Homesteading is cold!!!

Kirsten,

The other folks have offered some excellent and helpful tips. Since you can't afford propane at the moment, I'm going to assume you can't afford to purchase a wood stove or a dog crate if you haven't got one.

SO... close off all the unnecessary rooms as mentioned.

Do not use the space heater while sleeping. That's very dangerous.

Sleep in the living room with the fireplace, and feed it a couple of times a night, but not to the point you have a roaring fire of course.

Or sleep under LOTS of cover, and rebuild the fire in the morning.
Heck, let the dogs sleep with you if it's a 3 Dog Night.

Put quilts or blankets over the windows in the one room or two that you decide to live in to stop drafts and help insulate against the cold outside.

Protect the water pipes in your house by wrapping with whatever you have on hand, newspaper etc..

As far as the puppy is concerned, you can surely on a homestead find a way to make a pen to keep him in a confined area. Even confining the puppy in an unheated bathroom would likely be at least as warm as leaving the door open so what heat you did have escapes anyway. The other dogs will thank you for shutting the door. Make sure all the dogs go out to potty then let them back in before you leave for work, and let them out first thing when you get back.

Stay warm and let us know what you are doing to stay warmer. The Dakotas are probably consistently the coldest area in the USA.

__________________
"Those who hammer their guns into plowshares will plow for those who do not."
Thomas Jefferson

Check online and see if you have a Freecycle group in your area. You will probably find a heater or woodstove for free.

I've spent most of my life living in homes heated only by wood, or with minimum heat. My recommendation is to close off the upstairs and concentrate on heating the downstairs. When I couldn't afford propane I hung a quilt over the hall door, which shut off all but the kitchen and den. My daughter and I slept on the sofa sleeper and my son slept in his sleeping bag. We all wore sweatsuits to bed. Luckily, one of the bathrooms had a small ceiling heater that was electric so we were able to have a warm bathroom. Usually I would heat the house up with the oven and we would sleep with no heat. To this day the kids remember "camping out" in the house that February as an adventure...which is one way to handle adversity. Make it an adventure.

Oh yes, those dogs of yours make much safer "electric blankets" than an actual electric blanket!

__________________
I'm running so far behind I thought I was first!

http://hickahala.blogspot.com/

""It is 15 degrees out tonight and I had to leave the door of my house open all evening so that my dogs could go out when I was at work tonight since we have a puppy.""

Well, I have a solution to your problem. Put the puppy outside with the other dogs and shut the door to the house. Buy 20 bales of straw and make a doghouse for the winter. You must have a very good job to leave the front door open and let whatever heat you have in the house float away. Why are you homesteading anyway?

__________________
We have now officially entered the twilight zone.

put plastic over windows and Hang quilts or blankets over them. Hang heavy blankets/fabric over the doors.

__________________
The Journey -IS- the Destination

Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, Its about learning to dance in the rain....

Is this real ???

Honestly, I keep feeling this post can't be real.

Right now you are letting your house get well below freezing for hours. You are complaining about not having money, but all I can say is the choices you are making could end up costing you much, much more in the long run.

Broken pipes and flat on your back with pneumonia for starters.

Look at it this way, you can choose to use money to buy propane now or use that money to fix your broken pipes later (and you still wouldn't have any heat)

Seriously, the behavior you describe can get you too sick to work, too sick to care for your animals, or worse.

Please consider a different course of action. With the choices you are making I can't see you surviving the winter.

Wow. And the last people yelled at me.

But I caved and bought propane this morning! I guess I am not a good pioneer. So I spent the hay money, gave up on the fancy non-freezing waterer and bought a sinking de-icer instead. At first I considered that smashing the ice in the stock tank morning, noon and night was worse than having no heat but then I changed my mind!

WE do have a good fireplace though. It has two blower switches. It blows beside the fire, then has two vents higher up that blow, then another vent around the corner that blows and finally an air collector vent in back of the fireplace. Our wood is not great wood. We just collect it off our land and thus it is free wood and by collecting it, I clean up my pastures so more grass grows. Wood is expensive on the prairie. WE are lucky to find wood at all.

Concerning the dogs, I considered that if there is no heat anyway... what does it matter if the door is left open? I only heated the house at night anyway. I would wake and leave and then come home, get ready for work and leave and I am gone for much longer than 8 hours becuase I had to go up to the big city to get a job to actually earn any money. I tried for a year in the country but it just seemed to leave me broker.

One of my dogs has no fur and shakes and shakes in the cold. He is not a farm style dog and sleeps under the covers every night and can't be in the rain... LOL I could get him a coat but I am worried about the coat getting caught on the barbed wire etc... I meant to crate train this pup but it didn't work out that way. Tonight it was warm, a good 45 degrees so I left them with just the sunroom to be in.

And why am I homesteading? Why are you homesteading? Why does anybody homestead or ranch or farm? I wanted to ranch and I love ranching and starting up is difficult, especially that first winter. It is our first winter with large livestock. And yes, we do have good jobs but it was a harder year than our good jobs. That never happened to you before, huh? Lucky you. I didn't expect our first snow on Oct. 10th and I didn't expect it to stay cold so soon. We have only been here a year.

I don't know why the last few of you were so rude but we will be inheriting a large cattle ranch so we are here to stay so why don't you quit instead? I don't understand your attitude but God has given this born and raised city girl ranches until she is dead without even trying. A temporary monetary trial but ranches until I am dead and not little ones either. So you can condescend to someone else now and try to make someone else look foolish. God knows I will have the last laugh. And I have a loft full of hay anyway so no real rush on that.

Mean people suck.

For the rest of the nice, helpful people, I don't want to make any major improvements becuase I expect to move to a larger place next year so buying a stove etc... is not worth it right now.

I don't think I shall post here again. You latter posters are pretty mean.

kirsten

It looks to me like you asked a question and got real answers, but you don't want "real." Guess you shouldn't ask questions if you don't want a variety of opinions that don't fit your plan. A variety of opinions is so you can get different perspectives on your situation. No one who posts here ever takes every piece of advice but selectively chooses which ones could apply to their particular situation.
People seem to have posted what they thought would be in your best interests...did you notice how many were concerned about your health?
Even when you inherit your "ranches" you'll need to evaluate different information to come up with the best way to handle things, and "taking your toy and going home" isn't likely to get you further ahead, and may alienate you to your neighbors who you will need at various times.
Be stupid with your choices, but don't ask questions and think everyone who takes the time to answer is rude. Some yes, but the majority were trying to help.
As a wannabe homesteader, perhaps you need a little attitude change. Some heat may make you react better.

I heard about the early snows in South Dakota this year.

__________________
The best way to PREDICT the future is to help CREATE it.

I'm Sundstrom Marsden stock from Mitchell area (Sanborn and Davison counties) and have a bajillion cousins there. Are you one of them?

get another dog....for free...a big burly, furry, friendly fellow...pitch a tent around your bed big enough for you and the dogs and be warm....a pyrenees would be a good choice
Find a place for free pallets...for wood....and keep your eyes open for a wood stove....a brand new box stove is less than $200 brand new
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...atchallpartial

Ever heard of a three dog night?

when I lived in a log cabin in northern ontario,(can U say COLD)the chinking was missing in so many spots you could throw a cat out anywhere.All I had was a tin heater(Quebec heater)which is a woodstove made of tin.This thing couldn,t hold heat long enuf for you to get the next chunka wood.I had a 5 gal pail of water freeze within 3 ft of the stove at nite..I sleept in the loft with all my clothes on and MANY blankets.never kilt me,but there were mornings I wished it had.BLANKETS<BLANKETS <BLANKETS
Gord

Kirste, really, take 3 short 2x4's and frame in a dog door in a wall, close to your door, hang a blanket over it--and your dogs will be able to come and go as they please, and you wont loose what heat you have this way, believe me--even the tallest dog will crouch down and crawl inside, as long as you build it wide enough, and yet tall enough he CAN crawl in.--trying to be helpful---

Because.

Leaving the door open causes all heat that was IN the house to escape, does not allow for the sun warming the house at ALL and makes you start at 0 every time you come home TO heat the house.

Let alone you arent teaching the dogs anything, they will think they can come and go as they please even when you are in the "ranch" you are inheriting.

Im sorry if you cant take hearing reality and have to resort to the "Waaaa you are all meanies" thing. But its just plain foolish what you are doing, and Im sorry if hearing that hurts. Did you want a pat on the back and sympathy?

__________________
Recognize the beauty in things, in creation, even when thats difficult to do.
Be loving, show compassion. Create while we're here.
Enjoy this life, be in this life but not be of it.

Hey, Kristin, another South Dakotan here.

Fireplaces are inefficent all the time, someone is going to live in that house someday & a woodstove in front of the fireplace will be welcomed. Once you use up your wood, call the neighbors, most places in SD have deadwood in the treebelts & will give it to you for cleaning it up.

Even with propane, it is going to be expensive to heat this winter. But you really don't want to use both the fireplace and the propane heater, they work against each other.

Winterize the house. Get plastic for the windows, hang heavy drapes, close off rooms you don't absolutely need especially those on the "wind" side of the house. Taking time to winterize may mean the difference between buying propane 3 or 4 times this winter.

Don't leave doors open, even without heat the house will cool down faster if the door is open.

South Dakota is a great place to live, but if you don't pay attention the weather can kill you. Are you stocked up on food? Anywhere here you can end up unabble to get out for 1-2 weeks at a time due to snow. I know we haven't had bad winters lately, but it can still hit. Make sure you have something in the house to eat. These storms can knock out your power for weeks, your propane heater isn't going to work then. Have a plan. This is another reason to have a wood stove with enough of a flat top to heat water & cook on. You won't have to worry about electricty so much. I don't stock everything we use all the time (we use a lot of fresh fruit & veggies) but I have an emergency stock of canned & dry goods that woiuld keep us fed for a couple of months if the going got bad.

You are right to not use that space heater if it won't shut off!

Welcome to homesteading in SD.

OHHHH, one other thing you should have in place for your animals. Put up a line from your house to the barn. If the weather turns bad you can hold on to it from the barn to the house.

Stay safe!

GIRL YA GOT IT ALL WRONG!People are yelling at you because they are WORRIED! It might be that some of us have a bit of experiance at this and know........On the otherhand we might be full of ....


GOOD LUCK!.....................GET SOME HEAT!!!

Don't leave your doors open! A wood stove would be better than a fireplace but you will have to add wood regularly. It is a part of having a wood stove and homesteading-it goes with the territory. Once you GET the house warm, if you work your stove correctly and don't let it completely go out, (AND don't leave door open minutes let alone hours) it will take less work to keep warm. You also may need better insulation in your home if it isn't keeping heat well. Heat goes up, so your roof is most important. Make sure you can feel no cold air coming in from around the seams on your windows and doors. If you do, some fairly simple winterizing is in order. These 'little cracks' can mean all the difference in the world!

Kristen,
Some People don't Think before they Type---Some People feel that They Are So Much Better than Us other People---You can tell--in there replies to something we typed---If we do something different like leaving a door open at 15 degree's---some are SO Quick to try and make us feel Stupid--Because They are just So Quick To Judge, because WE don't know any better or Felt there was no different. Why are people this way? I have no Idea---Why can't people just Be Kind and Helpful--Why Do we have to be "Belittled" by them when all we were wanting was some help. Does It Make them Feel So Much Better? Alot of people on here are very Smart---I just wish They would help us in a Kind way and Wish they would understand--We are not Them---We don't Think like they Do--We don't spell as Good as them---we are not as educated as they are----But We Are Human and We have FEELINGS. A Great Pastor That I Met in My Younger Days told me-----"Give the people the Help they need, but don't Hurt their feelings or belittle them doing it". I might Feel that Some of you are So Stupid for doing this or that---But I Can not SEE where Telling You------Can in any way Help you with Your Problem. Just My 2 Cents worth. Randy

Great post Randy.
In my previous post I wondered if this story was real. I thought about the whole thing and read the post over a couple of times and then decided that the story contained enough incredible elements that its authenticity need be questioned.

In the spirit of accepting this story at face value and offering help I can only say that a heaping dose of common sense is the best prescription that I can think of.

Jeff