Yesterday evening when I returned from work the indoor temperature was +6°C - and that with the electric radiator being constantly on. Outdoor temperatures have fallen down to -30°C, and apparently in its present stage of renovation my house isn't yet fully winterproof =). I think there are three main factors involved. First; the entrance is unfinished. It only has the outer walls done, but inside the walls lack all the thermal insulation, and one window is missing. So, inside the entrance the air is as cold as outdoors. And the door in between the entrance hall and the main room was never designed to keep the cold air out. Second; in the autumn I wanted to check if the inner sides of the main room walls can be finished without tearing out the floor. So, in my great wisdom, I tore out a strip of floor next to the walls. And found out that yes the whole floor needs to be redone, and it is wiser to do that before finishing the inner sides of the walls. I decided to leave that for the coming summer, thinking to myself that I can manage the winter, somehow, although it is likely to be somewhat drafty now when a portion of the floor is missing. Third; there are a lot of smaller unfinished spots here and there, leaking warm air out and allowing cold air in.

As I have decided to somehow manage through this winter, so better just cope with it. I still had one more portable electric radiator which I haven't been using until now. I placed it into the side room, where my bed is. I hung a woollen blanket on the inner side of the door. I filled some tiny holes with linen. And stuffed some more old woollen blankets into hole in between the wall and the floor. Burning fire in the stove I managed to get the indoor temperature at around +12°C before going to sleep. For me that is fine enough - I know that this cold weather wont' last for that many days, the forecast already says that the coming weekend it will be back to -20°C, and the next week will be around -10°C. With that kind of temperatures I can keep the indoor temperature mostly around +15°C, which is good enough - it just means that I have to wear a bit more clothes than in the summertime =)

Today it is Thursday, when I woke up the indoor temperature was still at +10°C. OK, that is good - if the temperature stays around +10°C without a fire burning in the stove, it means that with a fire on I can get a bit more comfortable indoor temperature. I went to check the horses, and they were fine. Raiku, being a finn-horse, she is genetically adapted to cope with winters this cold. Monica is slightly older and a thorough-bred, so I had put a rug on her. They eat a lot of hay, as the digestion process generates heat to keep them warm. And I make their drinking water hot as a tea. They didn't show any signs of suffering from cold weather, and that's good.

Well, wearing proper clothes and doing my little chores outdoors, it didn't feel that cold. But if it gets any colder, it is better to cover one's mouth and nose with a woollen scarf - that filters the air to be inhaled. And one little trick I learned already as a kid - don't wash your face in the morning! The skin generates some natural fats, which functions as a protective layer on top of the skin. Washing your face will remove a lot of that natural fat, and a dry skin is much more vulnerable to the ill effects of cold weather.

I was slightly worried about the water pipe. There is an electric heating cable inserted into the water pipe, on the house end of the pipe. Turning the heating on is a sure way to prevent the water freezing. But that is only for 1.5 metres in this end. There is practically speaking no snow on the ground, which means that the soil will freeze deep. From the well to the house, the water pipe runs some 1.5 metres below, and usually the soil doesn't freeze that deep. But usually we always have a thick layer of snow before getting this cold weather. Now, with these mixed weather patterns we had a mild rainy December, which left the soil soaked with water. And then, rather sharply, that turned into dry freezing temperatures with no snowfall. Oh well - but there is pretty much nothing I can do about the water pipe, so I just hope it won't freeze.

So, I think I should aim for finishing all the necessary paper work related to the turn of the year. When that is done, I could again concentrate more on the renovation project. Maybe getting the entrance part properly insulated would be a good idea =)