Fending Off Fall

Not sure how many people play this game ... My friends here do not play this game - so it’s not that universal.

What game? Each Fall I play “How late into Fall I can go without turning on the heat.”

I think it’s more of a North East “thing” because having lived a large chunk of my adult life in New England – you learn very quickly that once that once you turn on the heat – it’s on seemingly forever ☺ - and in Vermont “forever” often extended into the following May or June!

While in the Boston area my friends and I sometimes made it into September before turning on the furnace. And even then we made it well into later Fall before leaving the heat on all day. We did this by turning up the heat in the AM to take the chill off the house and then turning the thermostat way back down. In Vermont the furnace usually had to get cranked up in September - sometimes before the official start of Fall and the taking the chill off began then as well.

In D.C. it was never a game I played, as it would stay warm well into November [even into December] and that took the fun out of it....

In Portland I have gas heat - and in the past when I have had gas heat I turn the pilot light off in the summer...never could see the point of paying the local gas company for something I was not using ☺.

So here the game is when do I turn the pilot back on...In the days of cable TV – I watch the weather channel and if it looks like the week ahead is dipping into the mid to low 40’s at night – I turn the pilot light on. Sometimes that alone is enough to warm up the house...but it’s also then ready if I need to turn on the heat for the morning warm up....

The odd bit about living in a floating home is that the river is part of the “game.” If the river stays warm for a period of time, I can keep the heat totally off or just live with the pilot......

I turned on the pilot light last week and so far have had to do the warm up on two mornings. But it is October and officially Fall...and as we warm up this week I won’t need to do the AM heat for a while.

Game on? Does it change as we get older?

Let me know if you play this game or some others that help you fend off Fall.