Is something I used to hate far more than freezing in the light, which is just sometimes part of a day’s work. Waking to cold, not having the juice to push back the dark with any authority…There were years when I was positively superstitious about the Winter Solstice. Fully understood why early Europeans used to throw big festivals in late December: It maybe kept them from slitting their own throats en masse.
The Solstice is less than a week away and now, thanks to the wonders of gradualism and creeping technology, the darkness is just pretty muted light.
And I can hardly claim to be freezing through it.
Lit the fire less than an hour ago, and I’m already peeling off what few layers I bothered putting on in the first place.
The Secret Lair is becoming positively civilized. For certain reasons I retain a bit of sentimentality toward that old RV trailer but I can’t say I miss shivering through December mornings in it – or in the earliest iteration of the Lair, for that matter.
I heat with wood too. At 65 degrees I still need a flannel shirt. Only at seventy plus is it T-shirt weather.
If I heat things up so much I’m tempted to go shirtless, I’m wasting fuel. Having to get dressed just to go see why the chickens are squawking is a bother I’d rather not pay for. 😉
Do we interpret that screen to reveal that the new wall furnace maintained a low temp of 47 degrees
overnight in opposition to the 19 degrees outside low, and that the current warm temp is the result of the wood fire?
Wood here as well – we stay 55-70 most days to keep pipes from freezing and Wine slowly working. It makes it easier to go out in the Teens from those temps too.
“Do we interpret that screen to reveal that the new wall furnace maintained a low temp of 47 degrees” Is that indoor/outdoor thermometer still in the main part of the Lair? If so, is it possible that you have too much heat leaking from the bedroom through your temporary “door”.
Yeah, the main cabin low would probably be 5-10 degrees lower if not for leakage from the bedroom curtain. That’ll improve when I build the sliding door, which won’t happen this winter (unless the curtain becomes a much bigger nuisance) because PAINT.
The very first thing that needs to happen is a 1X4 has to go up to support the sliding door hardware. If I build the door and hang it on the hardware on that board without first painting the board, the board will never get painted. Period. I know me that well. So the door will wait till the next painting season. Next warm season’s work is shaping up to be trim and painting, and not a lot else.
Anyway it’s not entirely wasted. It just gives the woodstove a boost in the morning.
I spent a winter in Northern Idaho living in a travel trailer while working construction.
The coldest it got was twenty-five below.
Usually, it was five below when I went to work and five above when I got home.
My first couple of paychecks allowed me to purchase a pair of insulated Carhartt bibs and a pair of Sorel pacs. They, on occasion, made life pleasant even when fixing broken water lines at twenty-five below.
But, it was not until after about the fourth or fifth winter working on the Oregon Coast that I truly understood the significance of the Winter Solstice.
I really came to understand those pagans celebrating that magic day.
Even now, while living in sunnier climes, I mark the arrival of the Winter Solstice and thankfully contemplate the last year in which I didn’t miss any meals and knowing that,with two cords of oak in the woodshed, there is a good chance I will be warm and dry until spring.
Insulated Carhartt bibs are THE BEST!!! DH bought me a pair when I first moved to MI. Haven’t used my long johns since. And yes, we heat with wood here too. Overnight it gets down to 64-66, during the day with sunlight helping out it can hit 74 easily. I like it around 67-69. It just feels right and proper to wear long sleeve shirt and a sweater during winter.
Definitely looking forward to being on the other side of the Winter Solstice. Going to work and coming home in the dark all the time is a drag for sure.
suz, you and I have the same idea. I don’t want the interior t-shirt hot, then I’m having to dress and undress every time a chicken squawks or a dog barks. Winter is why flannel shirts were invented.