[AT] Why not New Mexico Hello out there

[Indiana Robinson]

I think that at my age and with my interest and with almost all of my
descendants right here (3 of my 4 kids, 10 grandchildren and 9 [at
last count] great grandchildren) that I'm pretty firmly rooted in this
farm. :-)
Gads! I hate winter but I decided to take another approach to the
problem. I hate being cold. I also always suffered from "cabin fever
badly. This is a very large house with a lot of glass and that helps.
Of course it also takes a lot to keep it warm and comfortable so I
chopped the natural gas (long story) and installed a wood furnace big
enough to heat all of it that we do heat (about 4,000 sq. ft.) except
for a hard to heat at night solar room (more of a distribution
problem) which we heat a tiny bit with a pellet stove. We usually run
it on low and it burns about a pound an hour and is shut off on sunny
days. We cut some wood but even if we had to buy it all the heat is
reasonable enough.
That gives us a decently warm house that we can walk around in a lot,
looking out windows in all directions. It really helps with the cabin
fever.
Now I have to improve my farm shop. Actually it is more of an old
tractor shop these days since I only take care of the grass (pastures
and lots) now. It has always been impossible to heat but I intend to
put the same kind of furnace in it as the house and do a "LOT" of
tightening up next month. It also has a decent amount of glass and is
a 36' x 50' building with a couple of lofts. If I can "EVER" get all
of the excess crap out of there it is at least big and open enough to
help avoid cabin fever.
I also plan to spend a lot of the winter in the woodshop. It used to
be part of my old house and the shop is 1,400 sq. ft. It also has a
good bit of glass, a 24'x24' area of cathedral ceiling and a lot of
lights. It is pretty easy to heat and will hold heat well over night.
We currently have our horses in an old livestock barn but we want to
convert another building to a stable for them and it will have a
heated tack-room (hangout) about 12'x18', a 10'x18' feed room and two
12'x12' stalls for the horses with room to expand if needed.
I just expect to spend the whole winter indoors in one building or the
other where it is warm and to hell with that outside nonsense... :-)
Exposure to snow and ice will mostly just be going from building to building.
Hmmmm. I wonder what tunnels would cost?  ;-)



-- 
Have you hugged your horses today?

Francis Robinson
aka "farmer"
Central Indiana USA
robinson46176 at gmail.com