We came up to the church yesterday and found all well. Made ourselves beans on toast for a simple lunch and just relaxed. Hubby considered going back home the same day, as planned, but decided to stay the night instead. Beef bolognese on linguine for supper. And then the freezing rain started. Woke this morning to a light dusting of pretty snow over the ice, but the snow plows have been out and it's now above freezing, so hopefully Hubby's drive home today will be safe. The plan is he will leave me here for most of January, though he may come up to visit when he has time off work mid-month.
There are a couple of reasons for the prolonged visit. I want to see with my own eyeballs what the weather does here in winter. I want to put thermometers in various places around the church to see if the heat is distributed the way we want it to be. I want some uninterrupted writing time. And I want to avoid the comings and going of Hubby and the renters, who work outside the house, as Covid numbers are skyrocketing in the city. Here at the church, I don't shop, I don't interact with people, and no one comes in and out of the place. It's a sheltering cocoon.
At home, Brio sleeps in his own little bed on the floor beside our bed, and he hardly moves all night. We brought his bed up with us. But because of the weeks I spent here at the church with him when there was no heat, he got used to sleeping with me when we're here. Last night he wormed down under the covers between us (no idea how he can breathe under there), and seemed quite content. But he kept squeezing up against my husband until Hubby was clinging to the very edge of the mattress. Will have to try to cure him of this habit.
Hubby and I spent most of yesterday and this morning talking about ideas for glassing in the gothic windows in the sanctuary in a way that will keep heat in and rain and cold out but still allow us to ventilate in summer, all without breaking the bank. There is a limited amount of room to work with due to the wooden framework around the stained glass, so a regular sliding-type window isn't an option. We've come up with some ideas but will have to decide soon, because it takes about a year to get windows manufactured to order. Propane is costing us about $150 or more per month, so the sooner we stop the leakage, the better.
We've also kicked around the old ball about whether it would be smart at some point to install in-floor heating, or propane fireplaces in the sanctuary, or solar panels, or a heat pump. In the end I think it makes more sense to stick with what we have but find a source of income to offset the cost of propane and electricity (which is another $200 a month on top of the propane). At our city house, the two renters basically cover the cost of utilities, taxes, and insurance. But here at the church we don't have a rental option. We could try to host events a few times a year, but with Covid threatening to be around for many more months, I don't see it happening. We could do virtual, online workshops. Create some sort of online business. Something that won't interfere with the fulltime jobs we already have. Install a bank of computers to generate Bitcoin while at the same time generating heat...but I don't think you can then use Bitcoin to pay your electricity bill! Will have to think about it, anyway.
My goal this coming year is to pay off the repairs we've already done and do some planning, but not spend a further fortune if we can avoid it. I want a year of recovery from the horribleness that was 2020, a year of peace and quiet and observation and thinking. All in all, we've come through it all okay. Things are manageable, the family is healthy, there's leftover pasta for lunch today, and the snow is very pretty in the cedar trees outside my window. 2021 is starting off nicely!
No comments:
Post a Comment