Difficult early winter

Trimmed the tree today - and made the obligatory Chex-mix for munching.  Now, the Tulikivi is burning (as are the lights on the tree), and it is cozy and festive. 

We accidentally left the stove open last night (dampers that is) and it really cooled off which reminded me what a difficult early winter it has been to keep the house in the 70's.  The problem has been lack of any sunshine!  If we can get even a few hours of sun every couple of days, things warm up nicely - but we have had many consecutive days of "drear".  Our solution has been to run the radiant heat in the bathroom zone a couple of hours a day (in the evening so that it is comfortable for my morning shower).  On the days that we had stiff winds and temps in the teens (and lower), we also ran the portable electric radiator in our bedroom.  This combination works well for everyone except Milos - he spends the nights trying to find the coldest tile to sleep on and gets quite aggravated with warm floors. 

We could probably survive without the extra degrees - but just getting too old and like my temps to be at least 67-70. 

Today, we had sun!  and the house came right up to near 80.  Hoping that trend continues.