[MarkJerling]

When I designed my house, winter power outages were considered. The propane cooktop and the freestanding fireplace were solutions to the problem of heating the house, and using the cooktop to cook, as well as heat water for washing and bathing. It has served us well.

We use the cooktop everyday, and in the winter we (read I, Mrs. Racer 2.0 doesn't buy into it) will place the central heating on fan only, and run the fireplace, which has a remote with a thermostat mode. I turn it on, and set the remote to a certain temp, and then place that across the room from the fireplace, and it keeps the house heated fairly evenly in all rooms, upstairs and downstairs, moving the heated air from the main room through the air returns and out all the registers.

I have a spreadsheet with four of the refills on it. The first with date (I would guess 2010, 2 years after the house was finished) we paid $1.69 a gallon, for around $676 (I'm guessing 400 gallons as I didn't record it). In 2012 it was $2.08 and the total fill cost $671. In 2014 we paid $1.99 for around $650. Somehow I can't find the receipts for the period before our most recent fill in August 2019. But in 2019 we paid $1.28 for around $400 to fill it. I would guess we had at least one other fill, in 2016 or 2017, and the initial fill when we buried it out back.

The price of propane has been hovering around $1 to $3 a gallon as long as I can remember. As a fuel it is always fairly cheap, and readily available. I should have a car that runs on propane.

Propane cars used to be popular here but with propane prices up diesel cars are now more popular. We don't get many power failures where the power is off for more than a few hours but a few years back we had a big winter storm that dropped lots of lines so power was out for around 3 days. With a wood fire and gas hob you hardly notice the inconvenience.

[MarkJerling]

Did you remember when the battery died and you could no longer use it?

No, I have two chargers, one which I keep at home and one at work. The home one died. I noticed that the battery does not last as long as it used to so I ordered a new battery on the same day. The new battery turned up a month ago, but I'm still waiting for the new charger.

[Racer X 69]

We don't get many power failures where the power is off for more than a few hours but a few years back we had a big winter storm that dropped lots of lines so power was out for around 3 days.

Our first Christmas in the new house we had 3 feet of snow. Heavy wet snow. There are 29 spans of wire from the county road to the house. All but a few were down, even a few broken poles I think.

We were not alone.

There were hundreds of thousands of power customers throughout the Pugetropolis Region out of power.

And we live on a dead end road.

Always the last to get back on.

Oh, and we couldn't get out either.

Private road and all.

It was cozy, oil lamps burning, fire silently licking fake logs, snow, lots and lots of snow. As an adult you can only have so much fun in the snow, if you haven't a snowmobile or something that will get across that much snow.

By the end of the second week we were starting to get frantic.The phone (landline) was also out, and without it, no internet. No internet and the micro cell that boosts out weak foothills signal doesn't work, so no cell service either.

An extreme occurrence, most outages are a day or three, sometimes a week, but living at the end of a private road does have its drawbacks.

Three days is easy.

[lesmore49]

An old neighbour was a very resourceful guy. He had a Quebec stove (heater) in his recreation room in his house basement. Out here, the winters are long and cold and when it gets to -35 or colder, you don't want to have your heating system broken down.

He was an old farm boy and although his house had a natural gas heater, he also used the Quebec stove/heater which was set up to send heat through the furnace's vents throughout the house.

He was a Hydro (electric) lineman who many times was called out in the midst of a big snow storm to take care of fallen lines. His route was in the country and he would carry a snowmobile on a trailer , towed behind his Hydro truck. The snowmobile had to be used every so often to get to more isolated areas where repairs were needed.

His favourite work truck...was his last one. An F350...dual rear wheels and 4WD, with the old International/Ford 7.3 liter diesel V8.

[savoche]

That reminds me. I'm waiting for an AlieExpress order. Been waiting quite a while actually. Almost long enough for me to forget I ordered a replacement charger for my laptop.

Ah, but that's the joy of buying stuff from there. By the time I receive it I have forgotten what it is. Always nice to get surprise gifts, especially when it's something I want. Or wanted

[Racer X 69]

By the way Mark, that 1957 Ford sold for $20,500.

1957 Ford Fairlane 500 for sale on BaT Auctions - sold for $20,500 on September 10, 2020 (Lot #36,290) | Bring a Trailer

[RoxnDox]

So the history of that automobile was 'The adventures of Ford Fairlane'? <GRIN>













Mmmmm, bacon... (my penance)

[mkgd1]

When I designed my house, winter power outages were considered. The propane cooktop and the freestanding fireplace were solutions to the problem of heating the house, and using the cooktop to cook, as well as heat water for washing and bathing. It has served us well.

We use the cooktop everyday, and in the winter we (read I, Mrs. Racer 2.0 doesn't buy into it) will place the central heating on fan only, and run the fireplace, which has a remote with a thermostat mode. I turn it on, and set the remote to a certain temp, and then place that across the room from the fireplace, and it keeps the house heated fairly evenly in all rooms, upstairs and downstairs, moving the heated air from the main room through the air returns and out all the registers.

I have a spreadsheet with four of the refills on it. The first with date (I would guess 2010, 2 years after the house was finished) we paid $1.69 a gallon, for around $676 (I'm guessing 400 gallons as I didn't record it). In 2012 it was $2.08 and the total fill cost $671. In 2014 we paid $1.99 for around $650. Somehow I can't find the receipts for the period before our most recent fill in August 2019. But in 2019 we paid $1.28 for around $400 to fill it. I would guess we had at least one other fill, in 2016 or 2017, and the initial fill when we buried it out back.

The price of propane has been hovering around $1 to $3 a gallon as long as I can remember. As a fuel it is always fairly cheap, and readily available. I should have a car that runs on propane.

I just filled mine up for $1.60 a gallon. Mine is only a 250gallon tank. We use it for the water heater cooktop and a propane log fire, the fire I only lit once to see if it works. The central heating/AC is geothermal heat pump. Believe it or not, we use the heating sometimes in December and January. We occasionally get a couple of nights at 20F.

[robtcorl]

Today is National Cheeseburger Day, so I grilled burgers stuffed with cheese and mushrooms on my (gasp) little Weber Q gas grill.
First time using gas for grilling in several years.
I have a Weber Q grill and a Pentax Q camera.

[mkgd1]

By the way Mark, that 1957 Ford sold for $20,500.

1957 Ford Fairlane 500 for sale on BaT Auctions - sold for $20,500 on September 10, 2020 (Lot #36,290) | Bring a Trailer

The first American car I ever saw, in the flesh was a 57 Fairlane 500, a red one. It belonged to the son of a local businessman in my hometown in the north of England. I was eleven at the time and used to walk an extra 1/4 mile to school, just to gawp at it. I knew right then that I was born on the wrong continent.

[Racer X 69]

The central heating/AC is geothermal heat pump.

We included a geothermal system into our house design. Heats in winter, cools in summer, and has a connection to the hot water system to preheat it.

So, when the power is on, the house is always just the right temperature. And it operates quite economically compared to other systems..

[Racer X 69]

Today is National Cheeseburger Day, so I grilled burgers stuffed with cheese and mushrooms on my (gasp) little Weber Q gas grill.
First time using gas for grilling in several years.
I have a Weber Q grill and a Pentax Q camera.

Its OK Bob, you're using a Weber gas grill.

[lesmore49]

The first American car I ever saw, in the flesh was a 57 Fairlane 500, a red one. It belonged to the son of a local businessman in my hometown in the north of England. I was eleven at the time and used to walk an extra 1/4 mile to school, just to gawp at it. I knew right then that I was born on the wrong continent.

From 1956 to 1958 my parents had a '56 Ford Fairlane with a 312 cube/225 HP V8. On the front fender it had a red Thunderbird badge denoting the engine. They traded it in 1958 for a Ford Ranchwagon, then after that...it was all chevies, then a Buick and finally a couple of Oldsmobiles.

However before that they had a series of 3 Austins, the last being an Austin A90 Westminster...with the inline Austin six cylinder.

We lived on the Canadian prairies.

[mkgd1]

From 1956 to 1958 my parents had a '56 Ford Fairlane with a 312 cube/225 HP V8. On the front fender it had a red Thunderbird badge denoting the engine. They traded it in 1958 for a Ford Ranchwagon, then after that...it was all chevies, then a Buick and finally a couple of Oldsmobiles.

However before that they had a series of 3 Austins, the last being an Austin A90 Westminster...with the inline Austin six cylinder.

We lived on the Canadian prairies.

The local police had Westminsters as patrol cars until about 1968 like the one below. I took my driving test in my dad's Austin Cambridge (4 cyl) here it is with my sister taken around 1964.

[StiffLegged]

Austin Cambridge, also built and sold as the Morris Oxford - my dad’s first estate car to carry all us boys with the dog (Boxer) in the back. His first estate car of many!