In/out, Linda said.
Well off the top of my mind, there’s burgers, and there’s sex, so let’s talk about the weather instead.
The weather’s doin that thing where you can’t fully commit to your wool poncho and your brown wedge booties, cause most days are really more of a jacket and flip flop type. Do people wear that where you live? Lemme tell ya, here, as long as the walkways are clear, people wear shorts and flip flops even when there’s snow on the ground. Even if they wear coats and hats.
Took Moo to a bonfire party last night — kid wore jeans, a poncho, and boots, but flip flops still dominated.
Last night was good bonfire weather but today we opened the windows cause it’s gonna be 75.
This is fiiiine. We’re stayin in. Tomorrow will be cooler, and we’ll get out again.
Besides, it’s good we don’t need to run the furnace.
For those of you who don’t know, we have one diva of a furnace. It requires attention, or even worship at times. It’s a whole thing that no one would want to read about. Of course, Diva Furnace works when it’s not too cold. Weeks with lows overnight in the 40s, furnace maintained a steady 68. Of course, the morning we woke up and it was 37, I performed the required rituals and eventually, by about noon, the furnace did go again.
Our furnace is maybe six or seven years old, which is close to middle age, so I personally think it’s in a state of midlife crisis. It fears we’ll replace it with a new model, it suspects it’s a matter of cheaper to keep her, and so it fusses at us.
Coupla winters ago, Diva Furnace went out on a Friday, and we spent a cold weekend in our house, til the part came in on a warmer Monday. Over that weekend, we bought some space heaters.
Space heaters are fabulous.
We have two small ones we used in the bathrooms. When it gets below freezing, we pull them back out and keep the pipes warm.
But, the piece de resistance is the large tabletop space heater. It can turn the living room into a balmy little refuge, and given the temperament of our furnace, well…it has permanent residency. I just unplug it in the summer.
Here’s the thing, having it in the living room means we can heat the living room to a higher temp, suppressing the thermostat, keeping the bedrooms cooler, while saving money. I like all those things.
Of course, me being me, I am afraid the space heater will burn the house down, so I spend a considerable amount of time paranoid about it, but it’s really fantastic anyway.
Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS) is brought to you by LindaGHill
joeyfullystated 
Ha, ha. I thought about sex too. And burgers. We do have some cold days in winter here in desert like Southern California. I had a similar experience where the heater went out on one of the coldest holiday weekends of the year and we bought another space heater. They are great for heating up a room. It really saved us that weekend.
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Desert cold is kinda brutal, isn’t it? So dry! I really do like using the space heaters. Without them that weekend the furnace was out, I think we would’ve left and stayed elsewhere, so they saved us some sanity 🙂
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Having just read your post about anxiety, I’m lovingly smiling as I reach the part about space heater concerns, which are really more to the point than many others you could mention (and did.) A Diva Furnace is not a good thing. As for the weather, it’s 70 in the Chicago vicinity today, so the joke from our friends still in Cleveland (as the Cubs and Indians are battling for the World Series) is that makes it Indian summer in Chicago. 🙂
janet
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The Indianapolis Indians play at Victory Field, ahaha! but aside from baseball, the woolly worms told me it would be a long fall, so I think we’re in for Indian summer as well. 🙂 Enjoy your lovely weather!
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Space heaters are a wonderful invention. I have one in my bedroom because when the winter gets really cold, my bedroom gets cold. The heat doesn’t keep up, so the space heater prevents waking up to a 50 degree room. Brrrr. Glad the space heaters are working for you since Diva is being a total Diva.
Yup, it’s still shorts and flip flop weather around here, but the weather has been nice. Then again, I do know a few guys that wear shorts all year around, even in the winter. They must be hot bodies, creating their own little furnaces.
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Yes, we have those shorts fellas here! I think I’m a warmer person, but I’m not fond of exposure. I really, really enjoy comfy cozy winter clothes.
I hear you on the 50 degree bedroom — when it’s below 65 inside, it feels like an icebox!!!
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People here wear flip flops all year unless it is really snowy, cold, or wet. Still will have a coat on though, But then, I’ve seen people wear winter boots in hot weather just because they look cool. Anything goes around here, even shopping in jammies!
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It’s been so warm here that our pumpkins rotted. It’s 82 today. But then it’ll get cold for like one day, then right back up. Bizarre.
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Oh my. Yeah, in Georgia the pumpkins rotted, too. 😦 Sad stuff! But hey, you get corn mazes and stuff today 🙂
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We have the ‘year-round flip-flops and shorts’ crowd here, too, though the weather kinda promotes it. Winter brings the occasional cold snap and maybe some snow, but then it usually warms up to 50 or even 60 degrees within a couple days. Awesome! Beats the hell out of those dreary, slush-filled winters back in the mitten.
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Ah, yes, the mitten. Our winters are usually pretty mitten-ish, but I like them. I do love those surprise winter days when the weather turns warm, though. So nice!
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Space heaters can be life savers, but I agree they should be watched. We replaced our furnace last year and are still making payments.
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Ugh. I’m sorry. Heat is good. I hope you get 20 years outta yours. Now see, I feel like we JUST got done payin off The Unfortunate Plumbing Incident of 2013. Maybe it was interest free for X amount of time, but there was somethin shady about it, I think maybe the payments steered payin $100 a month for X months and then when the interest free period is over, they tack on 9 kajillion in interest a month. I’m not too good with numbers, but I understand money, and paid that sumbitch off early.
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Sounds like perfect understanding of interest to me.
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Mmhm, I think so 🙂
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I’m sure there’s some folks in flipflops, but not me. I like to be warm. Your space heaters sounds like our wood stove. It keeps that room very warm, and the kitchen kinda warm but the bedroom is cool. I like that cool, so I can get warm.
Diva furnace sounds like it needs an attitude correction.
Nice job on the SoCS 🙂
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Thanks 🙂
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Before I forget, I love the green and gold in that tree! We replaced our aged diva furnace last year and it sure is a relief not to have to go through those rituals! I’m wearing my croc sandals, which are like cushiony flip flops, as long as I can. It’s good for the feet to breathe, ya know.
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Thanks 🙂
I am so glad you replaced your furnace and ended the rituals! I’d like to replace our furnace AND our refrigerator, but they’ll have to give up the ghost completely, cause you know, cheaper to keep her. (Shh! Don’t tell them.)
Enjoy your Crocs. I trip over them, had to give em up before I busted my face, but my kids wore them for years in Georgia 🙂
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It’s been pleasantly cool in PNW. Folks walk from the parking lot; one in shorts, tank-top, and flip flops and her friend wearing long, tighty blue jeans, a warm jacket, and knee high boots. Denial?
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I dunno, I always err on the side of stayin cool, and I’ve got friends who catch a chill if they can’t get a tan. 🙂
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I understand. Lived in TX most of my life, and 3 years before here in FL. All too dang hot. Here, over 80 is hot in July.
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Niiiiice!
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It always interesting to read about people thinking about the winter when we are thinking in the opposite way….summer is a comin’ down here and our air cons are being cranked up….enjoyed your take on the furnace..
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🙂
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I’ve bought two furnaces in the 29 years we’ve lived here. They don’t make them like they used to. Same with air conditioning units.
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I don’t think they make ANYTHING like they used to. Just greed and planned obsolescence.
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nice article..!!
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Well I’d go with sex and burgers, but the weather is a fine topic. As Randy Travis said ” As long as old men sit and talk about the weather…” I love space heaters. They give you heat without the commitment of a larger device. I couldn’t help but get a visual about this line.”Of course, me being me, I am afraid the space heater will burn the house down, so I spend a considerable amount of time paranoid about it, but it’s really fantastic anyway.” Instead of Angel Goofy and Devil Goofy I see a comfy Joey in robe and big fuzzy slippers sipping tea in a rocker on one shoulder. On the other I see a wild eyed fire fighter Joey in helmet and slicker with hose in hand searching her home just daring even a spark to appear. You don’t even wanna’ know about my visual for burgers and sex.
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HAH! That’s an excellent visual! You cracked me up with that!
😀
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Over here today it is about 9 degrees C which is about 48 F (not coat weather yet ). I have been at work so in and out of my car. I was still sweating buckets as some people I went to have whacked up the heating! I drove around with my windows open most of the time trying to cool down!
My heating at home is still not on yet! 🙂
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Ah, I feel for you. Nothin like roastin while you work, huh? Right up there with roastin while you sleep!
I’ve noticed my 90-some year old neighbor gets his fireplace goin about the time I no longer need sunscreen. I often wonder if I’ll ever be like that? I just hate to be hot.
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I know. especially at night like you said, trying to sleep is horrendous!
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Seems the a/c always goes out on the hottest day of the year and the heat always goes out on the coldest! And then someone says it’ll be two days before they can come out and fix it. We need to get our fireplace checked before winter. If the heat goes out, at least we’ll have that!
Stephanie
http://stephie5741.blogspot.com
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I can’t control the heat, except by using the thermostat. The good thing is, I live in an apartment, along with 94 other ones. When I lived upstairs on the second floor, all my neighbors had their heat turned up, so I stayed warm without touching the thermostat. It’s currently at 70 degrees (F not C), which is where I kept it all summer, so that I wouldn’t run my electric bill through the roof, by using the A/C.
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That’s how I lived in college. I was on the fourth floor, in the middle of the building, and I never had to run my heat 🙂
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It’s HOT here (I just wrote about it). But I giggled reading about the Diva Furnace, picturing the Old Man from Christmas Story cussing theirs. I love that.
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I feel ‘at one’ with that man, I really do. 😛
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My son wears and has worn shorts most of his life. It doesn’t matter how cold it is. He pairs it with a sweatshirt in the winter and calls it good.
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Space heaters are great to use in an old house like ours. We have a couple of rooms that are just always cold. Those little heaters make a big difference.
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A furnace in a midlife crisis, LOL!!! I’ve gotten my space heaters out, too. I love them, but won’t put them in the kids’ rooms for the reason you said. When it gets nice and cold (like 50), I’ll probably have our gas logs and the space heater and the regular heater going. Hell yeah, but at least I can sleep in underwear.
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Wait…burgers in and out..?
No, actually, forget I asked.
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LOL There’s a chain of burger restaurants in the US called In n’ Out
http://www.in-n-out.com/
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Aha, that makes sense.
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