We are in full blown winter here in Clark, Wyoming! It’s crazy because last week it was in the
50s and 60s here and now with this cold front, we have had a low of -18 and no
higher than 9 degrees! I admit, I didn’t
know what we were getting into, winter wise, when we moved out here, but this
huge drop in temperatures is not what I expected!
But I want to give you all an update on inside temperatures
and how our insulation is holding up.
Like I said above, the temperatures this week have ranged from -18 to 9
degrees but mostly closer to 0 for a high on a few days. We do have some snow, but it’s just a slight
coverage, nothing much really.
Our house has done really well for us! The lowest it has gotten overnight when the
wood stove isn’t being used is 55 degrees.
Yeah, we wake up, all cozy and cuddly under the covers and I admit, 55
is chilly! But if that’s the low, that’s
doable! During the day we have had to
use the wood stove anywhere from 2 to 3 times using no more than 1 full pack of
6 wood bricks plus our kindling. In the
mornings, it takes just 10 min or less and we are warmed up to 60 degrees. Now it takes about 30 minutes to an hour for
the whole house to be warmed up. Last
night we were in shorts and t-shirts in here while in our bare feet because it
was 77 degrees!!
We are very comfortable and have no worries! I don’t remember if I wrote this before, but
we cut up a bunch of our wood pallets to use at kindling. The pallets were free
and we wanted to be sure we had something to get us started! We also have a bunch of left over 1x4’s (16’
long) that if we have to, we will use those to keep us warm too. And, we still have the bracing on the walls
from when we first put the walls up. Again,
if we have to, we’ll use those to burn too!
Sometimes you do what you have to do.
The last 2 days, while it has been the coldest, we ventured
out to stock up on essentials. We got a
Costco membership (the greatest place on Earth as Nate would say!!) and stocked
up on things like bottled water, paper towels, toilet paper, some food for
Scott to pack in his lunch, 2 large cast iron skillets, 2 small cast iron
skillets that came with cookie mixes….. and more! Then yesterday we had to go to Cody to get
the title transferred over on the Bronco so we went to Walmart and stocked up
on cat supplies – 3 tubs of kitty litter, 4 bags of cat food, lots of cat
treats and even some catnip! Plus since
I didn’t get a lot of canned goods at Costco, I got a bunch of canned chili,
some fruit and vegetables, plus what I really wanted was a box of powdered
milk! That may sound weird, but powdered
milk works great for baking, things like pancakes. Well milk (and eggs as I have found out the
last few days) freezes all too well in these cold temperatures so I needed an
alternative. For the eggs, we’re going
to freeze bottles of water then bring in the small cooler inside to keep the
eggs cold.
The good thing about the cold weather is all the rest of my
food stays perfectly cold (and frozen) just outside the door in the cooler!! That means fewer trips to the neighbors to
use their refrigerator.
We’ve had several phone calls and texts this week of our
friends and family checking on us to be sure we’re ok! I guess the news showed that Billings was
something crazy like -28 degrees!!! I
think it’s because of the dry air, but even if it was that cold here, it really
didn’t feel like it. It wasn’t difficult
to breather out in the cold and I hate to admit this, but even when Scott and I
ventured out, neither of us wore a winter coat!! He wore a flannel shirt with a fleece lined
vest over top while I wore a sweatshirt with a light jacket and a fuzzy lined
bomber hat and gloves. Neither of us
have been good at wearing winter coats, but I guess we’ll have to start!!
Even with everything, we have so much to be thankful
for! Just past our house (2 properties
past us) there are 3 campers and lots of vehicles, plus now an outhouse. They have no electricity at all and we don’t
even think they have a generator! I don’t
know how they are doing it but it appears they are trying to live in their
campers even in this cold!! It just
makes me so thankful that we are not in the cargo trailer right now! That first month that we lived in the cargo
trailer, there was a few days where we had snow and it was really cold (I think
in early May). I remember that it got
down in the 20s and we had absolutely no heat source then!! I’m just so thankful to be in our house, I’m
thankful for our wood stove, and I’m so thankful for our wonderful neighbors
who have been looking out for us too!
Our neighbor boy Brian even brought us some wood that he cut up because
he and his family wanted to be sure we were plenty warm!
On a completely different subject, Scott’s big day, his
first day of work, is now Monday (instead of Friday). They just called and said
his boss isn’t working on Friday after all so he won’t go in till Monday (no
problem!). We are both getting excited
for him to start work! He’s getting excited to start earning a paycheck again
and getting the opportunity to work in a new industry (agriculture and
tractor/parts sales). I, on the other
hand, and looking forward to getting him out of the house!!! Yes, I have very much enjoyed our time
together, day in and day out, but I have to admit, I get a lot more work done
when he’s not here!!
I hope you all stay warm this week!! Have a great weekend!
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