Sunday, January 12, 2014
Surviving The Polar Vortex
I've never been one to get too nervous about the weather. I figure there is nothing you can do about it and fortunately I've never been face to face with a real weather emergency. People around here get bent out of shape about snow (living in the Great Lakes snow belt really changes your perspective on this) and thunderstorms. I don't take shelter unless I can visibly see a tornado coming towards my house. The polar vortex we had this past week changed my attitude towards weather a bit. We got 12 inches or more of snow last week in one day, followed by temperatures in the minus teens with windchill around minus 40 degrees. The snow itself didn't make me too nervous but the cold temperatures sure did. Things (including humans) just aren't designed to work in those cold temperatures. There were a few days where I was quite concerned that either the power would go out or a pipe would freeze and break. Part of this new nervousness is because I own a house and am now responsible for any damage that occurs. Most of the nervousness, however, comes from now having two little ones at home. I couldn't imagine what we would have done if the power would've went out when it was -15 degrees outside. We do have a kerosene heater my parents bought us but luckily we didn't have to use it. Needless to say I am now quite happy the weather is back to normal for winter. Our only real casualty from all of this was a window in our porch area that some how broke. My dad did a temporary fix (see below) until we are able to order a replacement part. Doesn't it look nice? Right up to code I am sure for our HOA.
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We spent one night sleeping in our living room here in Michigan with our fireplace going when we lost our electricity. Worked really well. The rest of the house...not so much!
ReplyDeleteOur heat went out in South Bend once when Dixon was out of state for his job and Chris was about two months old. :-/ I by-passed calling our landlord altogether and called the gas company. As soon as I told them I had a newborn, they were out really, really fast! I was amazed. :-) Auntie 502
Is your fireplace a traditional wood burning one or an electric one?
ReplyDeleteIt can be either. The Uncle built it to be a traditional style, but we had a gas line put in so that we could use it without all of the mess. If we ever want to have a real fire once again though, I think that the gas line has to be removed. auntie 502
ReplyDeleteI've never tried to use our gas fireplace to heat the room. We basically only use it when we have company for looks. I'm not convinced our fireplace puts out enough heat to heat the living room. Luckily we have a kerosene heater in our garage and a gas heater in our basement, neither of which require electricity to start or use.
DeleteI don't have a clue how ours works. We used to be able to push a small button (like on a gas grill) at the side of the fake wood and the fire would start right up, but it hasn't worked in awhile so we push the button and hold a match to the opening to get it going. (I don't think that any electricity is involved.) We don't have a remote starter for it. We talked about getting a generator for years, but for the one or two times a year that our electricity has gone out, we haven't wanted to invest the money. If I'd have known we'd still be in this same house 20 plus years though, I'd probably have insisted on getting one! auntie 502
ReplyDeleteYeah like I said we do have a couple of heating sources we can use that don't require electricity. I hope to never have to use them but it is nice to know in the back of my mind that they are there if the power ever did go out for an extended period of time.
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