Tag: propane heaters

Determined Friends

I should have taken pics of the food table (right) and bar (left)

Well, we DID it. We had a small dinner party outside on the deck as the temperatures dropped into the 20s. 🙂 Thank goodness it started in the 40s. I am determined to see friends despite Covid and apparently my friends are also determined to brave the elements for the same purpose. I chose the invitees very carefully. It’s no longer only a matter of being my friends and thinking about who would get along with whom, now I need to think about how my friends “pod”, how they maintain social distancing, their parameters for maintaining health. So while I would have enjoyed having a BIG party, I think those days are still somewhere in the future.

setting up

I sent a lot of emails out beforehand explaining how I “pandemic”, and my plans for the dinner, and how I planned to structure the setting. Then the day of the dinner I sent yet another, offering Due Diligence on how we’d spent the last 5 days. My husband and I put up 2 canopy tents on December 28, four days before the planned Jan 1 date. The point of the canopies was twofold: shelter us from the forecast drizzle/mist and to trap heat from the propane heaters. You’d think I’d have learned about flimsy canopies and rain from last year’s Rosh Hashanah debacle with canopies. The canopies went up Tuesday, crashed in the rain on Wednesday, were restructured and braced on Thursday. Friday we changed the date from the 1st to the 2nd because the weather was not going to be good. Saturday we foolishly grilled our dinner. Why “foolishly”? Because the grill and one of the chairs were supporting the legs of the canopy that had already broken in the first rain. Saturday night that canopy collapsed again. Sigh.

the fan was there to dry the deck – it rained A LOT Saturday night

Sunday morning I got up early and began MY food preparation (we time who gets the kitchen when, when various dishes need the oven). I baked sugar-free gluten-free tahini chocolate chip cookies, rolled out the gluten-free crust for the quiche, and baked gluten-full bread. Then I started on all the non-food preparations (cleaning the kitchen & breakfast room, bringing up all the plastic and paper goods from the basement, etc.). When my husband woke we went out and took down the broken canopy and rearranged the remaining canopy. Then I began ‘fixing’ the deck. I had to rearrange the propane heaters, dry off the deck (hence the fan in the photo), put up an umbrella that had been put away for the winter (replacing the canopy), set up the serving table, hang the LED light curtain, hanging additional lighting, bring up folding chairs… you get the idea. Guests were invited for 6:30. At 6:00 there was a light sprinkle of rain. I thought – I can’t care anymore. If it rains, we’ll go inside, open every window and put in fans. Luckily the rain didn’t even last 5 minutes. Whew!!!!

coats, hats, blankets, and 3 people without coats

My friends all arrived, wearing their winter coats, bearing blankets, bearing food and most of all – in upbeat cheerful spirits, determined to enjoy and have good time. 🙂 For the most part we were all comfortable. As you can see some of us did NOT even wear coats (yay for all the heat that was indeed contained by the canopy/umbrella) and some were bundled up with hats and blankets. I was not wearing a coat which I find amazing, since I am usually cold. Maybe because I never really get to sit still when I’m a hostess – always moving to make sure things are as they should be. We had a wonderful wonderful evening. When everyone left by 11pm, I was outside til nearly 1am, covering up the furniture & heaters & fire pit in anticipation of the forecast “surprise snow storm”. Yeah, never happened but oh well at least my deck is all prepared for if we ever DO have snow. 🙂

don’t you love the pyramid heater???

Monday was all about cleaning up the INSIDE from the Ahuva-tornado that swept thru on Sunday preparing for the party. I had a few moments of existential despair on Sunday which caused me to open storage boxes and strew contents all over the basement floor, break the light at the foot of the basement stairs, and shove everything out of the way into my dining room. 🙂 There was a lot of cleaning necessary. Today dawned bright and sunny – FINALLY!!!!!! Hallelujah!!! – and COLD – 18 degrees F. Nonetheless, I am back in my groove, getting up to do my morning walk (bundled up like Charlie Brown) and now here sipping coffee, ready to return to work (okay, maybe not the latter). I look at these photos and feel so grateful for my friends who are determined to keep relationships going, no matter the weather.

ready for winter. and yeah, i did most of that at midnight in 20 F degree temps. brrr.

Baby It’s COLD Outside

Basking in a box in the morning sun

Good thing that *I* control the temperature INSIDE. 🙂 I woke up this morning and my phone app and my actual thermometer both agreed: 16 F. This wasn’t a surprise – we all knew this huge drop in temperature was coming. As one of my favorite bloggers has been noting, the weather is yo-yo’ing all over the place. Last Saturday it got up to 70 F. Today our high is expected to be 30. Wooohooo! Thirty whole degrees!

This may not be as obvious in a photo, but can you tell which bed is used and which is scorned?

My mother used to have an ash tray (remember ash trays?). I didn’t understand it when I was growing up. I think my sister might have it now. I’m SURE we didn’t get rid of it when we sold the house. It shows 2 men at either end of a table. I think there are either coffee cups or old fashioned glasses or something on the table. They are both semi-reclining, with at least one of them having his feet up on an adjoining chair. I’m fairly certain at least one of them is smoking. The caption on the photo is “Next week we’ve really got to get organized.” See – THAT is adult humor. 🙂 Kids are either totally organized or have no clue what being organized means. I neeeeeed that ash tray. 🙂 I have so many photos I took in order to post here, but I just can’t get organized to write a coherent narrative. Perhaps you’ve noticed that lately yourself. 🙂

My husband “torturing” BC with TV for cats

But writing to you makes me feel as if I’m having a social life, especially on a day when even if there WAS no pandemic I have NO intention of setting foot out the door. Brrrrr. I was supposed to have a massage, which I need badly because I have a spasmed muscle (why does WordPress not think spasmed is a word?) and only my massage therapist can help me now. She’s my only hope! But I texted her yesterday and asked to move the appointment because I am such a spoiled princess that even for my massage I am not going out there. 🙂 I’m willing to bet by now my good friend Honour is rolling her eyes and shaking her head. (She lives on an island in the middle of the Bay of Fundy – they know how to do cold up there.)

Got it!!!!!

One day I may have enough inner strength and control of my temper to tell you the saga of my attempt to get an attractive heater for my deck, so we could still see friends during the winter. Last year we had NO SNOW and fewer than 5 below freezing days. We were supposed to have friends over for dinner this weekend so I had been accumulating deck heaters. Or attempting to accumulate them. One I ordered online on Nov 2. I’ve been assured as recently as yesterday that it really IS on its way to me – it’s on a boat in the Pacific. Still. Before Thanksgiving I went out and bought Mr. Heater and he has been a rock star. He may not be much on looks but he heats like the sun. We took him with us to have dinner with friends last weekend. Between their wood-burning fire pit and our Mr. Heater we were perfectly comfortable for 7 hours of fun and food (all socially-distanced).

Now you know why I needed a ladder – I can’t reach the top without one. 🙂

Last week I began to lose faith that my slow boat from China would ever arrive so I bought a Pyramid heater at the grocery store. I set it up last weekend (remember last weekend? temps in the 60s?). We turned it on, saw & heard it sparking – nothing. I was fairly certain the problem had to be in the control box as there really was nothing else to that tower but structure. I didn’t know WHAT exactly although I had my suspicions because things didn’t really look aligned. I asked my brother-in-law to come help me debug it. He came yesterday, after our big snowstorm 2 days before. That meant before we could work on the tower I had to dig it out, clear my steps off the deck, and bring up both a ladder and Mr. Heater. No way we could work out there for any time without heat. 🙂 As usual, my brother-in-law figured out the issue and we fixed it. I got a lesson in spark gaps. I had thought the one piece was the issue but intuition can only take you so far – knowledge is power. Anyway, I now have 2 working propane heaters AND a propane fire pit with lots of ceramic logs. I cancelled dinner anyway. Even with 3 heaters going none of us wanted to sit out in 30 degree temps.

The handmade ribbon is so pretty

I plan to spend the day baking. This makes me happy. Unfortunately it also makes me gain weight. I’m planning to share with neighbors. Another thing that makes me happy is to get unexpected presents. I looked out the window and saw a package on my deck this morning. A little package. I figured it was something my husband ordered. Nope, it was for me (yes I took 3 steps out the door to grab it). It was from a co-worker. There is also a very long annoying story about the word “co-worker” but all I’ll say now is that corporate politics and policies are blocking me from being on the team (hers) I wish to be on. That team and I, however, are all acting as if I am indeed officially on that team. 🙂 Yeah, you really don’t want to mess with me at this moment. I opened the box and it was SO PRETTY and there were so many goodies inside. Maybe I can trade some of the goodies to my sister in exchange for the ash tray???? Spiced rum? Vanilla cinnamon Bailey’s?

Where to begin?????