Frozen

 This old house in Winter. I know by now what to expect, but somehow I am always surprised at how cold it gets here in the winter. I'm not talking Minnesota cold, or Michigan, or South Dakota. Just regular old Texas cold. We usually have a few cold blasts, followed by a welcome warm up, and hopefully a respite before the next cold front comes blasting through. Every once in a while, though, we get some really cold stuff. And I hate it. I start wondering why I live in a house with 44 windows and no insulation and I start making plans to move as soon as I can. Of course as soon as it warms up I come to my senses. I'm not going anywhere. 

We have had a few winter adventures that have tested our mettle. One such cold January comes to mind. The Mr. was out of town. The Aunt was visiting and was supposed to be going home the next day. An arctic blast came through, and both the Mr. and the Aunt were stuck. School was out and there were two rambunctious dogs and a cat running circles around my three kids. It was a madhouse. And then the littlest dog chewed up the fridge cord. The fridge went out and there was no way anybody could come to repair it. I needed to fill the cooler to put food in, and I was on the verge of sending my teenage daughter to the Kwik Chek around the corner for ice, when the folly of that idea hit me and I just had to laugh at myself. I had a whole back yard of ice and snow. So I dragged the cooler outside and filled it with ice and then dragged it back in and filled it with food. That weekend found my coping abilities tested in many many ways. I found myself walking through the living room, muttering over and over, I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me...I can do all things through Christ...

Fast forward a few years to two winters ago. We had had a gas problem with the fireplace and I didn't have it on at all that year. We were just relying on three electric heaters from Sam's and one gas Dearborn in the dining room. It was really cold. Cue the Arctic cold front that took out all of Texas. Many were without power. We were one of the lucky ones. We had warmth...upstairs. In fact, upstairs it was super duper hot. Someone had the bright idea to plant the thermostat for the heating/cooling right at the top of the stairs in the hall. So in the winter, when it gets cold downstairs, the thermostat gets all that cold air rushing up the stairs and over compensates. In the bedrooms, we cook at night, while it freezes downstairs. That year everything froze. Our little heaters did absolutely nothing to dispel the cold. The gas heater wasn't much help, either. I would bundle myself up in a coat, hat, gloves, scarf, and put on shoes just to go make lunch. As ridiculous as that was, it got even more ridiculous. One night, during that freeze, the dishwasher being frozen, I washed a couple of dishes by hand. I laid them on a paper towel to dry, and in the morning, they were frozen to the countertop! I had to scrape the paper towel off the counter with a spatula!

After that we looked into upgrading our HVAC system. We had solid wood walls, so duct work wasn't an option, but the AC company we had been using for many years, and had come to trust, sold us some brand new Mitsubisi mini splits. One for each room downstairs. We would have AC this summer and be free from the curse of indoor cold this winter. 

We had them installed in April and the bill was almost 13 thousand dollars. But well worth it. And it worked great all through the summer. The house stayed cool. 

Winter rolled around a few weeks ago, and all seemed to be well. Cue another arctic cold front. It was down to about six degrees. I was warm upstairs. I went downstairs for something and was alarmed that the heaters didn't seem to be heating very well. They were on, but not much air was coming out. We went to bed. When I woke up the next morning and went downstairs, I thought I was going to die. It was like being outside. My houseplant had frozen. In the house. I called the AC guys and they came out and fiddled around with it, took some things apart, came to the conclusion that nothing was wrong, it was just too cold for them to keep up with. They did get them to blow more. They are down there blowing away, right now, but the air is not particularly warm. I'm just stunned. I can't believe we spent that much money for a heating system that won't heat when we need it to. We have to have additional heating which defeats the entire purpose. Turns out there is only a forty degree differential, which means if it's zero outside it's not going to get above forty inside, according to the guys. 

So I'm not sure what to do. Seems like somebody should have mentioned that forty degree differential. 

We would have gone with another choice. Arrgggh. Sometimes I feel like we are just going in circles with this house.