Cold Snap

I grew up in this town and cold temperatures were not uncommon.  When the temperatures would plummet, there would be ice build up on the windows.  We have not had much in the way of really cold temperatures in the past few years, but this week we do.  This morning our little weather station recorded -37 in the carport, colder in higher elevations, I hear. 

This morning we are continuing with self care and I decided not to go to stitch this morning.  Instead I sat in the recliner with the heat on my back and watched the ice fog slowly being burned off by the sun.  Ice fog?  That's when the humidity in the air gets so cold it turns to fine ice crystals and just hangs in the air until the sun can burn it off.  It goes from solid to gas and will cover most surfaces with a layer of hoar frost until that happens.  Very pretty, but it is cold out there.

We keep the thermostat set around 71F and today the furnace is running almost constantly.  Both vehicles are plugged in (block heaters help protect engines from the cold) but neither of us has any plan to go anywhere today.  If we do we will be wearing our cold weather gear, including toques and gloves.  Frost bite is nasty and at these temperatures, it doesn't take long for fingers and toes to lose circulation and then all sorts of problems can happen. 

But we are 'old' and have lived here for a long time.  We know the dangers and don't take them lightly.

I am on light duties today and won't likely spend much time in the studio.  If I do I will plug in the little space heater.  The studio is in the basement and routinely runs several degrees colder than the main floor.  But electricity is more expensive than natural gas, so I try not to use it more than needs be.

When I was a child we had wood heat in the form of the wood cook stove.  When natural gas became available, my parents installed a natural gas space heater in the basement.  Then, when they could afford it, installed a furnace.

Our home has a natural gas furnace.  We don't build fires in the central fireplace for a number of reasons.  We have looked at a heat pump but they are very expensive.  Solar panels would help, but unless we have a big bank of batteries, we only have daylight for about 7 hours in the winter, and many days there is fog like today, or overcast.  Or it's snowing like crazy.  I would love to get off the petroleum product dependency, but so far alternatives are too expensive, or won't work particularly well.

So I continue to use natural gas to heat my house, gasoline to run my vehicles.  And keep waiting for viable alternatives that will work and won't cost an arm and a leg.