Preparing for Winter and Colder Weather

[Pearl]

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!

Ok, ok, don't shoot, you are worth it!!

 

[Supervisor42]

Ok, ok, don't shoot, you are worth it!!

Since we did a page flip, everyone should know that I'm talking about shooting dollars at them.
Edit: Experiment and re-education is now complete. Reset to 75, and it is cycling and maintaining 78° in the room.

 

[Supervisor42]

Since we did a page flip, everyone should know that I'm talking about shooting dollars at them.
Edit: Experiment and re-education is now complete. Reset to 75, and it is cycling and maintaining 78° in the room.

Oh, and don't worry about me feeling any pain.
Decades ago, I decided to become a much better AH than them, (the electric company) and even today they pay ME much more than I pay them .

 

[Pearl]

Since we did a page flip, everyone should know that I'm talking about shooting dollars at them.
Edit: Experiment and re-education is now complete. Reset to 75, and it is cycling and maintaining 78° in the room.

Ok, shoot me with dollars!! Make sure you shoot a lot!!

 

[Peanut]

My house sits into a hill. Feels a little damp and cool sometimes in winter, especially the back bedrooms. I have a 5brick wallmount space heater for 950sqft. Which is fine most of the time.

A couple years ago during a cold-spell I bought a small electric heater for my bedroom. The same cheap model that's been made for eons.(pic below). Much to my surprise it worked last year too. Well, sort of...

The filaments began to stretch. I used to test hardware and software, enjoy figuring out exactly how something fails… So I made it safe, sitting on a rubber mat on a cookie sheet properly grounded then fused it for 10amps with an inline fuse.

Darn thing never failed! It was still running in apr. The filaments drooped more each month! And it’s still running!!! (below) I can’t throw away broken equipment much less something that still runs!

I got a new one today! Don't think I should run it another winter. Looking too droopy.

Sure I’ll need one soon, might as well get one now before I need it.

Then again the old one might out live me. I’ll keep it around for parts.

 

[jazzy]

a freind came for a visit and reminded me of something. she lives in a trailer, has only wood stove for heat. trailers are not known for their insulations, ive lived in a couple. she said once she started wearing a cap to bed at night it made a real difference in keeping warm over night. and yes it really helps so maybe grab a couple soft caps for winters especailly if you think you may be facing heat-fuel shortages and a colder winter. guess we are going to go back to the old days to learn how they got thru things.

 

[Morgan101]

a freind came for a visit and reminded me of something. she lives in a trailer, has only wood stove for heat. trailers are not known for their insulations, ive lived in a couple. she said once she started wearing a cap to bed at night it made a real difference in keeping warm over night. and yes it really helps so maybe grab a couple soft caps for winters especailly if you think you may be facing heat-fuel shortages and a colder winter. guess we are going to go back to the old days to learn how they got thru things.

I swear by hats and scarves. They make a huge difference. When somebody is cold, that is the first thing I recommend. I have several, and keep a bag of hats, scarves, and gloves in the car at all times.

 

[Mountain trapper]

I swear by hats and scarves. They make a huge difference. When somebody is cold, that is the first thing I recommend. I have several, and keep a bag of hats, scarves, and gloves in the car at all times.

A person's head acts kind of like a chimney letting heat out of our body. A hat is critical in cold weather. When I'm working outside in really cold weather I wear a badger fur hat. My heavy parka has coyote fur trim around the hood. Occasionally I wear a wool scarf and/or a wool hat. The rest of the year I wear a ball cap or an oilskin cowboy hat.

 

[Morgan101]

A person's head acts kind of like a chimney letting heat out of our body. A hat is critical in cold weather. When I'm working outside in really cold weather I wear a badger fur hat. My heavy parka has coyote fur trim around the hood. Occasionally I wear a wool scarf and/or a wool hat. The rest of the year I wear a ball cap or an oilskin cowboy hat.

MT, I love that analogy. You are so right. Your head is like the chimney that lets the heat out. I don't have to deal with as severe a Winter as you do, and I don't have to work outside in it, so my go-to for Winter has been a Voboom hat. Very comfortable, and warm enough. Looks like the old newsboy caps from turn of the century. If it is really cold I will wear the stocking cap, and always a scarf. Keeping your neck warm is as important as your head.

 

[Magus]

My house sits into a hill. Feels a little damp and cool sometimes in winter, especially the back bedrooms. I have a 5brick wallmount space heater for 950sqft. Which is fine most of the time.

A couple years ago during a cold-spell I bought a small electric heater for my bedroom. The same cheap model that's been made for eons.(pic below). Much to my surprise it worked last year too. Well, sort of...

The filaments began to stretch. I used to test hardware and software, enjoy figuring out exactly how something fails… So I made it safe, sitting on a rubber mat on a cookie sheet properly grounded then fused it for 10amps with an inline fuse.

Darn thing never failed! It was still running in apr. The filaments drooped more each month! And it’s still running!!! (below) I can’t throw away broken equipment much less something that still runs!

I got a new one today! Don't think I should run it another winter. Looking too droopy.

Sure I’ll need one soon, might as well get one now before I need it.

Then again the old one might out live me. I’ll keep it around for parts.


View attachment 99339

Got any tungsten or stainless steel wire? un droop them.

 

[Wingnut]

Just catching up with this thread... a knit beanie cap or 'watch cap' is great for sleeping in cold homes! We never used to run the heat in winter back on the beach, as we had louvered windows and the money would be wasted, so we wore beanie caps to bed during cold spells, lol. They worked great! I once read that 50% of heat loss in a human body occurs through outward radiation from the head, so it only makes sense to cover it if you wanna stay warm. I think the beanie caps work best for warmth, but all I could find was this cowboy hat emoji, lol. And a cold weather ninja!

For the same reason, I can't wear a hat in hot weather, I already have a "high thermostat" and a hat is too much, unless it's a light breathable hat like one made of thin cloth or straw or whatever. I do have an assortment of knit beanie caps & a cowboy hat & a bunch of hoodies, lol. Good idea to put one of those beanie caps in the car, Morgan101, I believe I'll do that today. I already have a big blanket, sleeping bag & other cold weather gear in there, but a beanie cap & maybe some extra gloves might come in handy.

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

You guys are making me hot.

A t- shirt, long sleeved shirt, maybe a hoodie and most definitely a wind breaker; top and bottom. You don't want to be sweating when it's truly cold out.

If it's -15 F or more, maybe some long John's as well. My preferred hat for wind and really cold is an Elmer Fudd. When exercising/working out doors, a head band over the ears or ear muffs.

I will break out the parka when it approaching -40.

 

[Supervisor42]

Got any tungsten or stainless steel wire? un droop them.

For $32 bux I wouldn't worry about it:

66,000 ratings, I think it's ok .

 

[Magus]

I have this strange office heater I use in Winnie, the front never gets hot or anything, I could throw a blanket over it and nothing would burn, but somehow it manages to keep the air in here around seventy degrees even below freezing! no idea how it works!

 

[freelove]

I knit caps from dish cloth cotton yarn for sleeping in. They aren't too hot, but they keep us warm.

 

[Heartbroken]

I have a magic scarf. I don't know how else to describe it. A friend gave it to me many years ago, it's made from fibers from the alpacas her dad raised at the time. I wear that scarf with a hoody as my winter wear. If it's windy or gets much below freezing I'll add a vest. It's long enough that if it gets well below zero I can wrap it around my neck and also up and over my head. That scarf always keeps me warm. It's simply amazing.
I have to be careful to not wear too many heavy clothes or I start sweating when I'm doing chores and then I do get chilled. Today it was around 37 and I wore flannel under my jeans and a long sleeved shirt under my hoody and my ball cap. Got to lugging stuff around in the shop and was a bit too warm. But I finally got the motorcycle put back together and couldn't resist a quick test drive. Only went a few miles and didn't feel bad, but man, when I got back the chills sure set in. Had to come in and do dishes to get my blood warmed back up. Might have made more sense to grab a jacket before I hit the road.
Yesterday I spent the afternoon removing ice and water and adding more rope and completely redoing the pool cover for the 3rd time. Sure hope this version holds, I'm so tired of seeing the wind just rip it apart and make a mess.
Today I finally got a corner of the shop cleared and swept and set up a shelf for all of the gas cans. Replaced the horrid, government improved completely unusable spouts on them and added stabil so I'm set if I need the snow blower or the generator.

 

[Peanut]

if I need the snow blower or the generator.

Reminded me... Years ago in Buffalo Ny a friend bought a house, gave me an old snow blower someone had left behind. He couldn’t get running. I got it going but… someone had stripped one of the carb mounting bolts so the gaskets didn’t seal air tight. In summer it ran good. Not so much in winter... I figured out a way to use it though.

I could only drive it into the wind in winter. The carb was on the operator side of the engine and protected from strong cold air flow. It worked great.

But if I turned and tried to go with the wind it would kill the engine. It came in handy after a couple big storms, Just had to keep the carb out of direct wind.

The next spring I put a sign on it by the curb “Free”. I intended to tell anyone who wanted it what was wrong. I happened to go to the store and when I got back it was gone. Oh well! If they didn’t know carbs at least they got a new boat anchor.

 

[Caribou]

a freind came for a visit and reminded me of something. she lives in a trailer, has only wood stove for heat. trailers are not known for their insulations, ive lived in a couple. she said once she started wearing a cap to bed at night it made a real difference in keeping warm over night. and yes it really helps so maybe grab a couple soft caps for winters especailly if you think you may be facing heat-fuel shortages and a colder winter. guess we are going to go back to the old days to learn how they got thru things.

Jazzy, I can imagine you with the old frilly granny cap like the Big Bad Wolf wears, or like the girls wore on Little House on the Prairie.

A Qiviut scarf, smoke ring, or hat is about the best insulated natural fiber available. It is expensive but very warm and lasts a lifetime. My beaver hat served me well at -50º and colder and in a wind.

 

[jazzy]

Jazzy, I can imagine you with the old frilly granny cap like the Big Bad Wolf wears, or like the girls wore on Little House on the Prairie.

A Qiviut scarf, smoke ring, or hat is about the best insulated natural fiber available. It is expensive but very warm and lasts a lifetime. My beaver hat served me well at -50º and colder and in a wind.

lol, sorry, i wish i was that cute but no granny cap. just a plain old knit cap tho my cat Mean Morris says it makes me look dumb i maintain function over fashion is becoming quite the necessity these days.

 

[Wingnut]

Form follows function!

"I'll take the Carhartt wardrobe for $500, Alex!"

 

[Pearl]

Looks like some really extra cold air will be taking over a big part of the country later this week! I personally am planning for the worst, hoping for the best! Is everybody ready??

 

[Amish Heart]

Well, I've got all the fowl now used to drinking water out of buckets instead of just their waterers. It's hard to de ice the waterers, but easier to throw a jug of hot water on top of the ice in the bucket. Today I'll need to look for some old pet blankets to do another wrap on the rabbit cages in the milkhouse. We are supposed to get below zero starting Wednesday. We are good inside the house, it's just the animals that are more difficult, and keeping myself warm while tending to animals.

 

[Morgan101]

Time to dig out the longjohns and wool blankets. Temps will only be in the 30's and later in the week we will be down to single digits. If it snows on Thursday as predicted, it will probably last until Christmas. We haven't had a white Christmas for something like four years.

 

[Amish Heart]

Little granddaughter and neighbor boy Levi are dying for snow, they were discussing that yesterday. I'm looking at the temp right now, and it's 18 out....will wait to do animals till it's at least in the low 20's

 

[Mountain trapper]

Well, I've got all the fowl now used to drinking water out of buckets instead of just their waterers. It's hard to de ice the waterers, but easier to throw a jug of hot water on top of the ice in the bucket. Today I'll need to look for some old pet blankets to do another wrap on the rabbit cages in the milkhouse. We are supposed to get below zero starting Wednesday. We are good inside the house, it's just the animals that are more difficult, and keeping myself warm while tending to animals.

We use a couple black rubber tubs for our chicken and duck water. We just tip them over and stomp on the bottom. The ice comes right out. Then we refill out of the faucet by the coop. We do this twice a day. We've been well below freezing since the end of October. A lot of single didget and below days. When we had rabbits we'd keep their water bottles inside the house and swap them out a couple times a day.

 

[Amish Heart]

I've only got a couple of rubber buckets, need to get more. So far I've been getting by with a wool sock over the rabbit water bottles. I have a spare set, too. I'm sure this week I'll be doing the swapping out.
Little granddaugher was tempted yesterday to boot stomp the inside of the frozen buckets and the goose pools....told her nope. I've shattered too many things that way, even the heavier plastics. And the twins have broken many fowl waterers by bashing them on the ground to break the ice in them. Those aren't cheap. But they don't help with animals at all anymore. I've got a hydrant by our chicken coops, but not by the other fowl. I have a utility wagon up on our covered porch, and I load it with jugs of hot water from the house, about a dz of them. Pain in the butt, but it works. Sometimes our hydrants outside freeze up.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Starting in late October we take all the chicken waterers out and store in the barn. Then we put out the rubber tubs. All of our water lines are buried over 5 feet deep. Never had one freeze up yet. The duck pool froze solid a couple months ago and is covered in a couple feet of snow. Watering livestock is always a pain living off grid. The cattle water needs to be chipped out every day and refilled. I use a big bar for breaking up the ice, and I always get soaked. It'll freeze a foot thick every day.

 

[The Lazy L]

My house sits into a hill. Feels a little damp and cool sometimes in winter, especially the back bedrooms. I have a 5brick wallmount space heater for 950sqft. Which is fine most of the time.

A couple years ago during a cold-spell I bought a small electric heater for my bedroom. The same cheap model that's been made for eons.(pic below). Much to my surprise it worked last year too. Well, sort of...

The filaments began to stretch. I used to test hardware and software, enjoy figuring out exactly how something fails… So I made it safe, sitting on a rubber mat on a cookie sheet properly grounded then fused it for 10amps with an inline fuse.

Darn thing never failed! It was still running in apr. The filaments drooped more each month! And it’s still running!!! (below) I can’t throw away broken equipment much less something that still runs!

I got a new one today! Don't think I should run it another winter. Looking too droopy.

Sure I’ll need one soon, might as well get one now before I need it.

Then again the old one might out live me. I’ll keep it around for parts.


View attachment 99339

Take the housing off to tighten up the filaments?

 

[Pearl]

I have several of those black rubber buckets! I lug water from the house to the donkey in them during harsh freezes. They take a good beating getting the ice out of them!

 

[oldschoolgenz]

I ordered a 100% wool blanket with plans to get two more. Using HotHands body warmers under the covers. In the mornings I use a propane heater when getting ready. Woke up this morning with most of my toes completely numb so I have a little work to do.