the water faucets drip and go to a hotel for two nights. Plan B will be to go to sons house in Indiana. But they are supposed to get it worse than I am. Plan C...go to another hotel. I really need to get a bed at the new house. Even if it's just an inflatable mattress.

 

The electric goes out at sons house every time someone across town sneezes. But I'm on a different rural REMC system so hopefully one of us will always power.

[Jeepers]

Stay safe OOTO!  Combined body heat can really make a difference.

[The WE2's]

11 hours ago, TheCG said:

you need to set your thermostat 10 degrees higher than normal

 

I think the recommendation was to keep your furnace set at 65 and bundle up...to avoid your furnace running full blast.  He says today's furnaces are not made to take care of these frigid temps.  He says do NOT let your furnace go into any energy saving cycles (like when you're going to work and turn it down etc.) because it won't be able to heat back up enough to catch up.  Just passin' stuff along.  We keep our furnace at 65 and have had it there all winter and so far it hasn't been running constantly but we'll keep our ears turned in.  We have the Eden's to keep the livingroom warm during the day when we get up, and we have a ceramic heater that we've always used in the bathroom to warm it up for showers etc.  When I'm canning, baking or cooking, the kitchen stove adds heat also.  Stay warm my friends! 

[Jeepers]

Brrrr. Baby it's cold outside. I checked the temp at the Indy house this morning and the real temperature was -22 degrees. I don't know if they have any wind. That's cold! It's all flat Indiana terrain with nothing but empty corn fields out there. Furnace is only a few months old so hopefully...

 

At my house here in Ohio it's -16 and we are having high winds so who knows what the wind chill is. They said it could be -30 or more WC by tonight. 

 

We had snow here last night too but with the high wind it didn't accumulate  much. Lots of drifts I imagine. I'll take the Jeep out for a run later this evening. A hot 'mock-e-otto' from McD's sounds really good right about now. 

 

I heard the mail, UPS and Fed Ex weren't making deliveries here today. Also government offices are closed. 

 

Stay safe everyone and watch out for your pets. Their little paws and ears can freeze in no time. 

[The WE2's]

Got down really cold last night and this morning our thermometer outside said it was -4 so not sure what the WC was...other than the local forecast said -18.  It's still going to be cold tonight and tomorrow, but just not so much so.  The furnace is keeping the house at 65 and we have had the Eden on all day in the livingroom...both of us have on insulated unders, fleece pj's and our fleece poncho's.  Drinking warm beverages...hot chocolate and spice apple cider, and I had my coffee.  Abby-girl ducks outside when necessary! LOL  Our Enclosed back porch (currently our cold room!) has an oil heater but it's set extremely low so the temp is about 40 out there.  So when we let her out we just wait at the back door until we see her come to the door wanting in...but never leaving her out unattended.  Didn't do any pressure canning today, just relaxed, kept warm and enjoyed each other's company.

[Jeepers]

Hee hee. Smart Abby Girl staying in as much as possible. I know how those cold trips to potty are. My floor by the front door is freezing cold. Wish they made heated toilet seats. Those things are brutal I'm the middle of the night. 

 

I'm staying pretty warm but this month's heating bill is going to be killer.  

 

[TheCG]

It's above freezing, and everybody down here is still whining about it being cold.

 

The general consensus is that there's a reason we don't live further north.  

[Annarchy]

“Dry cold”.  

DH says the same thing about living up north, TheCG. Brrrrrr....

 

Yesterday it got up to 75*. This morning it’s 48, expecting high temps to be like yesterday. They are still saying rain & cooler weather by the weekend. 

 

This time of year, always, puts me into gardening mode.... only 4, maybe 5 months left to get it tilled, growing and harvested, before the extreme heat hits us.  But, it’s a dry heat, right?  

[Cowgirl]

It was reportedly between -40 and -50*F windchill here yesterday. Today is still cold, but a little less extreme. The forecast is for highs in the 50’s (yes, 50+ ABOVE zero)for the weekend. How’s that for an extreme shift in weather?

 

I knew when we bought this house, a circa 1962 ranch house, that it would need work to make it more energy efficient. The attic has been insulated, but that is the easy part. Insulating existing walls is problematic. I have torn down houses with various types of blown in wall insulation, that was installed in existing walls, and I have never, ever seen a completely insulated wall! So I am reluctant to go down that very expensive and yet very ineffective insulation path. The other options are:

 

1) tear out the drywall and insulate the opened wall cavities properly - but that wreaks havoc on living in the house and it is expensive to re-drywall and paint the whole house!

 

2) tear off the siding and house sheathing and insulate from the outside - meaning having to re-sheathe and side the whole house, but saving on the level of disruption to living in the home; or

 

3) just add some solid foam under new siding and call it good (helps minimally).

 

Sooooo, that’s all on the back burner.

 

Adding a centrally located wood burning stove would help significantly for less up front cost, and would keep us warm for less fuel 💵, so that is going to be our first priority. DH has been dragging his feet on this one for 5 years, saying we don’t have space, or it’s too expensive, etc. But now he is more receptive. And now I am absolutely determined that this project WILL HAPPEN.

Edited January 31, 2019 by Cowgirl
Clarity?

[Jeepers]

Sounds like our weather Cowgirl. It's supposed to be near 50 by Monday here too.

 

I got up and looked out the window this morning and there was a thin layer of ice covering the window. On the inside. I went back to bed. I'm going to have to deal with insulation when I move. I don't know what to expect there. Always a surprise when you open a wall.

 

I wound tend to go the route of insulating from the inside. Mistakes would probably be easier to correct and less expensive. You could do a room at a time and you "only" have to do the outside walls unless you want it all done. I know it's messy. Especially sanding the drywall mud. But they have sanders with a little vacuum on them to help with the flying dust. You might be able to rent one from a big box hardware store like Lowes, Home Depot or Menards.  Just thinking out loud here.

 

My Indy house doesn't have a fireplace either. I'm bummed about that too. I'm trying to figure out a place to put something in but its sort of an open concept house with not a lot of walls.

 

To be honest I'd rather have a stove of some kind instead of a fireplace. I have a fireplace here with an insert and when it isn't in use, it is cold all around it. And a FP sucks a lot of heat up the chimney. Sometimes I have a fire in it just to warm up the area around the FP. It's cold even with the flue and vents closed. The air comes straight down the chimney.

 

My wish list is getting so long. Just the perils of starting over I suppose. And champagne taste on a beer budget.

[Cowgirl]

Yes, Jeepers. Starting all over again is a PIA. But also exciting in some ways.

 

I have been looking at wood burning stoves. There are also EPA rated zero clearance fireplaces now, that are essentially a wood burning stove that is placed in a framed and dry walled chase, and I have looked at some of those. Oddly, most stoves I have looked at have greater clearance requirements than the fireplaces, so they take up more floor space.

 

With your open concept house, you can put a stove out in the center, for better heat distribution, possibly.

 

I am leaning toward a stove, though, to give me another cooking option.

 

We have done drywalling at other places. I really am not excited about the idea of doing that again! 

 

But we may may end up having to do that. Insulation in 60’s homes was pretty much nonexistent.

 

i sure hear you on having champagne tastes and a beer budget. 

Edited February 1, 2019 by Cowgirl

[The WE2's]

3 hours ago, Jeepers said:

I'd rather have a stove of some kind instead of a fireplace

 

When we get moved we'll be putting in a Silver Fire Wood stove with a back stove pipe that we can go to the existing fireplace and then put in a stainless steel chimney pipe up through the old brick chimney.  They have wonderful reviews.