|
|
|
snuggling with a bowling ball
Friday, December 7 2012
I've been experimentally sleeping in the greenhouse every now and then, including last night. Julius (aka "Stripey") is unusually savvy about my whereabouts and has been joining me down there, suddenly popping in through the pet door and then snuggling with me. Of our cats, Stripey is by far the worst snuggler. He likes to perch on my belly or my chest but (unlike Clarence, Sylvia, or even Marie — aka "the Baby"), he never stretches out. So his "snuggling," such as it is, feels like trying to sleep with a bowling ball balanced on your belly.
As for the heat situation in the greenhouse upstairs, I've been using a small fan-driven heater, but the other night when Gretchen tried to sleep in the greenhouse, the fan noise proved too much of a distraction. So earlier this week I'd done some research looking for a small electric heater that doesn't rely on a fan. Eventually I found a panel heater measuring 21 by 27 inches. That might seem big, but it can be hung low on a wall, where it would only protrude two inches. It's the DeLonghi HMP1500, which, once removed from its casters, looks like a flatscreen television. Today I attached it to the east wall of the greenhouse upstairs beneath the east window. Without the fan, it seems to heat the space a bit unevenly, but that's a small price to pay for silence.
But it's not entirely silent; it makes a 60 Hz hum when running, though that should be quiet enough for Gretchen to ignore. The hum is quieter when the heater runs in 750 watt mode as opposed to 1500 watt mode, and that should be plenty powerful enough to keep the space warm through even the coldest nights. It had been cold last night, with temperatures hovering in the mid-20s, and yet the space was kept sufficiently warm by the 1500 watt fan-driven heater running less than half the time.
This evening I found myself wasting time again trying to revive my bricked PogoPlug. A problem like this is a compelling puzzle that forces me through its sheer obstinance to solve it. But when the puzzle has no solution (such as when a device I am trying to revive really is as dead as a brick), it's hard for whatever orders around my compulsions to step in and order them to stand down.
For linking purposes this article's URL is:
http://asecular.com/blog.php?121207 feedback
previous | next |
