Captain Clumsy hates cold

Sunday, was this incredibly beautiful day. You couldn't ask for better here at the end of January. The sun was bright and warm, the temperature was in the seventies- I was out in short sleeves walking. Scaring up birds and soaking up the outdoors that I haven't been able to enjoy for so long.

I hate cold. Many people have heard me say that. I mean it. I don't do winter sports. My winter sport is trying to best my time in running from the house to the car.

I don't know how to ski, won't learn either. The main reason being that Captain Clumsy here knows her limitations. If I stumble walking across a perfectly level floor with nothing on it- then I'm not putting on skies. If I can manage to walk into a support beam at work, bang my head on bars that stick out for some unknown reason.. then I know that every tree on the mountain would be out for me. I also have this fear of heights thing that makes those ski lifts a thing from my nightmares.



I don't ice skate. For some of the same reasons that I don't ski. And for the fact that Captain Clumsy here would be the one that managed to find the weakest spot in the ice. I don't swim either.

I have tried to build snow people on the occasions that we have enough snow. Unfortunately, I can't try and build your average size snowman.. mine has to be some gargantuan thing that is impossible to get its head on. So I usually end up with an eight foot tall headless snow person in my yard that causes my dogs to bark until they are hoarse. I hate when that happens as it is much more expensive to feed a horse than it is a dog.. plus they need a much bigger home.

I tried to build a snow fort, that.. was a real nightmare. All of these zoning people showed up demanding to see my plans. They wanted to know if I had all of the necessary permits and had paid all of the proper fees. I had to have the construction site marked off and signs up for safety. They told me I needed a porta john for the workers- (that's me.. and I live right over there>>) no good, had to have the porta potty..with fire codes (??for snow?) and housing codes and rental agreements and insurance agreements and finding some way around some weird zoning ordinance I finally threw my hands up and had the entire thing condemned.

Snow cream? Yum- until the health inspectors showed up. Wanted to know if my supply was clean, sanitary, new or old snow.. what my ingredients were and if I had enough supply for demand and if I had the proper permits for making and sharing snow cream.

I love taking pictures of snow. And I will walk around in it for hours, especially if my boots don't get filled with snow like the last time when I managed to slide down a hill without a sled. I did manage to miss all of the trees between me and the bottom.. but my bottom was then wet and cold and I was ready for home and a steaming cup of hot cocoa.

I hate cold..



and after such a beautiful, gorgeous, sunny false spring day. Teasing and tormenting- cold has returned. And I can't get a fire to burn right in the woodstove. And hubby will be back soon and need someone to help get the stuff in the back of his trailer straightened out. But.. I will be thankful...all I'm dealing with is cold. He will soon be headed out toward where its snowing..

I'll quit whining. and start praying... for his safety and for an early spring..

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Thoughts, warnings and disappointments in that Sunbeam space heater

. Everyone who knows me, knows that I am a cold natured person. Once the temperature drops below seventy degrees I'm looking for long sleeves and heaters. We heat the house with wood. Unfortunately, the heat from that wood stove does not always flow well through the entire house. Especially to this room full of windows. When I am in this room I have a space heater that I use to keep warm. For years I have used a small electric heater that had belonged to my grandmother. How long she owned it before I got it I do not know, but I've owned it for nearly twenty years.








My son has watched me use that heater, has watched the cats as they stretch out in front of that same heater and laughed. He very rarely gets cold but has given up on making comments on how I do. (Even his dad has about quit making comments) He helps keep wood split and in the house or at least within reach. Recently he went one step farther, he and his dad gave me a new spacer heater for a Christmas gift.







An upright Sunbeam that has two settings. This thing is warm, warm enough that several times I have reached over and not just turned it down, but off. The cats grew accustomed to the new heater and found their places in front of it, defending them fervently. It was rare that I had to wrap up in any sort of blanket. The old space heater found its way into storage.







However-- it is important to remember these things are dangerous. It was rare that I would leave the room and leave it on. I made sure that the cats didn't manage to drag or push anything combustable close to it. It was not attached to a drop cord. Wanting to be warm, did not cause me to be stupid or careless.







Today, I was sitting here alternating between writing and watching old westerns on television. Suddenly I began to hear odd popping and crackling sounds. Turning to look I saw an odd light flickering in the heater along with the noise. Jumping up I turned off the heater, and unplugged it even quicker. It was already smoking. James - my son- came into the room about that time. He looked at me oddly, asking about the smell, when I explained to him what had happened he leaned over to examine the heater. Looking back at me he went and got the old heater and brought it back in here.







The purpose for all this- a reminder and a question. The reminder is that space heaters of any type or brand are dangerous. Never leave them alone. Do not use extension cords when ever possible. Make sure at all times there is nothing near the heater that can combust. Do not place the smaller ones where they can fall, heaters of any size that can be tipped over. Do not use near water. Think carefully, use common sense in the use of space heaters.







My question, why. Why would a space heater that is less than a month old short out? I'm back to using a twenty something year old heater. Why can we not build, manufacture things today like we did once upon a time? Why can we not build things to last? Have we become such that we build to break? Are all things temporary so that we the consumer will have to return time and again to purchase replacements? What has happened to consumer confidence? Has it gone the way of the wind and heaters that last no more than a month?



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