It's brisk this morning. When you go outside and inhale, your nostrils freeze together. When I went in to 3 Squares this morning to grab a cup of coffee and use the restroom, there was ice in the toilet bowl.
We have radiant heat in this house - water through baseboard radiators means less dust and a more even heat. Programmable thermostats and four heating zones mean we can turn the heat down where we aren't, and keep it cozy where we are. When it's cold out, it's lovely.
In the big white house in Boston, we had one regular thermostat. Downstairs. Mom would get up first, race downstairs in her housecoat and turn up the heat and put the kettle on. Then dad would come down, eat, and at 7:40 leave for work. THEN we'd get up. Chances are I'd already been out of bed for a while - sometimes doing homework, sometimes washing my hair or putting my makeup on (I was more maintenance then), but often trying to get warm.
Our house was old, and central heating was an afterthought so things weren't as pretty as they were in houses where a furnace had been installed from the start. The forced air register was not in the floor in our bedroom, it was about 3 feet up the wall, behind the door. Let me tell you there is no faster way to warm up the top half of your body than to hike up your flannel nightie, hook the hem over the top of the register, and blow it up like a hot air balloon. To warm up the bottom, you needed a floor register and they were all downstairs. It was easier to get dressed.
5 comments:
O.K. that's a hilarious picture imbedded in my brain for the day. You are too funny. It's cabin fever time.
We had an electric grate in the fireplace. On cold winter mornings we got dressed in front of it. I suppose Grandma was the one who went downstairs to turn it on. I remember the heater in our basement was the size of a small bus.
I now have this mental image of you floating away on you're poofed-up nightgown.
*snerk* a pillsbury moment for sure
Our vent was at the baseboard. You had to fight the dog for the best spot in the living room, lol.
Now, with central..our heating vent is at the ceiling (slab construction) huh? So we turn our ceiling fan on low, invert the blades and push the heat back down. But then, a cold house is maybe 62.
Come visit soon, at least to thaw out!
I can totally relate to the frozen nostrils lately! My house is one of the old ones, circa the '20's with original windows that all need replacement & allow frigid air to seep thru. Some of the outer walls are freezing even inside the house. The old steam furnace will last "15 minutes or 15years", says my furnace guy. Ahh..bucolic VT. ;-}
Post a Comment