Not Sick, just Tired . . .

of Winter and its cold temperatures. January had two brutal cold blasts down to nearly -30 not even counting the wind chills. Last night was sort of the last straw. After a few scattered days of warmer temps (but still near freezing) we have another cold blast - this time onluy -15 or so.

The silver lining is that we could reach into the 40s by this weekend. Yea, I know, its only February and there's a lot of Winter left, but I'm really tired of it. This is the first Winter I've spent this fair North and Im remembering why. At least in the city there are places to go, be warm(er) and have things to do. Much of my January was spent between the wood stove and the wood pile. I know, I chose to heat with a wood stove so who do I expect to feel sorry.

I selected wood heat for a couple of reasons, one of which was to see what it would be like. I've learned a lot. It took a while, but I figured out how to make a fire that didn't go front barely warm to 80s in a flash of fire. I figured out how to make a fire last overnight - for the most part. I figured out how to empty the ashes into a metal ash pot (instead of the left over plastic cans from joint plaster). And, if I believe my neighbors, I've saved some money.

Round these parts there are two things about propane heating. One is, you won't have enough to make it through the Winter if you go to warmer climates. You'll end up on the phone finding out why your summer home is at or below freezing (and I won't go into the water/freeze damage when below!). Second, is the price of propane will likely cost you nearly a thousand dollars to keep you in heat this Winter. In my case, I keep a close rein on my wood pile and try to keep enough on hand to make it through the Winter. As the pile shrinks, I can adjust my burning to stretch it. Secondly, instead of $1,000 I'll have about $500 in wood for the entire Winter.

Its a pain to get up to cold floors and cool temperatures, but it sure is a warm feeling seeing that extra $500 on my side of the column instead of theirs.