Hubby and I have a rambling ranch house. We love it. There are so many wonderful places you can go to on a snowy day and plunk yourself down to read (or write)--including my office. But there's just one problem...my office is the farthest from the furnace, which is kind of a problem come late December.
To save energy costs, we turn our heat down at night to 64F. That means it's liable to be 54F in my office. That's a tad nippy if one wants to work (or boot up one's computer. That's why I leave my computer ON from November through April and just reboot every morning before I start my work for the day).
For years, I had one of those oil-filled electric heaters. They work well ... IF you turn them on at least two hours before you want to use a room. (And it's best to close the door to keep that s-l-o-w-ly created heat confined.) I wore a LOT of clothes while trying to work in that kind of environment.
Then, last year, hubby bought me one of those Edenpure heaters. They work with a light bulb that heats copper, and a fan to blow the warm air into the room. While it's a lot more efficient than the electric oil heat, it still takes hours to get my office up to a decent (working) temperature.
Of course, the summer is just the opposite. It's hot as hades in this office, and the lovely cool air courtesy of our Carrier central air isn't cool by the time it winds its way through the entire house. And when the afternoon sun hits my office window, YIKES, besides being steamy, I can't even see my computer screen for sun glare.
I'll bet many of you are saying, "Why doesn't she get a blind on that window?"
The truth is, I have one. But my cat Fred chewed the cord right off, so now I can only lower it eight inches. (Don't you just LOVE cats!!!) It's not a standard-sized window, so I had to special order it. Me thinks I'll start cashing in the deposit on pop bottles and save for a new blind for next summer.
How are you staying warm this winter?
We've got a generator which we don't need unless the lights go out, but our gas logs just died, sigh, we are waiting for new ones.
Like your blog, good luck with it. Thanks for putting my name with your friends.
Keep warm, Lonnie
Posted by: Lonnie Cruse | January 12, 2010 at 09:26 AM