Last night was officially below freezing, at least according to my thermometer. It got down to 28.9 F outside, inside the sky castle was 37.4 F. Yep, we let it get that cold inside. Why you might ask? We decided last winter not to kill ourselves trying to keep the sky castle warm. Here's the deal, if you have a warm, toasty fire in the wood stove, you go to bed with things being warm. The fire dies out long before morning, so SOMEONE has to get up at least once during the night to stoke the fire, or allow it to go out, halfway through the night, the temp drops to shivering cold, so you start looking for more blankets, wish you had worn warmer jammies, or suffer. We discovered if you go to bed with the appropriate warm clothing, and warm blankets, it's quite easy to stay warm in bed all night. Fortunately where we live, no matter how cold it gets over night, once the sun comes up, as long as the sky is clear, it warms up into the 50s and 60s, typical high desert. Open the curtains on the east side of the room, the sun shines in and you have instant warmth.
Last night, before it got really cold, I went under the sky castle to look for something to snack on in our stash, that space is unfinished , but the walls are thick concrete, the floor is still dirt, I noticed that even with the openings to the outside, it was significantly warmer down there than it was inside the sky castle. MMB and I talked this morning about finishing the bottom floor space and using that as the winter bedroom.
Before someone suggests that we insulate the sky castle, it's something we are going to do, for now it's uninsulated, and that is just how it is.
Now I have to go make breakfast, pancakes and fried Spam. :)
All written text and audio podcast from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment., but please do not distribute (text or audio) without written permission.
Wretha,
properly pronounced wreetha (included for the text reader),
Thanks for visiting!
PDF
Have you tried putting grape jelly on it and baking? Tastes great! Well, it did as a kid but that has been a LONG time ago.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a plan to me. A few degrees warmer will make the nights more enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteI never really thought about it like that but it does make sense. Good for you both. Saves the wood for times that are bitter cold too. Win, win if you ask me.
ReplyDeleteThe moderation of temperature is one of the major reasons I opted for an underground house on my homestead. I also just happen to like the aesthetic as well since the house really does become part of the landscape.
ReplyDeleteTexasMan, that sounds good, might try it later.
ReplyDelete.
.
squire, it's amazing the difference just a few degrees can make, gotta get used to colder temps again.
.
.
Bullseye, another reason we don't like the skycastle very warm in the winter, if it's warm inside you have to get "dressed" to go outside, it's easier just to dress warm all the time.
.
.
Storm, that is something I would like to do, we live on the side of a mountain, it would take more equipment than we have to do that though. Perhaps we can do a root cellar, get a feel for how much rock is just under the surface... we have lots of rock, it's volcanic rock.
Cold is a relative thing, when we first started living off the grid in a small cabin while we built the house from logs off of our property with a chainsaw mill, it was cold in that little cabin...
ReplyDeleteNow inside the house, it's great, we don't have to go outside to be warm.
Winter in Canada is coming, snow predicted for next week, you said 30 was cold???
Welcome to Canada, my always quick with a joke wife is fond of saying, welcome...
Oh yeah, cold is definately a relative thing, I completely agree, I'm sure that midwinter in Canada, 30F would be a balmy day. :)
ReplyDeleteRight now I'm sitting in my cabin, no heat, the temp is 46F inside and out, most people I know would be miserable and looking for the thermostat... it's quite comfy to me, especially after it's been in the upper 20s F.