It's so cold it hurts. Yes, this will be a gritchy post. I haven't done much besides just trying to stay warm. I have drank more coffee than any sane person should.
Our space heaters stopped working yesterday. ugh! And I am not that great at fixing things, breaking I am brilliant at. Fixing. . .not so much. Had to wait until 8pm for my husband to get home and fix them. The boys and I were bundled up, but for some reason kids don't feel the cold as much as us old folks do.
There is snow on the ground this morning, making me leery about venturing out. The space heaters are working, but they only make it warm enough so that you don't see your breath.
Husband brought home and electric burner. He uses it at work (motorcycle tool) I was able to heat up some water and do dishes. I tried using the microwave. It took an hour to heat then fill the sink, and only about 15 minutes for it to get cold. My husband and I have talked, we made some plans so that this won't happen again next year. We will build a furnace room off of the house, and place a wood burner in it. That way we only have to use propane for water and cooking, and heat the house with the wood burner. But that doesn't help us right now. I paid on the bill, not a whole bunch, but enough that I am hoping that when they get the check I can call them and get a little more propane. This is going to put us in massive debt.
One bright spot, my husband's boss allowed him to borrow their car. We just don't have the riding gear for motorcycling in 5F weather. 20F, yes, 10F no. Even at 20F, the 40 minute ride to work starts hurting. Takes my husband about an hour to warm up again.
Who wants to take bets on what happens around here next? I've got five on the house burning down.
17 comments:
That was nice of you husband's boss :D. I can't imagine your poor husband in 20/10F riding the bike.
I wish I had an answer about the propane....Can't you go to the county extension office or the electric co op [I know it isn't electric, but our electric helps pay heating for a lot of people that need it regardless of source]
The only other thing I can think of is looking for someone [maybe on Craigslist?] that is giving away a woodburning stove and getting that in the house...it shouldn't be too difficult if you can find a free one...if you can...
I don't know Phelan...I am at a loss. Unless you want to put the donate button back up. I am sure we can all help a bit...it all adds up.
Hugs - for warmth and we care.
Well, i was going to say frozen pipes (like I had all day a while back) but your house burning sounds reasonable!
I'm so sorry you are going through this! It will be quite a story to tell your grandchildren, though.
Unfortunately, I don't have any suggestions or real help here. We have electric heat, so while we "have" it, the bills just keep getting harder and harder to pay.
Just keep thinking about springtime around the (snow-covered) corner. It WILL get better eventually!
Brrrr! It is -3 here right now. I vote for frozen pipes next. I also vote for putting the button back up! If you have a local Freecycle yahoo group try them for a free stove or other heating stuff. Sending you guys warm thoughts!
We woke up to 18 below this morning. My husband slept downstairs so he could feed the fire through the night, usually we just let it go out and restart in the morning but we're also afraid of pipes freezing.
do you qualify for heating assistance? Here in Vermont many do and it can go for heating oil or wood. Just a thought.
Sending you an email about a fireplace idea.
Skippy mom, our co-op wants to shut you off for being a month late on $36! We have applied for some help, but because their are so many people appling I don't have my hopes up. We will be fine though. I paid $200 of it. Here in a couple days I will call them and see if I can go ahead and get another 200 gallons from them.
I just felt the need to gritch. What else can you do when it's cold and paint won't even dry ;)
Lisa, frozen pipes. That one is always fun. We have been lucky and that hasn't happened in the past few years. We had a massive ice storm here a few years back. We lost power for a week. We heated the house with our kitchen stove, and melted snow to drink. Now that was fun.
Anny, we have a woodburner, problem is, we live in a mobile home. Can't have them here. If my house does burn down, the insurance won't pay for it. One reason we are talking about building a furnace house. My good neighbor wants to punch a hole in the wall and put one of his wood burners in the house.
Anna M. we did apply, but there are just so many people here that need the help. All of our aircraft plants ae laying off, this is causing te unemployment computer bank to crash. It is a mess here. But we should be ok. Like I said above, I just felt like gritching this morning. It helps you warm up, ha!
I didn't look at the temp outside this morning, I only cared about the one in the house. We woke to snow. I think I heard it was -1 outside, I will have to double check that.
Wife, got it and replied. Thank you.
Hey Phelan...I'm on a real guilt trip now after reading about you guys and how cold it is up north!
Ya'll are tougher than I am, by a long shot...once my feet get cold, I'm done for!
Good luck in finding a solution, my friend.
Don't feel bad H.Jim. I checked and it was only -7 this morning, and I just came in from waiting on the bus with my 5 year old, and it feels like -7 according to the news, air temp is 9F. It is suppose to be 30F tomorrow, I think I might need to do some sunbathing. ;)
For all this bs, I am in a good mood. The gritching this morning seemed to have helped. Plus I just talked with a guy that has several Milking shorthorns for sale, and he reduced the price for us. Happy dance. She is due in April, so that will help not having something else around just eating and not bringing money back. Once we get our income tax return, we will get caught up on everything and get us a new cow. I know it sounds wrong, but you can't make money without spending a little, right? I should make up the price of the cow in 6 weeks. She should be able to pay for her own feed in 1 week and the other 3 weeks of the month will make morgage. I just hope this plan works. ps I have drank waaaaaay too much coffee. I don't do a lot of caffine, this might be bad. ~wall bouncing~
Oh, I hate being cold. We need to come up with a back up heat source too, so I'm eager to hear about your furnace house.
I'm always amazed at your ability to move forward and conquer the challenges that have been given to you.
Now stay warm girl!
This is probably so simple it's stupid... and may not help enough... but do you have wool socks (and other clothes items for that matter)? My hubby and I got wool socks this Christmas, and though it's not as cold for us, it's been taking the edge off.
Thanks Phelan for replying...I feel better [I have been worried about you all day :D]
Great news about the cow! WOOT!
Hope the tax refund comes soon...
Friends and a cow coming! That is wonderful. If it wasn't for the bad times, we would not appreciate the good times.
There are outside furnaces you do not have to build a room around.
Hang in there, you know where we are.
You have conquered other problems put in your path and you will conquer this one. All the Best :)
Uggh! Propane in Kansas is insanely expensive this year. We've prepaid and I've become an absolute heat Nazi because I am not buying anymore before summer! The children never seem to notice and the Dh and I just pile on the layers. The trick is keeping the in-laws out...
Keep heart, we're all thinking of you!
Damn! I wish I could package up a big box of our heat and send it your way. *cosy hugs* Here in Sydney the temperatures for the past couple of weeks have been in the high 30's, almost 40!!! So umm, about 100 F I think? Wanna swap homes for a few weeks? I dont think I have stopped sweating for about a fornight. Even the nights it hasnt gone below 28 C (82 F)
Yeah, I'm running the heat higher than I usually would because of the kiddos. I don't want them to go back to the hospital. So far we haven't run out of our 'pre-pay' amount....I'm hoping we make it a couple more months.
For what it's worth, propane here in TN is cheaper now than it was last summer and cheaper than even the pre-buy price. So while we still had some in the tank, we just bought more with the money we'd saved for our summer buy.
Still, I'm wanting a wood cookstove so we don't have to worry about cooking. Someday perhaps. Also, a thermal solar hot water pre-heater. We may build it ourselves when we get a chance. I know it is tough without much money.
Post a Comment