The time has come..

The Walrus said, to talk of many things....

Actually, if the Walrus lived in the great Northeast, he'd realize what we were talking about in fact, was the ceremonial shutting off of the heat.

You'll remember, that there are 4 season's in NH. Almost Winter, Winter, some more winter, and construction. Actually, it's more like: Almost Winter, Winter, mud season, black fly season, 3 days of spring, a few weeks of summer, and back to almost winter.

We didn't have much of a winter this year, and mud season was cut short due to warmer than normal temps accompanied by stronger than usual winds. Everything dried up pretty quick. Not that I'm complaining.. I hate mud season.

Now we've moved into black fly season (scratch, scratch, I'm a bug magnet.. ask anyone) and along with black fly season comes the turning off of the heat. I went back to my October archives, and rummaged up this post that states I turned on my heat October 12th. That in and of itself was amazing. Usually the heat gets turned on October 1st, and by then it's been chilly in the house already for a week or two. The weather the past year has been wacky! So do some quick counting on your fingers, and you'll realize that from October to May is 7 full months. (don't count May). That is more than HALF A DAMN YEAR that the heat is on. And you really can't shut it off before May, because it gets darned cold at night. Thing about fuel costs, and heating prices, and then think some more about 7 months. I dare you.

I shut the heat off upstairs (I keep it set way low up there, so it has to be mega cold in order for it to kick on) at the beginning of April. I actually preferred when we didn't have heat up there, except for when I first get up in the morning. The heat usually only kicks on during the night when it's super cold, so when I get up it's toasty. Generally the heat rising up the stairs keeps it tolerable... but I breathed a lot better at night when there was no heat.

Last week, I forget what day.. I think it was actually Friday or Saturday, I shut the heat off in the rest of the house, except for the kitchen/family room (it's a separate zone). I turned it down to 50, after watching it not kick on every day when I was home on break, so if it gets super cold at night between now and next week, It would come on. You should probably know that I keep the heat upstairs at 64, the heat in the rest of the house at 66, and the heat in the main 2 rooms at 68. All but upstairs is on an programmable thermostat, and it gets turned down much cooler at night and when we are gone all day during the week. This has worked out great for us.

The zone the for the family room/kitchen is still on, because this is the coldest part of the house and the part we spend the most time in. They were calling for cool rainy days this week, so I figured I'd break my May 1st rule and leave this heat on. Last year, I had to turn the stupid heat BACK ON sometime in mid May, and boy was I grouchy. But I was more grouchy cold and miserable, so it was worth it. This is why my heat is still on in part of the house and it is May 4th. Next Friday, if not sooner, all the heat will be turned off, and we will will start cleaning windows/putting up screens. There's nothing better than throwing open the windows after a long winter, and letting in the fresh air.