Preparing for Winter and Colder Weather

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If I had a renter and I had to replace pipes cause they hadn't turned the heat on, they'd quickly be seeking a new landlord.
Since I'm my own landlord I'd be the one paying either way
I live in a duplex.
Been here for over 4 years.
Landlord has no complaints with me.
Rent is paid before due,
My place is Military (Army)clean, no trash around my place.
My yard is kept neatly and yes I garden too.
Better yet, I don't bother anyone and for the most part no one bothers me now,
 
Got our first real snow last night. Fortunately, I got the propane topped off and had some firewood delivered yesterday. Didn't want to pay for something I usually do myself but being out of state for a good while put me way behind and I was glad to know I've got about two months ready to go.

Smoked a huge ham this weekend for the first time ever. Came out nice--tonight the wife is making huge pots of ham and bean soup for dinner and a ton to freeze for the upcoming months. Nothing better than soup (almost any kind of soup) during the winter
 
"Say hello to my little friend!"
DW runs hot year-round, and I hate cold because it causes me pain. :mad:
She loves this time of year, because hey, free air-conditioning!:dancing:
Yes, we can both have it our way.:thumbs:
In the foreground you can see my 'perch' that I spend hours in everyday:
IMG_20221115_175921.jpg

Comfy 72° in the house for her.... my cell, a constant, toasty 77°😁:Dancing Chicken:.
 
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All of our firewood has been split and stacked, both 500 gallon propane tanks have been topped off, both the diesel and gasoline tanks (600 gallons) have been filled. Got the chains on the tractor, welded up the snow blade and pulled the big snow blower out of the barn. Having problems getting the small track blower started, not sure what's wrong with it.
We've had snow on the ground since late October and our lowest temp was -4 degrees last week. We're sitting pretty good right now for winter.
 
Got new tires on the truck.
Welded up the snow plow.
Topped up the 550 heating oil (two days before the first snow) and have a spare 900 gallons in the spare tank. The oil company will not attempt our road if there is snow or ice.
500 gallons of gasoline in the bulk tank.
Put my heavy flannel shirt inside my heavy wool jacket as a liner and I have a wind breaker that will go over it all when it is windy.
Just received an electric water heater coil (9,000 btu) to install in my oil boiler to reduce the use of the use of expensive oil.
Put in a second 24,000 btu heat pump. Electricity really is cheaper than oil now, here, and oil is going higher.
I have 5 portable resistance heaters, two of which are brand new.
New ice scraper on order for the truck.
Gloves in each coat or jacket.
Took a bath before it got too cold.
 
Our snow melted today, got to the low 40's late afternoon. Still way below freezing in the mornings. I go out to feed and tote hot water to animals with lots of layers on. I look like the stay puft marshmallow guy.
Have kept the wood burning stove going from late afternoon on. My job now to keep it cleaned out, restocked with wood and kindling. Used to be grandson's job, but he won't lift a finger anymore. I put out a folding chair and husband can get it started and keep it going.
 
It's colder than usual in Texas so far. Upper 20's- 30's at night, 40's-50's days!! Wood stove has been cranking!! Chance of flurries Friday night. I keep a daily weather log (since I was 10 years old), the past 6 times we had this kind of cold in November, February was very warm!! So that will work for me!! Plenty of wood cut and split, will still cut and split a lot more!
 
When I start my best friend -good ole woodstove, this time of year, it's like lightning the Olympic torch. I keep a small fire going until April.

Three years ago, my backup heat -oil burning furnace gave up the ghost. Cracked heat exchanger. Replaced with state of the art propane. Salesman talked himself blue in the face "you're gonna wish you got a bigger storage tank!". Three years later, used a total of 5% propane.
 
Amazing how much propane we can save by using fire. two years ago, we had to refill the tank twice in one year. We've only had to fill it once in the last two years (water heater and stove is still propane). We have an upstairs fireplace with an insert and a downstairs fireplace with an insert.
We heat only with fire. Like you, our water heater and stove are propane. Just filled out 250 gallon tank a couple of weeks ago, been two years!
 
Snow tires have been on for a while.
Filled propane tanks today, got a new generator too.
Extra flannel sheets, got a new down comforter (4 season).
More thick socks and boots.
Bought an extra Carhartt work coat for myself, stocked up on gloves.
Got extra fuel for the lamps, purchased a few Mr Buddy small portable heaters (that thing is great for the outhouse! haha)
Better batteries for our son's RV, just purchased the wind generator today. Now we need to finish getting the solar installed.
 
We heat with wood. Usually start the fire in October and it burns 24/7 until May, then just an occasional fire after that. We have a propane forced air furnace that we use as a backup, or if we're going to be gone for a whole day. I set the thermostat for 60 degrees before we go anywhere and the house is comfortable when we get home.
We use a little buddy heater in our bathroom when we take a shower.
I bought a Carhartt coat for Tracker our German Short Hair. He's always cold. His coat matches mine, which the wife thinks is silly.
Got the studded tires on the wife's Grand Cherokee last week. I'll get the tires swapped out on my Rubicon next Friday when we take the dogs down for their baths. I haven't replaced the studded tires on my truck since one of them blew out last year. I seldom drive it in the winter anyway, but I do carry 2 sets of chains in the tool box in case I need them.
 
We heat with wood. Usually start the fire in October and it burns 24/7 until May, then just an occasional fire after that. We have a propane forced air furnace that we use as a backup, or if we're going to be gone for a whole day. I set the thermostat for 60 degrees before we go anywhere and the house is comfortable when we get home.
We use a little buddy heater in our bathroom when we take a shower.
I bought a Carhartt coat for Tracker our German Short Hair. He's always cold. His coat matches mine, which the wife thinks is silly.
Got the studded tires on the wife's Grand Cherokee last week. I'll get the tires swapped out on my Rubicon next Friday when we take the dogs down for their baths. I haven't replaced the studded tires on my truck since one of them blew out last year. I seldom drive it in the winter anyway, but I do carry 2 sets of chains in the tool box in case I need them.
I've seen the dog Carhartt coats, pretty cool!!
 
"Say hello to my little friend!"
DW runs hot year-round, and I hate cold because it causes me pain. :mad:
She loves this time of year, because hey, free air-conditioning!:dancing:
Yes, we can both have it our way.:thumbs:
In the foreground you can see my 'perch' that I spend hours in everyday:
Comfy 72° in the house for her.... my cell, a constant, toasty 77°😁:Dancing Chicken:.
Ok. It got down to 76.2° in my room🥶, so I decided to do an experiment. :rolleyes:
The settings on the heater are: 70, 75, and 80. I had it set on 75, which gave me 77 with it running less than a minute in a cycle.
I clicked it up to 80 just to see what would happen:oops:.
The worst that can happen is heated air dribbling out into the rest of the house, which the central-unit is already heating.
I am burning me some Kilowatts!!!:dancing:
The upper right is my new room temp:
IMG_20221121_174750.jpg

My joints hurt half as much:D, and the only question is: Am I worth it:dunno:.
Edit: DW mentioned how warm it was in my room and I offered to take her clothes off to keep her comfortable😁:woo hoo:. ...she was not amused:(.
 
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Ok. It got down to 76.2° in my room🥶, so I decided to do an experiment. :rolleyes:
The settings on the heater are: 70, 75, and 80. I had it set on 75, which gave me 77 with it running less than a minute in a cycle.
I clicked it up to 80 just to see what would happen:oops:.
The worst that can happen is heated air dribbling out into the rest of the house, which the central-unit is already heating.
I am burning me some Kilowatts!!!:dancing:
The upper right is my new room temp:
View attachment 98490
My joints hurt half as much:D, and the only question is: Am I worth it:dunno:.
I think you are prepared for winter!! 😃Let the electric come in before you decide if you are worth it!😉
 
Tonight, I'm preparing for winter by drinking plenty of 'antifreeze' as I watch the rest of 'PEARL HARBOR'---that's a lonnng movie at over three hours! Might pop a frozen pizza in the oven later, the heat will be welcome (on top of the furnace heat, lol). Dang, these nights have been CHILLY lately! 🥶

Good thing I have the kittens for bed warmers! Maybe Crackhead too! He kicks out some serious heat! For safety reasons, I don't run the central heater overnight, but this recent cold snap has got me considering it, lol. Meh, I can always toss another comforter on ye olde rack, no shortage of THOSE here in our home! 😁

If it REALLY gets cold, I can bust out the "fartsacks" (Aarrrghmy term for sleeping bags), unzip 'em and use THEM as comforters ATOP the other comforters, lol. I'll have a stack of comforters & fartsacks higher than the Stratosphere Tower in Vegas, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! But at least my goldurned heating bill will be reasonable! ;)
 
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I think you are prepared for winter!! 😃Let the electric come in before you decide if you are worth it!😉
I have AMMO!
You may remember me saying last month was 'passover month' with the lame $130 electric bill:).
Well, I stashed $50 in rounds from just that one, and I am ready to fire!
64288-machine-gun.gif
 
We heat with wood. Usually start the fire in October and it burns 24/7 until May, then just an occasional fire after that. We have a propane forced air furnace that we use as a backup, or if we're going to be gone for a whole day. I set the thermostat for 60 degrees before we go anywhere and the house is comfortable when we get home.
We use a little buddy heater in our bathroom when we take a shower.
I bought a Carhartt coat for Tracker our German Short Hair. He's always cold. His coat matches mine, which the wife thinks is silly.
Got the studded tires on the wife's Grand Cherokee last week. I'll get the tires swapped out on my Rubicon next Friday when we take the dogs down for their baths. I haven't replaced the studded tires on my truck since one of them blew out last year. I seldom drive it in the winter anyway, but I do carry 2 sets of chains in the tool box in case I need them.
Our last German Shorthair had a coat that matched mine. I made it for him with fabric left over from the making of my coat.

Can we see a pic of the dog in his new coat? I need to get Heidi a coat—she spends a lot of time outside hunting squirrels, chipmunks and any other rodent she can find.
 
Our last German Shorthair had a coat that matched mine. I made it for him with fabric left over from the making of my coat.

Can we see a pic of the dog in his new coat? I need to get Heidi a coat—she spends a lot of time outside hunting squirrels, chipmunks and any other rodent she can find.
I think Tracker likes his coat. He gets excited when I pick it up to put it on him.
For some reason I can't post pictures from this phone. I could with my old phone, but then I fell in the river and had to get a new phone. There must be a setting that I need to enable, just can't find it.
 

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