Homesteading is cold!!!

LOL NO WAY! Ya seal them up tight as a drum!
Ive slept in them at more than 44 below (not sure how cold cause the red stuff was rattling around in the bulb in the bottom of the thermometer like a lone pea in a paint can!)and Im sure I was warmer than kirsten!

Mean people do suck. That said when it comes to matters of safety like a broken space heater you are goin to have some emotional answers because that could be a very serious situation. I feel for ya there are many folks that have similair situations and being cold is almost as bad as cold people. Stick around this really is a great place so please stick around for awhile.

Peace

ps i once insulated a window with pizza boxes in northern canada in january. You do what ya gotta do when u hungry or cold.

tie the dogs out on a 50" cable run with a big straw filled doghouse to use while you are out....

most people dont realize it but dogs actually like being outside.

lol

Congrats on being willing to learn. Mistakes will be made and that's okay, it's how we learn.
I've been to SD and winter is pretty rough. Stay warm and maybe consider a crate for that dog or paper train it. I'd keep it inside when I wasn't home, the coyotes might carry it off.

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When I was in basic training, they served a meat that I had never eaten and haven't sense then that was super good, until someone said it was horse meat.
The word got around that it really was horse meat, but I don't know. I just couldn't stomach it again after I thought about it. Don't ask why, I bit a live chickens head off, as did everyone else, to finish Rangers Training. Thinking about it makes me sick all over again.
Wish you hadn't said anything about the horse meat.

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:Groan:

Kristen, get a woodstove. If you move, take it with you. 15 degrees is nothing. Your pipes will freeze, food will freeze, oil will be so cold it won't pour....if the weather there is anything like it is here, it is going to get really danged cold! You don't have much time to prepare. Insulate your house, use a tube or two of expandable foam on the drafty spots, put plastic on the windows. It doesn't have to cost a lot to do those things.

And in all honesty, if it were me, I'd talk some friend or relative into boarding the dog with very little hair over the iwnter. If you're cold, he probably is, too, and he's even colder since the fire isn't going while you're gone. Having him there in the cold isn't helping either of you.

Firewood- if there are lumbermills, get mill ends. However, it doesn't sound like there will be millends where you are, so try pallets or scrap wood. Heck, even a pellet stove would be better than the fireplace, and that'd be worth moving, too.

I do understand where you're coming from, because I've been there. Right now it's rustic and fun. But it's about to get mighty cruel, dear, and unfortunately, I've been there, too. I'm not being nasty, just honest. Frostbite, chilblains, hypothermia to the point where you can't think or function or drive, it isn't pretty.

Note that at the top of this page beneath "Homesteading Today," it reads, "Neighborly help and thoughtful advice."

Go figure.

Kirsten, I am origionally from San Jose, California, and I can tell you this. Where ever you go and whatever you do, if you are a newbie somebody is going to think "I know something and she doesn't, she must be an idiot". It will continue until you are no longer a newbie. MOST people understand that a newbie simply has a different set of skills, but there is ALWAYS somebody who will say to themselves "she knows nothing. How CAN she be so ignorant". And, a few people will SAY that, too, ESPECIALLY if they do not have to work with you! (If they DO have to work with you, they will just say it to friends!).

It seems to be part of human nature. There will ALWAYS be that (blessedly small) percentage who cannot understand that folks were not BORN knowing everything that they have to learn! Selective memory, perhaps?

Kirsten, I was without power for 3 days in a big ice storm, and my pipes froze. It was only about 25 degrees, too, and I had the fireplace going full blast. If I had understood the concept of putting hot water in the tub and letting it cool I could probably have saved the pipes, but, I did not. I was lucky to just burst the one.

I think that you can either pay to make the house warmer or you can pay the plumber. Our ancestors did well with just wearing warmer clothing and starting a fire when they were home, but, they had very different plumbing arrangements. I am not concerned with the danger to you or to your critters: I think you can take care of everybody. Dogs get heavy coats, and you can put one on, along with long underwear.

But, pipes DO burst, and I had quite a few freeze before I learned what I could and could not do with them.

Are you as capable as our homesteading ancestors? Yep. Homesteaders came from ALL walks of life, and they either succeeded or failed according to their OWN merits, and not according to what the neighbors said. Their homes were not insulated, either, which was WHY the water bucket froze solid at night!

But, the few who had piped-in water were lucky, and those who had them (I suspect) let the water drain out of the pipes when they were not using them. Because there was no way to keep the pipes from freezing overnight when they were heating with a wood stove. The stoves were banked for the night, the house slowly cooled off, and the water buckets froze.

It was expected.

You are a responsible adult: do as you decide to do. You ARE putting the plumbing at risk, but then if it bursts you will fix it. It is the way of homesteading.

Heck, my OWN folks predicted disaster with EVERYTHING I intended to do (ESPECIALLY moving to the country!), and I am still here and doing well! They do not complain MUCH about my decisions any more, the last was a rather weak "Don't you think you are being a burden to your family" when we bought 5 acres. But, mostly they have given up being shocked. There have been NO disasters with moving to the country. The house has not burned, the family has not died because it takes the emergency crew longer to get here, I drive the kids to where they want to go so that they CAN attends scouts and such, and life goes on.

Just remember, there will ALWAYS be nay-sayers. Learn from their experience because they HAVE experience, but don't let the excess attitude gripe you because they will be EVERYPLACE you go!

Kristen, the internet is a place where you are not talking face-to-face to someone and you really don't know who you are talking to. There are people these days who find amusement in fooling others into thinking they are someone they are not, and hence making themselves feel superior by their deception. This can lead to others, who, may have born the brunt of being made to look foolish in this scenario, taking it out on innocent newbies. I hope that's not the case here and will assume, until I'm proven wrong, that you are genuine in your need for information.

You say you have purchased propane for heat. Have you been able to figure out how long it will last? Will you be able to purchase enough until warmer temperatures arrive? Please heed the warnings that S.D. can be very cold, and cold is a merciless mistress. You now have a very limited period of time in which to make choices, in mid to late fall things can change very rapidly.

Please continue to ask questions as the need arises. Ignorance is nothing to be ashamed of, it is only a lack of information. Failure to seek that information is the real stupidity

Let's see ... 50 inches ... mmmm ... just over 4 feet ... mmm

LOL, I know you meant 50' not 50". Just struck me as funny.

doohap

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Perhaps you should be concerned with the danger to her, because thats what the issue here is about. You can DIE from this.

Go to bed one night in temps below 50 degrees and you MAY NOT WAKE UP again.

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Kirsten, crate train the puppy. You should do it anyway because it's nice to have a dog that can go into a small area and be locked up if you have visitors who are afraid of dogs, etc. and have the dog not mind doing it.

I do have a dog door, but you lose heat out of them as the dogs go in and our more than they "have " to. They like it. I actually have two dog doors, one to the outside, and one to the entryway, so there's an airlock between the two doors. Makes quite a bit of difference in the winter.

With all the snow Cheryl was talking about, I don't know if you need to do it, but when I was a kid and lived in the old house we always banked it during winter. We'd mound dirt up against the foundation which would seal all the cracks, then remove it in the spring. It used to be commonly done in these parts, but I haven't seen many houses like this in the winter the last 20 years, seems like. Straw or hay bales were also used.

Like others said, don't leave the door open, you lose all the residual heat in the timbers of the house. You need every bit of heat you can save.

Good luck. Sounds like you'll need those dogs to add heat to the house this winter!

Jennifer

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-Northern NYS

I guess I am a ghost, then!

Unless you have exhausted yourself while fighting a blizzard or whatever, you willwake up whenever you get too cold. You just have to steel yourself to get out of that luke-warm bed to put more wood on the fire, or whatever.

The settlers ALWAYS slept in a cold house, and the Teepees got cold as well.

Kirsten,
Even if you are not actively heating the interior of your home, it does warm up some in the daytime due to sunlight coming in the windows. You want to conserve that heat. Also if you have any appliances such as stove, oven, refrigerator, freezer, television, computer and monitor - they all give off heat. Keeping your door closed will help retain that little bit of heat indoors.

Crate the pup or make outdoor arrangements for him. If neither of those are possible, perhaps he would fit in better at another home temporarily until things are stabilized at your place or until he's older and reliably housebroken.

I do worry about your plumbing, canned goods, and even potatoes and onions in the cabinets. And you, of course!

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[QUOTE=kirsten]

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 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...

If there is no heat anyway than the dogs would be just as well off outside in a hay barn! Also get up early and build a fire! Get down to -40 in SD so get ready!!
moonwild

Good Luck to you Kirsten. Make sure your belly is full at night. That does really help you to keep warm. And DO close your door, everyone is right about the timbers and such. To try to heat them from scratch takes a very long time. We have a "sun porch" where our eldest daughter and bf sleep. It is poorly insulated and does get cold because of burning the woodstoves in the main house, the thermostat is warm, so the heat doesnt kick on. We spluged and bought an electric fireplace for $200.00 at a discount store. It throws off a lot of heat and is very pretty too. It was a lot more economical than trying to put a monitor heater out there. Just to hook one up would have been in the 500- range. We all have to get creative sometimes, but please, take care of yourself so you can be there for your animals.

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I would never leave my doors open....deadly snakes or insects could enter and so could misquitoes, raccoons, panthers, etc. There are worse things than cold weather, you know.

Keep your head and feet warm and the rest of you will not take as much to heat up. A hot water bottle or hot brick wrapped in a towel goes a long way to helping you maintain body temp while sleeping. Always wear a head cover of some type. Heating the bathroom or a closet may be easiest. Sleep in there if you have to, but don't take a chance at not freezing to death in your sleep.