As I lay in bed this morning contemplating the cold, memories of childhood winters in the farm home were recalled. The house was built in 1912 with all the modern conveniences of the time -- indoor plumbing and wired for electricity. A gasoline engine charged the batteries for the electricity. (Electricity arrived at the farm in 1929). In 1912, houses were built as shells to slow down the wind and keep some of the heat inside. There was no insulation in the walls or ceilings of that house.
A coal and wood furnace provided the hot water heat for the radiators throughout the house. That furnace needed tending -- adding coal or wood to keep the fire going to keep the house warm. It would not be unusual for the furnace fire to die down over night. First thing in the morning Mom or Dad would get that fire going once again. About the age of ten, during day times I stoked the fire with wood or coal.
Yes. Those were the good old days. Today we just turn up the thermostat and the fire starts automatically as an ignitor starts the furnace fueled by natural gas. It's a wonderful world.
May be cold today, but nature is into averages. To create average temperatures, nature plans for "real" balmy temperatures to return to Tucson.
Physical exercise is another way to get warm. This body needs exercise and likes warmth, so yesterday I took a two to three mile wander on the trails in the desert behind the RV park.
Later today more exercise induced heat is planned in Tucson's balmy mid 40 degree temperatures.
Yes. This is long pants weather. The daily attire is long pants and a heavy jacket over the Hawaiian shirt.
35 here in Del Rio this morning and I thought that was horrible.
ReplyDeleteI didn't grow up with wood heat, but when I used to visit my grandparents in Newfoundland they still had it when I was 7. I remember my barely older-than-me uncles tossing in wood and poking it around in the morning. Then it was boil water for tea on the stove and make your toast right on the stovetop. That was the best toast ever for some reason! Only 19 degrees here in SE Wisconsin at the moment, so I'm heading for a hot bath...the only luxury I'll miss when we go full-time!
ReplyDeleteWell. As long as the Hawaiian shirt is still under there somewhere life is good.
ReplyDeleteIt may have been balmy today but the air is like ice tonight. jus took my dogs for their last out. Glad to be back inside my rig!
ReplyDeleteI had wood heat most of my life. Sold my Kentucky farm last year and I sure miss my wood cookstove!
Brr..I like your weather station. I searched "Acurite" but couldn't find that one. Do you have a model number.?
ReplyDeleteSpencerusvi, The Acu-Rite model is 00612. Aren't the temps the same inside and outside in the Caribbean. :-))
DeleteYou are correct on that one. I actually have no AC or heat in our lower unit where we live. We rent the top of our house out as a vacation villa and we have split AC units in the bedrooms only but they are rarely used. Nice cool breeze almost always blowing. (Www.threepalmsvilla.com) We have a 28' class C up in Washington state that we bought a couple of years ago. That is our escape "off the rock" We have been able to do a short spring and fall trip and then 4 to 6 weeks in the summer. Weather Station is for the RV.
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