”In the winter she curls up around a good book and dreams away the cold.”
Winter is here. The high today will be 38°. It’s a pretty day but one best seen through the window from the warm and cozy house. I’m in my comfy clothes. The dogs are upstairs napping on my bed. Jack is sleeping in his kitty teepee. He curls up in a ball and falls deeply asleep.
I have a mouse. The dog biscuit bag has a small chewed hole. I found my have-a heart trap which I’ll set with peanut butter. It has been a long time since a mouse has taken residence. My brother used to say no house has only one mouse. I’m hoping to be the exception.
When I was a kid, I never minded the cold. I liked walking to school on crisp mornings when I could see my breath. What I did mind was being bundled in layers because when I’d get to school it took a while to unbundle. I used to stick my scarf and mittens up the sleeves of my coat. If I wore boots, I’d take them off with my shoes inside then pull out my shoes. I hated boots. You needed the strength of the Hulk to get them back on. I’d pull and pull. My shoes always got stuck at the angle. For the fun of it, I’d sometimes walk around with the boots flopping.
My favorite memories of the house in winter are of the radiators. They hissed and gurgled. I’d watch the steam rise from the nozzle like part on the left side. The water gurgled through the metal loop looking parts of the radiator. I had a radiator under the window on the wall across from the end of my bed. I’d sometimes sit between the bed and the radiator to get warm. I’d put my shoes to dry under it. My mittens went on the top.
December 2, 2024 at 11:36 pm
Hi Kat,
Clear skies with a high of 62°.
When I was a teenager in NYC we had steam heat and I remember the hiss and gurgle of the radiators. The system was powered by number two fuel oil, which is both diesel fuel and jet fuel.
Here in Texas everyone has hot air heat that comes from the same ducts where the A/C comes from. Although, the heat is powered by natural gas, the system requires electricity to work. We discovered that fact during the arctic outbreak in February 2021. The low temperature got down to -5°F. We had rolling blackouts that gave us about two hours of power each day for five days.
December 2, 2024 at 11:48 pm
Hi Bob,
I also have hot air heat powered by gas. That made it easy when I got the house air-conditioned, as you said, both use the same pipe system.
I found out a while back about the need for electricity to heat the house. My house got down to 37° before the electricity came back on.