Sigh

I confess to feeling down. I'm tired of day after day of unrelenting gray clouds with no break forecast. Gray clouds above, dirty snow below and bare branches between. Plus even knowing hypothyroidism is the culprit, it's hard to live with days of shivering cold in what should be a comfortable temp.

What a simple boost sunshine would be! Even with the much colder temps we would have...so worth it. Not to mention, solar panels and clouds - bah humbug.

Grump, grumble. This is why I haven't been posting much.

Experiments and a bit of fun

I get a kick out of trying new ways to cut my energy use so today I tried washing dishes with the water heater turned off. Because I use a tankless water heater all I had to do was shut off the circuits powering it. Then I poured the pot of water I keep on the wood stove (for humidity) into the sink. It's surprising how little water there is when spread out like that. After the pot heated up again I added that and it was a comfortable level. Rinsing was done with cold water.

Conclusions: I can see why people used to only take one bath a week when this was the only way to heat water. Still, it wasn't that much work, mostly a matter of planning. Not much fun in the summer heat! I also understand the benefit of having a water tank attached to the stove...but I have no desire to make that change.

I got the results from my annual blood labs and am feeling pretty good about all of it. One thing was way off - thyroid levels. Which explains my being so cold and fatigued lately. That doesn't worry me; an adjustment in meds and I'll be feeling better in a few weeks.

Have you heard of George Ezra? I saw him on the Graham Norton Show and got a kick out of such a voice coming from that young face. This video makes me chuckle:

Busy week

I got a couple new arrivals this week:

My first ever gas stove.

A very energy efficient fridge.

These are part of my goal to drastically reduce my electricity usage. The stove runs on LP from the tank that rarely gets used because we prefer wood heat. The fridge is rated to use .95kwh per day! I've also almost got all my light bulbs switched over to led bulbs. These are bright enough that one bulb can replace two or three cfl bulbs.

I took care of some medical maintenance this week too. An eye exam that revealed a risk for glaucoma, but no problems now and my prescription didn't change enough to need new glasses. Also, the yearly mammogram. Yuck. Huge relief to have that one out of the way!

My workplace is experiencing profit issues and is doing a reorg including layoffs. Very hard because there isn't any warning and you come to work to find someone you've known for 17 years is gone. I'm not concerned about my job; an advantage of doing something nobody else wants to do. It certainly adds to the comfort level knowing I no longer have massive debt hanging over my head. I have to restrain myself from shaking young people who spend like there is no tomorrow.

Still very cold but should be back above freezing this weekend.

And Brrrrrrrrrrr

It doesn't take much wind to make it feel very cold when it's actually -4F(-20C). The wind chill is -22F(-30C) this morning. My face is the worst; I'll have to wrap a scarf around it if the wind starts blowing hard as predicted.

I used the snow rake to drag the snow off the lower part of the garage solar panels. Don't want to waste the sun while it's out! The panels on the house are out of my reach so will have to wait for the sun and wind to clear them.

The water bucket in the chicken coop wasn't frozen solid this morning, so the extra insulation seems to be helping.

I finally gave in to the season and pulled out my winter comforter for the bed. Sigh.

A touch of the bizarre

I had my first spam comment in years today. How odd that someone who wants to rant against women in this country would visit a woman's blog and expect her to provide a platform for him.

Not adjusting

I'm having the hardest time adjusting to the sudden cold. It makes me tired and achy; it's not fair! Seriously, 20 degrees colder than the average should be this time of year. Yuck.

Okay, enough whining.

One of the jobs I needed to catch up on this week was killing the rest of the young roosters. Not a fun job at any time, but the chickens don't like going outside in the winter and having all those raging hormones cooped up together was not good. This is really difficult for me because I love my chickens, yet logically I eat meat so it's right to do it myself. Basically, I zone out and don't think about the process until it is done. My son's friend was helping out and almost lost it at one point. I offered to finish for her, but she said she needed to be able to do it all. And she did.

Hello, Winter.

My posting has been pretty skimpy lately. Happily, I have finished the big rush project I was working on and am enjoying a week off! Normally after being worn down from work I would take some lazy time to recuperate, but our forecast called for our first winter storm today followed by a week of biting cold. With so much of my personal time spent on work, I had to use the weekend to play catch-up. Saturday was for cleaning and organizing the garage so the car would fit inside again. Sunday saw the rest of the windows covered in plastic and I brought in the half-ripe pumpkins (the chickens will enjoy them this winter).

Sadly, the weatherman wasn't far off and today has seen cold, freezing rain, snow, and north winds. Not a lot of snow for us, but enough to make chores decidedly unpleasant. The perfect weather for a toasty fire and a long nap.

I stumbled across a video today showing women who escape the modern world by living retro. Interestingly, they all admitted it was escapism. The two that were 30's fans seemed a little more balanced by being able to work and function in modern society. I even understand their interest because to me it's an intriguing time in history. Those who chose the 50's seemed a bit more on the nutty side, only venturing out once a week for groceries and spending the rest of their time being 'perfect' housewives. I realize this is a touch ironic coming from me, considering I would happily spend weeks at home; but I'm sure there is a difference. :)