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Thursday, November 29, 2018

I hate cold air



I’ve whined about this before.  My house is heated and cooled by a heat pump.  The last time I complained, last winter, all the wonderful engineering sorts who listen to me whine, were nice and explained how heat pumps work, and more. All very kind, but does not negate the fact the damn things generate cold air.

Not the noticeable wafts of warm, natural gas heated air. “Oh, the furnace just came on!” Or the slightly less warm wafts of propane gas heated air. Or the embracing, engulfing warmth of a wood stove. But, cold air is what I have. My next house will be heated by natural gas. I will not live here forever. I will downsize again, and top of my list: a natural gas furnace!

I am so happy to be back from my self-inflicted time out from my self-imposed therapy of weaving towels to toss to the wind, and to my friends. Last night my friend and neighbor, Cathy, picked two towels from the stack, and then picked chicken soup from the menu that Laura offered. Cathy has a cold verging on the flu. When she left she said she didn’t know which would make her “more better”, the soup or the towels.

When I broke my foot, my femur and my shoulder and was in rehab last July, I was mentally spacy, too.  Or not. Perhaps I was super lucid. I was taken by a picture my friend Deb posted, with Tibetan prayer flags in her back yard. Old flags and new. How like my towels, I thought. I’ve done this before; weave a great stack of towels because I like to, and then sent them near and far, simply because I like the people they are going to.

But, a small problem arises. People want to reciprocate, and send a gift in return. Lovely, but then I must find a place to put it. You’ve seen much of my house. It won’t even hold another cat. I think you are lovely to want to send me something. Send me the prayer from the towel. Here are two that I will pass on.

One blogger friend who already has towels said when there is a large family gathering and so many dishes to wash, there is “scrummage in the towel drawer” among children and friends to have “those” tea towels. That is wonderful. It fills my heart.

Another blogger friend had a small gift selected, but took to heart my plea to send nothing in return. She tucked it in a gift parcel to another country, and now some youngster will spend his childhood with a wallet with a Canadian moose. Laura carried around such a special wallet, until only recently.

These are Deb’s prayer flags that inspired me. See how the very distant ones have grown thin and seer. The prayer may even be transparent now. Send any gift on. Pay it forward. Put extra mittens on your giving tree. Because we still can.





36 comments:

  1. There is something about prayer flags that is very soothing to me although I have no religious beliefs Joanne.
    As to your heating - this is my second winter in the bungalow away from my Aga and my wood burner. I have gas central heating and although I have it set high I have a job to keep warm.

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  2. It's always nice to pass on the good stuff.

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  3. When you use the heat pump, what does that mean? How is it powered? Who makes such a thing? It better be more dependable to have nat'l gas, for sure.

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  4. It makes heat in winter and cool in summer. In winter it sucks the cold from outdoor air and puts air that's 68 degrees into my house. Actually, it's a little warmer than that coming from the register, as proven to me by the maintenance man aiming his heat gun into a register. In the summer it takes heat from the inside air and spits it outside, leaving 78 degree air in my house. Heat pumps are made by all big furnace manufacturers.
    A natural gas furnace would be nice. We don't have gas lines to our units. Sigh.

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  5. I've always liked prayer flags especially when they are blowing in the wind. I also like your heart ♥

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  6. When I received the lovely gift of the towel I use often I tried to honor you by giving a special medallion to a neighbor. I told her it was a gift from a special blogging friend. She wears it all the time.

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  7. For years we heated out 9 room 2 story Dutch colonial with only a wood stove in the living. Anyone wants a fire built, I'm your gal. Next house, oil. This condo, natural gas. Outside of incredibly dry, chipped feet, I'm happy. But that could be due to the fact that I've finally decided at my age I deserve to put the heat at 70 degrees.

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  8. There's something wrong with your heat pump if it's putting out cool air. Ours puts out lovely warm air.

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    1. I agree. The maintenance man does not. There you have it.

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  9. Hari Om
    Yes, that's the way, acknowledgement and onward flow. The Love in those towels spreads far beyond their wipe!!!

    Dang, about that heating though... YAM xx

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  10. Presto HeatDish electric space heaters put out wonderful waves of hot air. I recommend them highly.

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    1. I have a small electric heater from Lowes. In a couple of days my first electric bill for this year will arrive and I'll see if I jump out of my skin, or not.

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    2. Exactly what Walter has! It sits near his recliner. He likes it a lot. We have gas heat, but I would be "well done!" if we were to bring the heat up to where he wants it! You need to be near this heater. It does not warm a room.

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  11. I knew someone who professed to hate 'antiques'. I knew an Iranian who said he hated the sun. I cannot imagine hating cold air anymore than antiques or the sun, but we all differ I suppose.

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  12. I never had a heat pump but for 17 years, I worked in the
    Heating and AC business. Heat pumps were all the rage in the 90’s and seemed the most cost efficient for our area. The biggest complaint was that people never felt warm “enough”. At that time I had electric heat and and never really felt warm either because it was expensive and my husband kept the thermostat down low. Now I have gas heat and love it - as long as my house doesn’t blow up.

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  13. Thank you for the encouragement to pay it forward, Joanne. I will do so.

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  14. I'm sorry about your cold air, but hope you can take heart from Michael Cohen's guilty plea today. I am actually tempted to believe that Trump might not be re-elected.

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    1. I take heart in this news, let me tell you.

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  15. I hear ya on the heat pump!! We had geothermal installed because there was a rebate and it would pay for itself... yada yada yada. I was cold for years! Now that electricity became ridiculously expensive (it takes electricity to run a the system) we use our oil back up. I'm still cold (because it's a big old house and you don't touch the thermostat!!!!) but I'm not AS cold. -Jenn

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    1. I almost installed geothermal at the old house thirty years ago, but then the furnace system was less expensive. I didn't realize it was essentially the same as a heat exchanger.

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  16. We have electric heat. I would prefer natural gas; there is a difference with it and it does keep one warmer.

    betty

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  17. You have become woven into our family history, Joanne. I just wish I were able to share some of the warmth of our home and hearth with you.

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  18. I'm glad you are weaving towels again too. My towels are much admired by everyone I've shown them to, and my weaver friend V is intrigued by the Shaker (Quaker?) pattern which she hasn't seen before.

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  19. I have no idea how a heat pump works, but I'm a little surprised that something called a HEAT pump doesn't produce any heat. I prefer natural gas too, for heating, for cooking and for hot water supply. All my life, I've had natural gas until I moved here and now my oven and hot plates are electric. I hate them.

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  20. We had a heat pump during our brief living in North Carolina. When it got cold we'd have to activate the "heat strips" on the thing, which were like little toasters. The electric bills did make us jump out of our skin. Never again, heat pump is a deal breaker for me.

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    1. I also have an electric furnace, which can assist the heat pump in really cold weather. Or, I can flip a switch and have exclusively electric furnace. My neighbor does that. It's wonderful; I walk in and its warm. Her electric bill is also double mine, or more. My highest bill, in three years, was about $200. Hers routinely is $400. Like me, she hates cold. And can pay for heat.

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  21. We are very lucky and were part of the "Quieter Home Program" here. They gave us new double-pained windows and a electric heater and Air conditioner. We had to sign papers that said we would not sue if one of the airplanes fell out of the sky and killed us. LOL

    Once we turn the heat on to 65, it will stay there all day and not come on again, Ditto the air.

    Ah, but some folks can gift a poem, or post a drawing online as a gift. :)

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  22. We have a heat pump too and I hate the cold air cycle as well.

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  23. Dear Joanna, yes, mittens on the giving tree or socks for someone homeless sitting on the pavement outside a store. Or books for children in places whee they are a real luxury. I have about 70 copies of "A Cat's Life: Dulcy's Story" let in the paperback edition. Children love the story. Any suggestions for a philanthropic organization where I might send them?????? Peace.

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    1. This is like a mission, but I wonder if you could call Homeland Security and see if one of their centers would accept books for the "children's library." I wonder if you could stipulate a child who likes the book may keep it.

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    2. Dear Joanne, thanks for the suggestion. I'll follow up. Peace.

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  24. I've spent most of my life in poorly-heated flats and houses. The British have never got the hang of constructing properly insulated, energy-efficient buildings. Our homes must be the draughtiest and chilliest in Europe.

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