September Daily To-Do's/Notable Accomplishments

[Tybee]

Keeping to my schedule of processing squashes each day for the freezer--working on butternut now.

[catherine]

Checked off one of my major home improvement goals for 2022--we had our heat pump installed yesterday. We spent the last few years relying on our wood supply, and using baseboard as backup.

Wood supply has gone up in price: $400 a cord. We need two cords if we are going to burn wood every day.
Baseboard heating: Everyone know that's ridiculous.
A/C: we have 4 ceiling fans. Those are fine most of the time. Frankly, this year we felt uncomfortably warm a handful of times. Maybe 4-5.
The heat pumps are extremely efficient and make better economic sense, by all reports.

the other things that pushed us toward the heat pump, besides efficiency and cost:

We have no thermostat. in a way there's a blessing and curse.

Blessing: We pay attention to how we feel. How the elements make us feel. If we feel the drafts of the cold north wind, we stoke the fire. If we start sweating our a$$es off because the stove is raging, we remove our sweaters and let the fire go down. It's a great way to feel closer to all of the natural elements.

Curse: My DH's body temperature is totally out of whack and he feels cold all the time. It's probably circulation but he's been to the doctor and they don't see anything wrong with that. I would like to maintain an objective temperature in the house that we can agree on. The heat pump will facilitate that.

Obviously being able to regulate heat makes life easier but there's a small piece of me that's afraid we won't build fires in the morning. We won't put our coats on over our PJs and put our duck boots on so that we can run out the back and get a few logs to start the morning fire. We won't congratulate each other on quick starts with well-positioned kindling. We won't experience the slow burn and the constant crackling of the wood. Instead, we'll push the arrow up on the Mitsubishi remote. The increase in the temperature will be silent and imperceptible. We'll be in our technologically-climate-controlled cocoon. We won't notice.

We plan on using our wood stove, and using the heat pump as back-up, but you know how that goes when you are given the option of the easy way or the hard way. But I'm still overall glad we have the heat pump.

[Portuguese John Here]

Had some job options to pick from and took a risk on a low paying job that I believe is paying off.

Had the opportunity to work for the biggest auctions firm in my country, an excellent pay check. I rejected because I don't want to be the one selling the house of someone who couldn't pay the bank because they lost their job during covid, I don't believe in karma, but I believe in decency, and I know someone else will be taking that job and doing that anyway's, but I know it won't be me.

Instead, I took a job I wasn't sure I'd be qualified to do, it's a medium company with 200 employees that is growing very fast, I'm not doing a bunch of different tasks like I did before, which I liked, but I'm focused on a single one. It is a very difficult department, most people don't last in there, and from what I've been hearing they are happy with me, I think I'm doing okay, it's a good chance of improvement.

[rosarugosa]

I'm glad it seems to be working out, John. It seems like the other job might have left you feeling bad at the end of each workday.

Catherine,
I would be glad for the heat pump too. Especially as we get older, the easy way could become the only viable way.

[iris lilies]

Catherine, I just now read about your heat pump installation.

that is a very interesting description of living closer to the earth, and how your new heat pump will move you one step away from that.

People may say “ when you are old, running out to the woodpile will be hard” but I say “running out to the woodpile will help to keep you young.” We have to battle our creature comforts, they loom in on us.

p.s.I wrote this before reading rosa’s comment. And you know what razz would say.

[happystuff]

Congrats on the new job, John. Glad it seems to be working out.

Congrats on the heat pump, catherine.

[rosarugosa]

IL: I definitely do not disagree with you, but sometimes it's a fine line. What I mean is that I acknowledge how purposeful physical activity can help to keep us young, but at some point, diminishment of capabilities is inevitable if we live long enough. If our lives are totally built around a manual labor-intensive environment, it could at some point hasten our inability to live independently in that environment.

[littlebittybobby]

Okay---I agree with you kids. People need to remain active, as they age. For that reason, hopefully I/L's DH will send her out to the woodpile to fetch an armload o' wood, several times daily. Hope that helps you some. Thankk Mee.