I Feel Better Already

If you cannot read the print, here goes:





A house in the country: $1 million.
Three luxury cars: $160,000.
Leaving home during a cold Minnesota winter without turrning off the waterpipes in the garage: priceless.

With the forecast of recent bitter cold temperatures, my husband and I decided we were going to have one winter without frozen water pipes. Since we moved into our old farmhouse constructed in the 1870s I don't think there has been one winter where we haven't had to thaw out frozen pipes in the basement. Part of the problem is the design of the house. Back when fuel was cheap, you could afford to crank the thermostat up to 70 degrees plus to heat the old brick barn. But when we married back in 1980 (remember the energy crisis??) we paid over $2,100 just to heat the downstairs one winter. Needless-to-say, we use a lot of blankets and the thermostat rarely goes over 64 degrees (unless it's being tampered with by a child).

We have two entrances to our basement: the traditional steps from inside and a walk-in from the outside located on the north side of the house. If it wasn't bad enough to have a door on the north side of the house, the pipes running into the basement from the well are located near the bottom of those stairs. So if an absent-minded child or idiot dog leaves the door gaping open with a brisk north wind blowing....it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the results.

One winter before we insulated the outside walls (no kidding, it was just plaster and wood lathes) we had sub-zero temperatures for three weekends in a row. With the furnace running three days non-stop, we holed up in the southeast side of the house to keep warm. Even with the furnace blasting away, we couldn't get the temps up over 50 degrees in the house. And water? Not a drop. The next weekend my husband went down to live at the farm while I took our firstborn to my parent's house to wait for warmer weather.

Living without running water for four days is not any fun. But it does give you a sense of appreciation for it when the pipes cough out the first drops. After the sediment clears, we're back in business.

Because he doesn't trust heating tape, my husband leaves a trickle of water running in the upstairs bathroom. This grates on me because I cannot stand to waste water (someday I'll blog about the drought and the dry well). But having no water or burst pipes is not an attractive alternative either.

So after making it through the last bitter spell without an incident, my husband let the kerosene heater in our unheated back room run out of fuel. After all, the temps were above zero. WRONG!!! Fortunately with the help of a trusty space heater I was able to catch the freeze early. Unlike folks who use torches (a burning house would thaw out those pipes in a hurry) we are careful to monitor any heat-producing appliance. Now if we can make it to spring.....