Mom claims my dad’s always been the last guy through the door before the opportunity closed. I’m delighted it turned out that way, because this man grew up in a boxcar among the Irish railroad builders. His mother died in childbirth with him, so he was under the wing of his grandmother, the camp cook. To this day my dad says he has never seen such body-wearing hard work.
But he got himself out of there by enlisting in the Air Force. He worked his way up the ranks and retired after 20 years- then he found a job in a factory and was the last man hired before the freeze. He soon found himself working the jobs of three men.
The company began to go under, so dad scrambled and found a job at IBM. One of my most vivid childhood memories was the night before his interview when mom dyed his hair.
Dad was terrified that he might be seen as too old to hire, so he allowed mom to apply the blue-black color to his hair. For some reason the dye stained spots on his face and the entire family panicked. But he got the job- again as the last man on before a freeze.
IBM fell. At least it did to the workers who lost what was supposed to be lifetime employment if they did their jobs. Dad was one of the last men given a decent severance package. And so, between the military retirement and the small pension, they’re doing fine.
But mom and dad have noticed a trend among their children. At first they thought it was just me being eco-nuts, so they brought slippers, sweaters and hot water bottles when they came to visit. Then they went out of state to visit my brother and his family, and found they had to do the same.
My sisters house? They put on extra socks and pullovers. My other brother? He uses a space heater for the room people are in and piles blankets on the couch for watching TV.
My parents are somewhat perturbed that thier children can’t afford to heat their houses. But if my dad’s pattern continues then we’d all better stock up on wool: He’s always the last man in safe before the freeze.
I keep mine at 62. Walking into my parents’ place feels like going to a lush tropical greenhouse.
Yes, my Mom’s house is at 72 and her heating bill is half of what ours is. We’re at 62 during the day and 55 after 9 p.m. I’m bundled up over here and have to change into a t-shirt when I go over there (3 times a day). We have leaky windows unfortunately, but are just getting onto social security after three years of unsuccessful job hunting so it will be a while before we can afford new ones.
Our house, which we built in 1979, was designed to be heated with wood and to be very energy-efficient so we’ve never had this problem. People were discussing their gas bills in the cafe the other day and I was horrified. I don’t often think about how insulated heating an energy-efficient house with wood has kept us from how high cost of a heating a home has become for most people.
Very nice diary — I like the theme of your dad beating the freeze.
Thanks.
I love the idea of your house. We bought ours 1.5 years ago, and are saving up to replace the leaky windows. Someday ours should be as energy efficient and insulated as yours!
Have you sen these stoves?
Our house is all electric, plus we have a fireplace insert. It’s kind of redundant, especially living in the south. But there have been some winters when that insert was a lifesaver since our power bill is always so high.
BTW that’s a great looking stove.
We looked at soapstone stoves when we were building but they were out of our price range. We went with a Vermont Castings which was still a bit pricey but has been serving us well for over 25 years.
It’s at 64 at night; 68 in the afternoon/evening when people come home (so how do I answer the poll?). I’d keep it at 64 all the time, but my wife and son have rebelled when I tried it.
I do feel the cold more than I did years ago, however, so I can understand why older folks are always turning the thermostat up (or moving to the sunbelt).
My wife had to visit her mom in Kansas City last week and commented on how everyone in her family seemed to have their thermostat turned ‘way up (they’re Republicans).
Mine WAS set at 60. After the last gas bill, it’s now at 55. 60 is reserved exclusively for company, or for when my nose is just too damned cold.
My mom’s condo is tropical, too.
I love the way you wrote this diary.
I voted ‘another log on the fire’ although it should be ‘another bag of pellets in the stove’. We heat with a wood pellet stove, can burn corn/wood mix about 1 to 4 in a pinch.
So far it’s served us well, we have one kerosene heater for back up and it came in for heavy use when the pellet supply dried up in Dec/ Jan. Now we’re back on track and fairly cozy.
My step mom has traditional heat and it’s set around sixty. Sweater and slippers are kept by the door for visitors. Her mom’s house is colder yet,when we inquire about it she just sniffs, pulls her sweater tighter around her shoulders and points out she lived in a tent in the early days of her marriage and she is tougher now than then. (She will be ninety five this August.)