We woke up this morning to bright sun, but despite the pretty daylight, my weather.com widget claims the temperatures here in Chambana are about 12 below zero.
I’m used to blizzards and wind chill, but the flat topography of the prairie here never fails to make me feel as if winter is interminable, and we will all die a terrible death a la the Donner Party.
It doesn’t help that The Poo has been sick for 10 days, and that I personally hadn’t left the house in four days, until yesterday.
Errands to run late in the afternoon precipitated an early-bird adults-only dinner with my husband at a local bar we hadn’t been to before. We braved the subzero winds for a chance to talk and eat uninterrupted. I sent the babysitter on her way at about 7 p.m., warning her to be careful as she drove home.
Despite the fact that we turned the thermostat up a degree before bed, anticipating a frigid night, the furnace just can’t keep up. When we came downstairs to see the temperature at 63 degrees, Mr. C cranked it up even higher. Still, the house just won’t warm up:
Today we’ll gladly stay home, “a cozy day,” as The Poo says. We’ll run the gas fireplace all day, heat bills be damned. We have on our fuzzy socks and plans to bake chocolate chip cookies are in the works.
I hope you stay warm, where ever you are.
{ 37 comments… read them below or add one }
I hate being cold!
Last year when our furnace just wouldn’t keep up I had Hubby go down and check it out. Turned out our filter was completely clogged and needed to be replaced. Once it was, it was working like new!
Best $2.00 ever spent.
I truly feel your pain…we are sitting at -30C with a windchill of -42C (-22F/-44F). Crazier still…forecast for Monday +1C (33F) Holy. I don’t know how we live through this.
Canadian Prairies…gotta love em!
Um….it’s supposed to be 69 here today.
Want to come visit?
I’m leaving the thermostat where it would be if we were not all at home. I still have to pay last month’s heating bill….
So, 60 degrees it is. Maybe when we make cookies it the oven will warm things up.
I guess I can’t complain about it being 5 degrees here! Brrr!
God, can’t we have your weather? We’ve been sitting in temperatures well over the 30 degree point (celcius, mind you), for the past month. I’m constantly getting sunburned at work, and I’m amazed we haven’t had kids passing out from heat exhaustion.
Bring on Winter. I want my cold weather back.
BRRRRRRRRRRRR
It’s -4(F) here today and tomorrow it’s going to be -10(F). I feel your pain. Its holy freaking cold batman. Our furnace wasn’t keeping up either until we changed furnace filters.
Despite the cold I saw a kid going to the bus stop with his coat unzipped and no hat or gloves. I don’t understand.
our furnace has been running pretty much all the time and we keep our house at 65-well it was 66-I think hubby got at the temp setting. Right now it is 9 but feels like -6 according to weather.com. Too friggin cold!
Yup – it’s minus 20 Celcius in Toronto today and my thermostat said 64 degrees when I got up this morning too – despite the fact that I cranked it last night!
-21F when I drove the kids to school this morning.
I really don’t mind it. There’s something to be said for putting a pot of soup on the stove and relaxing with a fire.
Not much warmer over here west of you in Moline. They’ve already cancelled school for tomorrow and of course they’re off on Monday as well (MLK).
Keep warm in Chambana!
I have mine set to 80 freaking degrees and I can’t seem to get it above 66. I feel like I’ve been cold for two months. Can it be spring now?
Have fun making cookies….or eating them.
sunny and in the 70s here…
That is about what we leave ours at year round. We pay very little in the winter and make up for it in the summer. It is NEVER hot in my house.
We had a very similar day here…even baked chocolate chip cookies!
It’s quite cold here, too. No school today, tomorrow uncertain. We’re all layered up, and we have a collection of blanket throws in all of our favorite rooms.
we saw a thermostat like that during the perfect christmass trifecta of 2008. the furnace, the water heater and the water heater in 3 days! and yeah, -5 here in michigan, i share your pain.
that second water heater? was really the washing machine, sorry.
It’s been pretty cold here on the other side of the planet too. Sub-zero several nights recently.
This weekend we are hoping to stay in the warm on purpose.
My parents used to put straw bales around the outside of our house as cheap extra insulation. I grew up in rural North Dakota–I feel your pain. It was -39 there the other day.
And I get really irritated at the Pennsylvanians who complain when it hits 30. You should hear them now–it’s 0 and they act as if we are all going to die if we step outside.
IMO, if your snot doesn’t freeze when you step outside, it’s not cold.
Humph.
Share your pain. It’s been about -38 here the last two nights with the windchill. Crazy.
It was below zero here today in KY. Our furnace stays at about 72. Its warm but I hate to see our electric bill next month.
Stay warm!
Good Lord. I thought it was cold here in the 30s.
“Heat bills be damned” has been my motto this winter too. That, and “cozy days.”
you know, I thought I was freezing and it’s only in the 30s here. I was making comments about being colder than a witch’s tit and clearly I’m toasty compared to you.
Good luck with the heat bills, but at least you’ll be warm. And that’s all that counts right?
Brr! We are having a brief reprieve from our month-long cold snap so you have my condolences. I hope you guys don’t get cabin fever.
It’s 70 degrees here. Not bragging, just saying. That means our summer will be hot enough to melt the enamel on our teeth. Poor us.
Yesterday morning it was -10 as I went to my clinical. It hurt to breathe.
Even staying indoors it’s cold. Like you, I’ve had the gas fireplace on most of the day to help our poor furnace out.
Take the thermostat off of “HOLD” and it will heat right up!
I am feeling your pain. Our house is frigid right now and no matter how high the thermostat goes, it’s still ice. Where is spring?
*checks in*
Did someone say cookies?
Hang in there, girl.
oh honey- I feel you. I HATE being cold. Although cold here isn’t quite the same as prairie cold. Thank god.
you know, I spent the better part of an hour trying to figure out what -12F was in celsius (cuz I’m a Canucklehead, yaknow)and all I know is that it was -46 with the wind chill the other day (that’s celsius) and apparently after -40 they’re both the same so take that as you like and I’m going to stop babbling now
Ok – do I have to come find you?? I hate it when you don’t write cause then I have to hate everyone and everything by myself.
Wine for the Whiner??
So has nobody broken it to the husbands that moving the thermostat setting up doesn’t make the struggling furnace any hotter? Or are you exercising the same wise restraint as when they hit the “call elevator” button over and over?
sub zero temp here for several days. the electric furnace is running constantly and can barely keep up. will constant running of the furnace harm it or aree they designed to allow for it.