The temperature is supposed to drop by at least 40 degrees tonight. I still haven’t turned on my heat. I refuse. I never turn on the heat until mid November. I am not alone. Many people are absolutely phobic about turning on the heat early, especially with the price of heating oil as high as it it. But I am like this every year. I won’t turn the heat on until it’s nearly winter. One year, when it snowed in October and the snow just kept coming and coming and coming. That year I turned it on in the beginning of November, but I still waited until November even with the early snow.
Turning on the heat means you have accepted the arrival of winter. I’m not ready. I won’t be ready by Thanksgiving, either, but usually by then we’ve seen a bit of snow and there’s no avoiding winter. By then it has blown a frosty breath across the land.
Until then, no heat. Put on another sweater. Double up the blankets. We are not turning on the heat. Nope, not doing it.
In the name of getting ready for the season I should not name lest I invoke Jack Frost, I ordered two new bird feeders. I went out to fill the feeders today and realized the wires holding them up are frayed. They aren’t going to last much longer. The new ones are the same as the old ones. These two yellow feeders have outlasted every other feeder we’ve owned. They are the right size, the right weight. The doves can’t get to them and the squirrels use the flat feeder.
I probably should be “rooting for snow,” but I’m not. I love the beauty of snow, but I hate wet feet, icy pavement, and worrying about snow plows and how in world we are going to pay for them.
This is the time of year when you think of all the things you intended to get done before the snow flew, but didn’t. The gutters that didn’t get cleaned. The fence that still needs repair. But, lots of stuff did get done. The driveway got patched. We have gutters and even if they need cleaning, we actually HAVE gutters. Our windows are new, secure and keep out the drafts. Our boiler is almost new and very efficient. We have a new water tank inside. All the toilets are new. We are frightfully in debt, but at least the house isn’t falling down. There’s still a lot that needs doing but in every house, there’s always more to do.
That’s the thing about owning a home. You are never finished.
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Categories: #Birds, #Photography, Autumn, Blackstone Valley, House and home, Nature, New England, Seasons, Windows
SERENDIPITY: SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
We enjoyed two glorious weeks of peek foliage! 🍁The leaves are playing catch-me-if-you-can all around us now… Fall is fantastic, winter is a wonderland, but late spring and summer are my favorites in Maine. 🧡💛💚 Our wood stove has been aglow for a couple of weeks. Lots of work, but a treasure. Have a wonder-filled week, Marilyn and Garry! xoxo
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Two years ago I sold my RV (I lived in it for 4 years and prior to that, rented) and bought a small home. Maintenance never ends indeed! I have mini-splits and have turned on heat functions~much to my chagrin.
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It gets cool here where I live at night (low to mid 50s), but it’s still hitting the upper 80s with a few 90s during the day. Hence, we’re still running the AC in the afternoons.
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Ha!! You bring to mind a colleague who always wore a skirt to work and went bare legged until the midterm break at the end of October – regardless of the weather. Then she’d go on a sun holiday at Easter and went bare legged from then… The rest of us would be in jeans and boots from the beginning of September to the end of May!!!
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I’ve seen New Englanders wearing a winter coat with shorts and sandals. Not giving in to winter is a “thing” around here, though after a certain age, most of us give in to at least sensible clothing 😀
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Our days are still in the mid-80’s! When we complained about the temp on camping trips, my dad used to remind us we were part of the TOYSASU (or POASASU Indians (Take off your sweater and shut up — OR — Put on another sweater and shut up)! On the road without a heater or a/c in the car, that was all we could do!
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My mother was clearly of the POASASU tribe. I remember pointing out when I was up to three sweaters, it was getting difficult to more. Now that I think about it, SHE wouldn’t turn up the heat either! But we lived in an OLD house with an ancient converted coal-burning furnace. The house was drafty and uninsulated. You couldn’t really heat the place properly even if you wanted to. Eventually, they rebuilt almost everything — and then promptly sold it.
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HI Marilyn, gosh, such cold already. Mind you, we are having a heat wave and its only early October and still no rain. I am glad you house is in good shape. That will make it easier for you to keep your house warm without the heating.
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The weather in New England is notoriously erratic. Climate change has made it ever more erratic but you can’t predict anything. Sometimes it’s warm all the way through most of November — and sometimes it snows in October — and occasionally, September. There’s no accounting for WHY the weather is so unpredictable, but it does account for everyone’s obsession with the weather. We are great predictors of weather. Big acorns? Cold winter? Heavy coat on horses? Cold? Late fall, less snow? Early snow, lots of snow or NO snow? Whatever you predict, it’s almost always wrong anyway, but we have a great time talking about it.
The days have been gorgeous. Cold night, cool sunny days. Whatever comes later, the weather doesn’t get better than this.
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I am glad that you are enjoying the Fall weather, Marilyn. Our summers are usually long and our winters mild, but we complain about them anyway. I think that is just how people keep life interesting and conversation going.
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And what else can you say to total stranger you bump into? Three things: “Nice dog” (if they have one). What about those Red Sox or Patriots or Celtics (depending on the season)? … and … (something about the) weather.
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