Turning Up the Heat

Yes, it's that time of year.  Fall is a beautiful season, but as it slides toward winter, we start to prepare for those darker, colder days and nights.  The time change tells us to "Fall Back."  Last weekend when changing the linen, I decided it was time to replace the summer cotton coverlet with a real blanket and quilt.  Also the electric mattress pad.  Outdoors, it was time to shut down my drip irrigation system and let the plants go dormant.  Also, time to cut back some of the perennials and shrubs.  Remember to get the

speedy little truck caught up on maintenance - a battery check and anti-freeze.  Where the hell did I put the window ice scraper last spring?



Need to move the light jackets to the back of the hall closet and bring the heavy coats up front.  We start to think of comfort foods and heartier dinners.  I love making homemade soup and baking more when the weather turns cool.  Be sure to get the furnace serviced and clean the filters.  Light the pilot on our gas fireplace.  Find my warm robe and slippers; haven't had those out since last March. 



Unfortunately, this is also the time of year when Sam and I can butt heads concerning where we set the thermostat.  He would be happy leaving the windows open most of winter.  Not me; at the first night dipping to the low 50's, lock those windows, pull up the blankets, and jack that heat up.  I turn it up, and he turns it down.  

Not a fan of winter at all.  I will make several short exceptions to that blanket statement.  I like to watch snow fall if I am in my nice warm house drinking hazelnut coffee.  I love moonlight on snow out my bedroom window.  And finally, winter is OK on December 24th and December 25th - period!  I just get cold so easily, and then it takes me forever to warm up.  Especially my hands and feet.

Sam is not a miser.  I have a lovely gas insert fireplace with a fan that will warm our whole big living room to toasty pretty darn quick.  I love putting my feet right up on the blower.  In fact everyone loves to tell the story of how I once melted the rubber bottoms of a pair of slippers.  Sam will help me with ice and snow on my truck, and he is always available for spooning and other related activities.  



Anyway our yearly sparring about closing the windows at night began not long ago.  It seems silly to me to leave the windows open like it is summer and then have to turn on the heat just to get into the shower the next morning.  The thing is, I do have a tendency to get snippy when I get cold.

"Hon, please remember to close all the windows before you come to bed."

 "Ella, it is not that cold," Sam answered with a big sigh."

"Yes, it is.  Then it is too cold in the morning when I want to get in the shower."

"We do NOT need the heat on yet." he said with an air that the matter was decided.

"Well, if you are going to leave windows open, then I'm turning up the heat!"  I didn't realize my hands were on my hips.

"No, I'm going to turn up the heat," he countered slowly and his eyes narrowed.  I should be able to read that look by now.

Instead, I bossed, "All right, then.  You turn up the ......"  

Then I realized he wasn't talking about the thermostat or the furnace.  He was talking about my bottom.  My tone changed immediately, and I thought I had pulled my proverbial chestnuts out of the fire.  Sam just smiled.



Next evening, though, he happily demonstrated how he was going to turn up the heat for me.  Draped over his knee in the dining room, he kept asking me if I was warm enough.  I kept answering, "Yes!"  That particular part of my anatomy was now set way past 68 degrees Fahrenheit.  That's my Sam, always doing his part to conserve energy, save money, and keep Ella happy.