On 12/9/21, my place received about 2" of snow and it sure made things pretty out there. During my lunch, I went out and cleared off the truck and shoveled the driveway and around the gates to the cat pen.
Friday night and most of Saturday morning, we got sleet/freezing rain. The local station had promised that about 11 am, it would start warming up and hit the mid 40's. Their estimated timing was a bit off as the temp stubbornly stayed 33-34*. The ground was cold enough that no melting occurred. This picture was taken at 1pm.
Then about 6:20 pm, I noticed the temp starting to rise as it was 39 outside. Forty minutes later it was 56* and the ice started melting quickly. Overnight the winds ramped up and this morning everything is gone. Right now, 6am, it has only gotten down to 38*.
December 1st I started using the mini-split to heat the main floor during the day and using the P43 at night (the P61a still heating basement since that is the only heat down there). This has not been set in stone; Cold, windy days I've run the P43, and several nights I've let the mini-split keep doing its thing. This is an experiment to understand the energy usage during milder winter temps (the outside unit is rated at working to 5*F) as well as seeing how well the office's temp is regulated during working hours.
I used 378 kWh for November 2021 (which perversely, the electric company calls December usage - even though the bill is for 10/29 thru 12/01). I used 358 last year but I was also running power tools, which accounts for the difference. If the weather tracks along what it did last year for December, as it did in November, that will give me a good idea of usage. I would expect my electric bill to be higher than last December (407), but I would also need to subtract the savings in pellets (I track pellet usage monthly). The only difficulty in the comparison is I get so many of my pellets off CL/FBM, that I don't really have a set price per bag, and it is certainly less than market value.
Just something else for me to be a geek over :)
Update at 7AM - I don't know how these two little patches of snow have held their ground to this point
An improvement after the tornados.
Posted by: Mike-SMO | December 12, 2021 at 08:16 AM
That top photo would make a lovely holiday card, Bogie. Gorgeous!
Your temperature tracks are helter-skelter as have ours been. Several days ago, it was in the low 40s, here, at about 5am - and that was the high for the day. The next morning at about that time, we had 24 degrees. As Mike-SMO mentioned, it beats tornados.
I was snickering about your detailed record keeping, thinking about how (as I had written to you) you resemble your uncle. You guys are true geeks - and good people.
Posted by: Cop Car | December 12, 2021 at 09:54 AM
What are the green leaves? They look like rhododendrons or viburnums?
Posted by: Cop Car | December 12, 2021 at 10:00 AM
That is the red rhodie on the south side of the house.
And yes, so much better than the tornadoes that affected so many over the weekend!
Posted by: bogie | December 13, 2021 at 03:48 AM
That is one hardy rhodie.
Posted by: Cop Car | December 13, 2021 at 08:34 AM
Most Rhodies are good to zone 4 and are evergreen. Azaleas are their cousins that lose their leaves. The red one is somewhat protected from the winter wind while the big purple ones out front feel the full brunt of winter's wrath.
Posted by: bogie | December 19, 2021 at 05:05 AM
We have a little azalea, planted 2015 - below the porch in a protected spot where, when I kept the birdbath on the porch, I emptied it onto the azalea. It's been having to make do for the past 3 years since birdbath has been on patio. I confuse azaleas and rhododendrons which we had in Seattle. Maybe I'll be able to remember, now, with your reinforcement.
Posted by: Cop Car | December 19, 2021 at 09:44 AM
P.S. We have 10 degrees, this morning.
Posted by: Cop Car | December 19, 2021 at 09:45 AM