We've finally discovered how to stay warm in the trailer. This may seem to be a little late to the game but at least we figured it out. We have a little electric IR heater that will keep the trailer warm down to about 40 degrees. After that it struggles and the inside temperature begins to drop. Since you can only wear so much clothing before you have problems moving around our tiny house it becomes necessary to introduce some additional heat to the situation. That's where the gas fired furnace comes in. We set that at about 65 degrees and then turn on the IR heater. When the IR heater can't keep up the furnace kicks in and brings the temp back up to a point where the IR heater can keep it warm for a while. Running the furnace alone burns through a lot of gas in a really short time. It's not a very efficient furnace. When you're outside and the furnace is running it sounds like a jet engine and it is spewing hot exhaust. But we've figured it out and things are nice and toasty in Mable Rubain.
It's cold out tonight. Our local weather station says it's 34 and the "feels like" temperature is 26 but it feels a lot colder here in the park. The furnace has been cycling on and off most of the evening and our heat strategy seems to be working! Matt just came in after taking Gracie out and said he thinks it may be snowing. I love that. It snowed just before Thanksgiving and we had about half an inch that hung around until the next day. I loved that and hope that we'll get a little more snow. Nothing dramatic that will have the furnace on day and night but enough to make the Festival of Lights here at the park even more beautiful.
I work in the woodpile this week. Yes, again. I seem to get it more often that anyone else. Maybe if I screw it up they'll let me slide until January when we head down south. One of the splitters froze up because someone ran it without oil in it (not me, I had other duties that week) but whoever it was didn't say anything. I was the one who discovered it and I got the stink-eye from maintenance but no one actually said anything. Hey––it wasn't me. I promise. This week Santa's Village is open and one of the events there is to make s'mores and drink hot chocolate. That means that I have to haul split wood up to Santa's Village several times per day on Wednesday through Sunday. I don't mind splitting the wood. I just don't like moving it around.
The good thing about working in the wood pit is that those weeks are weeks where I lose a lot of weight. Since arriving here in September I've lost about 2 lbs. per week. Not bad for not really trying. Walking the dogs, walking around to my jobs and not eating like a horse seems to be the magical combination. It's the simplest formula, total calories in need to be less than total calories out. Lesson learned here is that you'll lose with that combination (and working in the woodpile).
We do have one luxury that we just have to have––wash and fold service for our laundry. If we do it ourselves at the laundromat we spend about $18 and it takes about 2 hours from wash to dry and then fold. We found a nice little laundry over in Manassas that will do a weeks worth of laundry for between $20 and $25. Even better they'll get it back to us the same day. Another lesson learned.
I managed to burst a tire on the truck. I think it was a defect in the tire. I pulled up onto the road and there was a bit of a gap between the road and the ground I was on. When I pulled up the tire burst. It was about 10:00 PM so I pulled it over to the side of the road and left it until morning when there was more light. I called Good Sam roadside service and was very surprised when the guy showed up in about 30 minutes. He even knew how to get the tire from under the truck, where the jack was in the back of the truck and he put everything back in place after changing the tire in very short order. This was a dramatic departure from my experience with AAA. They routinely quote at least an hour and then show up anywhere from an hour and a half to 2 hours later. Other than having a busted tire the whole experience was quite refreshing.
We head south on January 4th. We'll stop in Charlotte to see my mother and then head to Charleston for doctor's appointments and to see friends. After that we'll go to Dade City to stay out of he cold and visit Matt's mother. After that who knows. We, by in large, worked out all of the kinks in working while on the road so where we go is up to us. I'd like a trip to Key West at some point so I can go snorkeling. Sitting here in the cold make that sound so warm and inviting. That means we'll be here for Christmas and New Years baring any emergencies that call us back south sooner.
Time to take a look outside and see if it's snowing yet. Let's hope.
