Put another log on

 

It’s already been a chillier than usual beginning to winter. I’ve woken up to 4 degrees outside several times already, and to confirm this My Guy noticed that our heating bill is up from this time last year. We’re in January weather right now.

          Not a huge deal – we have gas heat here (yay!!), as compared to the house we moved out of eight years ago, with its $600 to $700 monthly oil bills. The house before that (built in 1926) also had oil heat (converted coal burner wrapped in lovely asbestos). We soon put a big wood stove in the living room and My Guy could split wood as well as anyone from Saskatchewan and I can build a fire like nobody’s business.

          So now we have a friendly thermostat on the wall that we can even turn up or down using our phones. On a typical day in our lives last week, I came home from a day of yoga, then errands, and My Guy was tucked into his recliner, covered in his lap blanket. I immediately noticed it was CHILLY.  I’d set the heat at 69, but the temp in the living room read 66.

          Here was another automated thing working against us. Since no one had walked in front of the thermostat, it had decided no one was home and lowered the heat accordingly.

Thanks, Hal, but we’ll take it from here.