In the garden, and RAIN!!! (2)
POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Monday, September 7, 2026 11:50
VIEWED: 338648
PAGE 46 of 834
It's kind of amazing, really. It's been 40 1/2 hours without the furnace kicking on now and it's 33 degrees outside. But the key is that it's not windy at all right now. The temp has only fallen 3 degrees from 57 to 54 since the sun went down. Last night remained in the high 40's after being in the mid 50's yesterday, and even with some cloud cover the sunlight alone was enough to raise the temps during the day even though it was about 10 colder outside than it was in my house.
The crazy things you discover when you've got the thermostat set between 43 and 50 degrees.
It gets below freezing Wednesday night, but it's going to be 61 degrees on Tuesday. I'm going to easily make back all of the extra cycles used during that cold snap between now and then.
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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
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Quote:That's too cold for me! We keep our thermostat at 67, but we only have 2 zones (of 3) on during the day, and only one on at night. Still, it'll be interesting to see how high our gas bill goes. We used to be charged $8-10 per month is the summer (for water heating: laundry, showers, dishwashing) but our bill crept up to $13-14. I was worried we had a small leak somewhere so I checked and old bill... nope, same number of therms, just more expensive!
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
It's kind of amazing, really. It's been 40 1/2 hours without the furnace kicking on now and it's 33 degrees outside. But the key is that it's not windy at all right now. The temp has only fallen 3 degrees from 57 to 54 since the sun went down. Last night remained in the high 40's after being in the mid 50's yesterday, and even with some cloud cover the sunlight alone was enough to raise the temps during the day even though it was about 10 colder outside than it was in my house.
The crazy things you discover when you've got the thermostat set between 43 and 50 degrees.
It gets below freezing Wednesday night, but it's going to be 61 degrees on Tuesday. I'm going to easily make back all of the extra cycles used during that cold snap between now and then.
--------------------------------------------------
Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
During winter, despite most of our windows being double-paned, our bill would go to $150 on the coldest months. Given that the price has gone up, but we're more consistent and conservative than we used to be, I wonder how high the bills will go this year.
Sis near Bflo hardly pays anything. When the house was built, dad went around filling in the empty spaces with insulation, so its extremely well-insulated. And of course all windows in the houses built there are double-paned. And when they had to replace the furnace, sis bought one with an extremely efficient heat exchanger: it extracts SO much heat from the combustion gases that the vent is at the side of the house, since the gas is too cold to make it all the way up a normal chimney! I'll ask her what her bill was the month tht included the latest blizzard. I would be curious to find out.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE someone poor - William Blake
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:Quote:That's too cold for me!
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
It's kind of amazing, really. It's been 40 1/2 hours without the furnace kicking on now and it's 33 degrees outside. But the key is that it's not windy at all right now. The temp has only fallen 3 degrees from 57 to 54 since the sun went down. Last night remained in the high 40's after being in the mid 50's yesterday, and even with some cloud cover the sunlight alone was enough to raise the temps during the day even though it was about 10 colder outside than it was in my house.
The crazy things you discover when you've got the thermostat set between 43 and 50 degrees.
It gets below freezing Wednesday night, but it's going to be 61 degrees on Tuesday. I'm going to easily make back all of the extra cycles used during that cold snap between now and then.
--------------------------------------------------
Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
I think if I did a survey, that's too cold for pretty much anybody.
My Grandma and Aunt kept their coats on even when I splurged the last time we were here and turned it up to 64 for a few hours. They keep theirs at 70. Their gas bill last month was $280. I'm not going to be surprised if I hear it's $550 this month.
My buddy won't take his coat off when he comes here and has asked me twice now if I'd turn the heat higher if he gave me some money to help pay my bill.
Quote:
We keep our thermostat at 67, but we only have 2 zones (of 3) on during the day, and only one on at night. Still, it'll be interesting to see how high our gas bill goes. We used to be charged $8-10 per month is the summer (for water heating: laundry, showers, dishwashing) but our bill crept up to $13-14. I was worried we had a small leak somewhere so I checked and old bill... nope, same number of therms, just more expensive!
Sure. Probably quite a bit more expensive right now in the winter too. Up until this point I've been extremely lucky with how little more it was costing per therm prior to the same time last year, but we did just get bumped up to $0.62 per therm (plus another $0.7 delivery charge or whatever) for the month of December, which means all those cycles that went off during Week Frigid were the most expensive I've ever paid for since buying the house by quite a bit.
Quote:
During winter, despite most of our windows being double-paned, our bill would go to $150 on the coldest months. Given that the price has gone up, but we're more consistent and conservative than we used to be, I wonder how high the bills will go this year.
WOW! You can tell that your gas is more expensive and you keep it higher than I do. Last year's January bill (that I'll be comparing the next bill to) was $235. Only $158 of that was my gas. Up until the next two bills (unless I did REALLY GOOD here), last January's bill of $158 was my highest bill ever.
My goal is to pay less than last year even with the jump in price. I don't know if I can succeed, but I'll find out in about another 20 days.
Quote:
Sis near Bflo hardly pays anything. When the house was built, dad went around filling in the empty spaces with insulation, so its extremely well-insulated. And of course all windows in the houses built there are double-paned. And when they had to replace the furnace, sis bought one with an extremely efficient heat exchanger: it extracts SO much heat from the combustion gases that the vent is at the side of the house, since the gas is too cold to make it all the way up a normal chimney! I'll ask her what her bill was the month tht included the latest blizzard. I would be curious to find out.
I've got all double paned windows, but the insulation and caulk jobs were shite. The only two rooms I've actually finished the remodeling and windows are the t
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
I wouldn't have done it before, but...
I'm getting so used to cold temps as the normal that it might not be so bad.
.... I don't think I'm going to fill my tub up with cold water and jump in it tomorrow though.
We're at 39 straight hours without my furnace kicking on and it's 36 degrees outside.
I'm all in now. I'm aiming for using 50% less energy this month than my efficient neighbors.
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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
You are a better man than me SIX. There is no way you could get me to take a walk into the cold North Pacific ocean on the first of January. Brrrrr.
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Out for my walk in a bit and it's dry for now. Sitting at 7C which is which is 44F.
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Back from my walk and still nice and dry out. Temp has gone up a degree.
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Quote:Sounds pleasant!
Originally posted by Brenda:
Back from my walk and still nice and dry out. Temp has gone up a degree.
I take the dog for a walk most days. Some days it's hotter than I appreciate, altho you might enjoy the sun and heat. Today, it was drizzly and around 60F. Heavier rain expected later.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE someone poor - William Blake
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Got my friend's over the pool table light installed today. 100% done with no need to wrap it up another day.
It looks fantastic!
Had to come up with a few creative solutions given what we had to work with under the ceiling tiles and figuring out a way where I could get the junction box to stick out 1/2" lower than the ceiling tile for the finished piece to screw up flush to the tile, while also being able to pull the tile back where it belongs without the box being in the way, but we did it. (Ancient Chinese Secret!)
Only cost him $40 worth of material, and it's beyond code.
Even more good news is that once it was installed and we got the pool table exactly where it needs to be for the pro he's having come out to level and felt it, we discovered that as long as he doesn't get chairs down there that are too tall, we don't even need to come up with a solution to lift the light (that's on chains) when not in use and we'll be able to see his big screen TV on movie nights without that constant bother.
Once he gets the table fixed, we're going to install some shelving and get his kick ass sound system back up in there and we can do movie nights and play pool.
Looks like the only sacrifice he had to make was having a 50" TV down there instead of the 70" one. I had to talk him out of putting that back down because even though I know sober Jack would never put a cue stick through it while playing, sober Jack's drinking buddies probably can't say the same thing, and although there is plenty of room to shoot with the big screen, all it takes is one dumb move and that stick going back a few extra inches, likely either after a terrible shot or during a celebratory gesture, to put that nice TV in a landfill.
Got some cool tools in trade, including a nice stud finder. I've always wanted to buy one but I've never found one on a good sale and really didn't need it because I've got mad skills. His wife also gave me a brand new hair dryer that somebody gifted her but she didn't need and was just about to take to Goodwill. It was fortuitous that I had commented on how fast my bud can take a shower compared to the drawn out process it is with my long hair and how I have to wait another hour for it to dry, otherwise that wouldn't be part of today's acquisitions. I do have an old hair dryer, but it's been hung in the crawlspace for years in case the pipes ever froze and nah... I don't want that thing going anywhere near my hair.
And besides, this one is super compact compared to that old one so it won't take up any room under the vanity.
And now, though I don't remember exactly which day I woke up after my last drinking binge that started on New Years Eve of 2016-2017, I'm 72 hours away from 6 years of sobriety, give or take 48 or so hours.
Happy New Year, Brenda and Sigs!
--------------------------------------------------
Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:Quote:Sounds pleasant!
Originally posted by Brenda:
Back from my walk and still nice and dry out. Temp has gone up a degree.
I take the dog for a walk most days. Some days it's hotter than I appreciate, altho you might enjoy the sun and heat. Today, it was drizzly and around 60F. Heavier rain expected later.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE someone poor - William Blake
It was quite pleasant out.
Sun and heat sounds nice after the snow of Christmas. But my corner of Canada shall have to wait until February to see what Spring will be like.
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