the little wild kingdom

[FarmerJamie]

Might be a blessing in disguise if you get one more energy efficient. Might get a tax break too.

I am glad we had to replace the water heater. End result was net positive

 

[flowerbug]

i wish either of those things were appropriate but they don't fit our circumstances at all.

 

[flowerbug]

it's ok. we'll get by. i've got cash in reserve for whatevers like this, but i just hate spending money. i also moved up my SS application to last Friday instead of waiting until towards the end of summer so by the end of the this year this will all be in the rearview mirror.

 

[flowerbug]

we have one estimate and hope to have another either tomorrow or early next week. the estimate we have already they won't be available for another few weeks. so we'll see what tomorrow or monday brings.

in the meantime i'm using an electric space heater to keep the house temperature up and even if it is only about 64 square inches it is doing ok when it is warm enough and not windy. i have another small space heater i can use if needed but so far we've just turned the oven on for a little bit and that can heat the whole house up several degrees in a half hour or so. i'm not sure which is more efficient (after reading up they are the same since they are both resistant heating so it is just a matter of design and how long using the one vs. the other).

i run the furnace for a little bit once in a while to keep the crawlspace warm enough to keep the pipes from freezing, but it isn't doing much good up here for heating the house, the air isn't all that warm so i'm sure much of what is being burned is wasted heat going right out the vent pipe... plus we're low on propane at the moment so i'm trying to keep that burn rate down until we get a delivery (it's on request so it should be here sometime the next several days). i mistakenly did not check the propane level as often as i should have knowing we had a furnace issue and we had some pretty cold nights where the furnace pretty much ran all night. a normal weekly burn rate for us is about 10% of the tank per week - we're doing worse than that now for sure so i'm fine with using electric. in the greater scheme of things it's cleaner even if it is more expensive. i'm tempted to go all electric but having the propane tank for times when the power goes out is still important enough to warrant the extra expense - especially when neither of us really wants to deal with burning wood.

 

[flowerbug]

i did a little spider hunting today as Mom noticed some webs and bugs around some of her ornaments by the patio door. yes, there were a pair of them but at least no egg sacs. caught them both and one other one. not too bad this time of the year i think it is the lean times in the winter... i do try to keep an eye out for any egg sacs and spider webs of the type these particular spiders like to weave. they are sticky and not very regular, but distinctive enough that i now know what kind of spider i'm dealing with as soon as i see the web and pile of dead bugs underneath.