Heat Pump???

News from Kentucky......

My mother keeps scolding me for actually mentioning that it is COLD here in Kentucky.  Yes, the average temp has been in the 20's and below for 4 days and yes every time the Polar Vortex decides to descend from Canada into Michigan all the weather you would have gotten comes here.......

The problem is - Kentucky is really not set up for this kind of weather.
Did you know there are a lot of hills here???  Ice + Hills = Never a good driving scenario.
They do not have snow plows - here in Bowling Green we haven't gotten much snow, but some of the state has been hammered.
Almost everything here runs on Electricity.   THAT totally sucks, they are having issues like you would in the summer - asking us to actually turn our thermostats down to 60 degrees-  YES THEY REALLY DID THAT.

Which leads us to the real problem of the day....
Did you know that more houses have HEAT PUMPS and not actual Furnaces?????

  Now, I have gotten a major lesson in how those suckers work this week.  (Especially since we got our December electric bill at the same time as the Polar Vortex came to visit.)

Here in Kentucky the standard temperature right now should be between 35-50 degrees.
At that temp, the Heap Pump does okay.  It might have to turn on the extra heating strips a couple times to help pump up the house.  But did you know that they never really send HOT air into the house?  At most it is exactly the temperature or sort of that you need to keep the house around 67-70 (or whatever you love to keep it at.)

Heat pumps work better in the summer.  I read a page where the Heating/Cooling guy said that if you made the Heap pump big enough for a northern winter, it would be SOOOO big that your house would be an igloo in the summer.. (I'm adding emphasis here....)
So, they add these weird heat strips in the house (under my house) in the ducts to help keep the house a normal temp so the pipes don't freeze.

So, we hear the outside pump, right outside our bedroom that runs almost constantly - to keep it from getting frost all up and down the inside of it.  Then the heat strips come on to actually heat the air for the house.
For anyone who has ever burnt their feet on a register in the winter waiting for the Furnace to heat up a house, you understand how VERY sad it is to not feel anything come out of the registers here.
(I noticed the same lack of cold force in the summer too.)

I am betting that our Electric bill for January (comes late Feb) will be 3 to 4x's what we paid in November.  I'm disturbed by the amount we are paying for December and we weren't here for 2 weeks.

So, here is the cautionary tale - Heat pumps can be much cheaper to run in warmer climates, but woe- is- me to the people in Michigan or North East who have one.  Hope they all have fire places - which we also do not have.....  But that is a whole other post...

Stay Toasty my friends, Stay Toasty.....

We laughed, we cried, we spent too much money.....

I haven't done a movie review in FOREVER....

Most recent-
Frozen -
              I was going to skip this one.  Then news started floating around Facebook of the awesome music that fills this movie and the newer life choices for Disney Princesses.  Awesome.  I tracked it down, I even went out of my way to find the movie.  I managed to drag Tom and we both thought it was great.  It's been out since before Christmas and it's now middle of January and the movie theater was half FULL on a Thursday night.  No Kidding.  Sure there was a couple noisy kids, but heck it is a kids movie.  Great Music.


Catching Fire   (No. 2 of Hunger Games)
             Loved it!!!  Thought they did an even better job with this movie.  It moved you along quickly enough and had plenty of suspense without bogging you down for hours in the GAME itself.  I had completely forgotten how that book had ended and the movie took me right there.  I have high hopes for movie number 3.

The Desolation of Smaug   (or Hobbit 2- as it is otherwise known..)
            Some people I talked to loved it.  I thought it was alright.  I didn't feel that they had as good of music in this one.  There was no Dwarf awesome song in this one.  The whole bit between Smaug and Bilbo was cool, but you know it was rather predictable even for me - and I have to admit I never read the books. (None of them- I know - I'm a pathetic fantasy reader.)  We did not see it in 3D, maybe that helped bring Smaug more to giant size life.  I don't really like the OVERLY shaky camera work anyway.  I forget that I feel a little sea sick after watching his films.  All that crane camera work from long weird angles spinning around people and up into the air - it all just makes me feel like I'm on a roller coaster.  I am sure that is his main reason for doing it, to make you feel like you are right there riding the rapids in a barrel with them.

I can't think of what else we have gone to see.
I can tell you that we miss going with friends to the movies.  Getting to talk about and tear them apart with other people is really a lot of fun.
Which is why- I was thrilled that while the Dinosaur was here in Kentucky we watched the Hunger Games with her and her family.  It really is a good movie.

Link

Oh my Goodness - I totally forgot about Despicable Me 2-  Okay it came out last summer.  But I bought the Blue-Ray copy for Christmas.  It came with 3 mini-movies about the minions that Newbie directors got to make using all the cool gear they were using to make the big movie.  They were able to use already created characters and backgrounds in order to really get to the heart of a short story.  In animation the ground up phase of creating characters is always the hardest.  So, to be able to use the WORLD that was already up and running, really made it easier for the new directors to really get right to the point.  They were great little movies and I hope those new Directors get noticed because of them. :~)

Link

Booom

Newest experience in Kentucky.

Sometimes when you are trying to build a house, or a road, or put in the sewer and electric for these things - they actually need to BLAST to get past some rock.

Today, I experienced this happening in my NEIGHBORHOOD!!!  Like 20 minutes ago.

I'm not sure how I feel about this.  I know I saw the sign last week at the front entrance to the sub. (Lucky I went out that day?)

But, to be standing in the back yard with the dogs, and hear what sounds like a weird car alarm, or police alarm or anything like that- and then BOOM!

I won't say the world rocked, but I'm sure the dogs felt it more than I did.
It took me a second to realize what they had done and I'm sure that it was pretty darn small, I didn't see any dirt fly in the air or anything.  (Actually, I'm not even sure I was facing the right direction- they are building in two different directions from my house.)

So, I share my discombobulation over this experience.

New Year

It's 1/2 way through January and how many people have already blown their New Years Resolutions??

I purposely did not make any. 

Sure I have things I need to do this New Year, but I wasn't going to make a big nasty fuss. 

Currently, keeping my new students on track and actually being able to do their work is keeping me plenty busy. 

Usually it's Black board or the weird company we use - their software that freaks out. Nope - it's the IntrAnet the college uses that is down or not working right. 

Luckily I'm willing to go around most of these issues to get work done!!  

I'm currently well on my way to getting my second major idea accomplished. I am planning to hit the rivers a Lot this year. I've gone on two kayaking trips already with hubby's kayak and found the one I want to buy. 

We had to get a trailer, and put that together. I have to finish the lights on the trailer and get the plug put in my car. I was told Uhaul is my best bet for not spending a million bucks.  That's tomorrow's plan. 

I found the coolest boat for myself. It's called the Ibis by Jackson Kayak- all American made!!!  It doesn't weigh a ton and it moves through the water nice and can carry all my crap for an over night trip. 

It is sort of in between white water kayaks and sit on tops. The cockpit is huge and the seat is removable and comfy. :-). 

I'll post pictures once I get mine. I need to take a better picture of Toms big fishing rig. He wanted a sit on top that was beyond stable. Yup- it is just too  heavy for me to carry.  (Or drag). 

Hope to take brando out with it. He loves the water. :-). 

Have a fabulous day.   (And what day is it??). Hump day.