Winter is coming!

Oh, you can't feel it in the air yet, but there's no question that cooler days and nights are just around the corner.  This week it's been 100 degrees, but as the ancient Chinese wisdom says, whether it's something good or something bad, "this too shall pass."  So the other day I made a trip into town, first to the propane place and second, to the fireplace store, to get us set up for cooler weather.  Because it will be here before you know it.


Our home runs off propane, which I'm learning is about the second most expensive way to heat a home -- the first being throwing dollar bills directly into the fireplace and lighting them.  We bought $899 dollars worth of "pre-buy" (bought at cheaper summer rates, in advance of winter) propane, which should give us roughly two tankfuls.


So how much will we use?  I have no idea.  We're pretty energy efficient, but the men do love their long showers and I occasionally take a bath instead of a shower, which uses a lot more hot water.  And that's not factoring how much propane we'll use to heat the home, which is kind of a mystery as it's our first winter here.


So we've been thinking about energy efficiency a lot this week.  And that led us to the fireplace store.  Because we knew when we bought this place that our fake, decorative fireplace just happens to run on...you guessed it:  propane.  So off we went in search of alternative heating options.


Long story short, we settled on a high-efficiency pellet stove.  We thought about a woodstove, by far the simplest and most off-the-grid option, but as my husband pointed out, we're not getting any younger and splitting cords of logs may not be something that's feasible for us to consider doing in the long run.  A pellet stove has more electronics and therefore a higher failure rate, but will not require the use of a full-time lumberjack.


So the stove should be installed next week and we should be ready for whatever comes in winter.  I've got to say, I'm excited about it.  I'm really hoping heating our home with the pellet stove makes our propane go farther, since it costs $600 a month as opposed to using wood pellets, which will cost about $70 a month (according to the fireplace dealer).  


Either way, more money in our pockets and less going up the chimney will be a good thing.  It's hard to imagine those cold days and nights now, but never too soon to begin planning for them.  Because winter is coming.  No doubt about it.