The Big Freeze

   The early January brought us more winter fun. A large mass of very cold arctic air was moving south and our temperatures dipped well below freezing. The cold front made it to our area during the evening hours on Sunday, January 5th. It was still about 50 degrees at midnight and raining. By the time we woke up, it was about 12 degrees and on Monday night, the thermometer dipped all the way down to 2 degrees Fahrenheit. Tuesday was even a little colder with a low of -1 degree.  Wind chill was about -20 degrees during the night. We got about an inch of snow again and tried to enjoy it. But it was just too cold to spend much time outside. Despite the freeze, it just looked beautiful.

   Since we were staying home during the couple of cold days, we decided we would do some work on the rental house. Steve drove the truck up the hill in the morning and turned the heat on. That way we could comfortably work inside. When we went to the house a few hours later, we had to walk because the driveway froze over and the truck was sliding. When we got to the house, we found out that the lock was stuck. We only have a key to the dead bolt but not the regular lock. We tried every key we have, but no luck. It was very cold to stay outside for much longer and we returned back to our house to regroup. We will have to figure out how to break into the house without doing too much damage.

   Inside, Steve and the kids were chopping wood and kept the fireplace going. We are very thankful that we got the fireplace converted to burn wood. It was keeping the living room a little warmer. Our regular heat was just blowing cool air and - with the fireplace going - was able to get the house to 65 degrees. It was definitely livable, but not nice cozy. We have decided to get a wood stove to get some real heat in the house. 

   We were also using our emergency space heater (that Steve and the kids put together) to add some heat to the room. It gets remarkably warm.

   Since this is our first winter here, we were not sure how well the heating system works - especially since temperatures around zero are not very common here. We decided to move the kids into our bedroom for the night. That way we could run the space heater if necessary. It also seems that the vents in our master bathroom and bedroom are closest to the air handler and have the warmest air. The kids were very excited about the change. With the bedroom doors closed, the room stayed nicely warm and we were comfortable.