🧑‍🤝‍🧑 / 🏡 It’s a bit nipply out this Monday morning.

Today's weather, in an image.

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TerryP said:
Fireplace? Wood burning stove? You made your family wear seven layers?
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We have one of those fake fireplace/heater things in the sun room which can make that room plenty warm when needed. Little Miss VdG has a small heater in her room and an electric blanket. Wife uses and electric throw on her side of the bed, but we do have a ton of blankets and quilts in this house. There's a heater on the bathroom ceiling which I'll admit, does help in the cold mornings when one steps out of the shower. But unless it's just brutally cold outside or stays cold for several days, it isn't bad at all. It's 68° in house right now, and that's with it dipping down to the mid 20's yesterday am.
 
Brandon Van de Graaff said:
We have one of those fake fireplace/heater things in the sun room which can make that room plenty warm when needed. Little Miss VdG has a small heater in her room and an electric blanket. Wife uses and electric throw on her side of the bed, but we do have a ton of blankets and quilts in this house. There's a heater on the bathroom ceiling which I'll admit, does help in the cold mornings when one steps out of the shower. But unless it's just brutally cold outside or stays cold for several days, it isn't bad at all. It's 68° in house right now, and that's with it dipping down to the mid 20's yesterday am.
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68 is about where I keep the living spaces in winter, unless it's grey and raining outside because then 68 is cold according to my wife. Prefer bedroom in low 60s
 
Brandon Van de Graaff said:
It's 68° in house right now,
Click to expand...

Krimson said:
68 is about where I keep the living spaces in winter
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I almost started a little tangent on this very thing this morning in response to @rick4bama saying "sweaters..."

Like you guys, I keep my stat set at 68° in the colder months. I can move around easily, and comfortably, in shorts and a t-shirt. As long as the sun comes out for awhile I rarely will hear the heat kick on unless it's early in the morning. It's 64° right now; 74° in the house.

It's not uncommon to get a little cold snap this time of the year. That cold, that early? It's a bit abnormal.
 
Brandon Van de Graaff said:
We have one of those fake fireplace/heater things in the sun room which can make that room plenty warm when needed. Little Miss VdG has a small heater in her room and an electric blanket. Wife uses and electric throw on her side of the bed, but we do have a ton of blankets and quilts in this house. There's a heater on the bathroom ceiling which I'll admit, does help in the cold mornings when one steps out of the shower. But unless it's just brutally cold outside or stays cold for several days, it isn't bad at all. It's 68° in house right now, and that's with it dipping down to the mid 20's yesterday am.
Click to expand...
So, beyond the electric heater/fireplace in sunroom and the electric heated fan in the bathroom, you have no wood/gas to supplement? You're just toughing it out? I've read the WSJ articles about folks up north who won't turn the heat on until the house gets in the thirties, so this isn't that, but you're a trooper.

Had my HVAC checkup today, first time in several years I've had one. I had an agreement with the installation company for a five year parts/labor until they were bought by private equity. That ended that. One more reason to hate PE. My current company is owned by a guy I went to school with, great guy, takes good care of all the widows in my home community. I can't say enough good about him. Between me scheduling the checkup and having it today, I found my main level heat couldn't keep pace with the cold. Set on 70, 67 this morning, 63 the morning before. Tech found the insulation panel inside the unit (high efficiency Trane, not junk at all) had released from the metal casing and was blocking half to two-thirds of the air flow. He fixed it, and also found a dying capacitor in the upstairs furnace.

I'm on a tangent, sorry. You mentioned blankets and quilts. I'm sure I'm not unique, but I come from a family of quilters. I have an unquilted top from the 1870's, and I have a few with rust on them. Few had large closets 70-90 years ago, so in the summer the quilts were placed between the mattress and bare bedsprings, and they took on the rust from humid springs and summers. It's akin to the old beds that have dark legs (first three to five inches) compared to the lighter wood for the rest of the bed. Folks placed saucers of turpentine at each bedpost to keep the bedbugs from ascending to their destination, and it soaked up into the legs. If you ever see a very old bed with darkened legs, you'll know it sat in turpentine to "not let the bedbugs bite".

Quilts. My mom's mom wasn't a quilter. A great aunt of hers pieced her quilt top and gave it to my mom for her hope chest. They moved from Sandusky to Westover, and as my mom got older they found some local sisters who quilted to make ends meet. They had the two sisters quilt my mom's top, and back it went into the hope chest. A few years later, she falls for a local guy and they get married. Found out the sisters were his (my dad's) sisters, so my aunts quilted my mom's quilt before she ever met my dad.

Every quilt has a story.
 
It Takes Eleven said:
So, beyond the electric heater/fireplace in sunroom and the electric heated fan in the bathroom, you have no wood/gas to supplement? You're just toughing it out? I've read the WSJ articles about folks up north who won't turn the heat on until the house gets in the thirties, so this isn't that, but you're a trooper.

Had my HVAC checkup today, first time in several years I've had one. I had an agreement with the installation company for a five year parts/labor until they were bought by private equity. That ended that. One more reason to hate PE. My current company is owned by a guy I went to school with, great guy, takes good care of all the widows in my home community. I can't say enough good about him. Between me scheduling the checkup and having it today, I found my main level heat couldn't keep pace with the cold. Set on 70, 67 this morning, 63 the morning before. Tech found the insulation panel inside the unit (high efficiency Trane, not junk at all) had released from the metal casing and was blocking half to two-thirds of the air flow. He fixed it, and also found a dying capacitor in the upstairs furnace.

I'm on a tangent, sorry. You mentioned blankets and quilts. I'm sure I'm not unique, but I come from a family of quilters. I have an unquilted top from the 1870's, and I have a few with rust on them. Few had large closets 70-90 years ago, so in the summer the quilts were placed between the mattress and bare bedsprings, and they took on the rust from humid springs and summers. It's akin to the old beds that have dark legs (first three to five inches) compared to the lighter wood for the rest of the bed. Folks placed saucers of turpentine at each bedpost to keep the bedbugs from ascending to their destination, and it soaked up into the legs. If you ever see a very old bed with darkened legs, you'll know it sat in turpentine to "not let the bedbugs bite".

Quilts. My mom's mom wasn't a quilter. A great aunt of hers pieced her quilt top and gave it to my mom for her hope chest. They moved from Sandusky to Westover, and as my mom got older they found some local sisters who quilted to make ends meet. They had the two sisters quilt my mom's top, and back it went into the hope chest. A few years later, she falls for a local guy and they get married. Found out the sisters were his (my dad's) sisters, so my aunts quilted my mom's quilt before she ever met my dad.

Every quilt has a story.
Click to expand...

The heater/heat pump is there if needed and works well. Last year was the first time I've ever done it... and I really don't recall it being that cold other than a few spurts here and there. When the house got really cold, I'd ask Alexa what the temp inside was just to see, obviously some rooms are warmer or colder than others... at least in my house. My master bedroom got down to 52.2° on Jan 21 at midnight before I went to bed that evening (yes, I logged it in my phone). That ended up being the lowest, at least as far as I ever checked. But it was usually never close to that cold... mostly low 60's at night, mid 60's during the day. We have the spray foam insulation in the attic and zero shade from trees on the house, so it tends to warm up decently well during the day.

I doubt I'll ever do the "no heat" winter again though... and most years we have company in the winter like my mom or in-laws anyway, and I'd have to run the heat to some some degree then regardless. My mom will be staying with us for a couple of weeks after Thanksgiving, and I'm sure it'll be on then, unless we have one of those weird December warm fronts sitting on top of us for half the month.

Part of my issue on the heat thing is, I hate the dry heat that heaters create. I'd just rather be chilled than feel that dry heat in the air.

Yes, quilts... both of my grandmothers were quilters, and at this point, I've ended up with most of the allotment. My mom still has several that her mom did, but I'll eventually end up with those too, minus whatever my brother wants. Most of mine are stored way in bags inside totes, but you're right that all of them have a story. A good many of mine were just scrap quilts, but they also did some with designs. My favorite as a kid was one with a little farm boy on each square with a tiny red bandana hanging out of the back pocket of his overalls. It's still in almost new condition because I was scared to use it and mess it up or get it dirty as a kid, so I just kept it in the closet for most of those years. If I'm lucky enough to ever have a grandson though, one day it'll be his to use if he wants.
 
One of the problems of winter in the north is that you can go over a week with gray, cloudy skies and never see the sunshine. Another issue is that when it gets cold up here, it stays cold for a week to ten days at a time. Temperatures in the single digits and below zero make 20-25 degrees feel warm once the sun does come out. I'm sure @bamaledge can relate in Michigan, not sure if @silvermetalflake is actually in Canada or not but if he is, he can relate as well.
 
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Brandon Van de Graaff said:
Yes, quilts... both of my grandmothers were quilters, and at this point, I've ended up with most of the allotment. My mom still has several that her mom did, but I'll eventually end up with those too, minus whatever my brother wants. Most of mine are stored way in bags inside totes, but you're right that all of them have a story. A good many of mine were just scrap quilts, but they also did some with designs. My favorite as a kid was one with a little farm boy on each square with a tiny red bandana hanging out of the back pocket of his overalls. It's still in almost new condition because I was scared to use it and mess it up or get it dirty as a kid, so I just kept it in the closet for most of those years. If I'm lucky enough to ever have a grandson though, one day it'll be his to use if he wants.
Click to expand...
Here’s where we keep some of the family quilts. My mom still has a good number with her.


IMG_2646.jpeg
 

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