RIP dragon candle
Oct. 14th, 2021 10:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soniaWhen I was six years old, I was dragged along when my mom visited a friend. The friend had sculpted and painted a whole fantasy scene out of candles, large castle, knights, the works. There was a small upright orange dragon with painted scales that six-year-old me fell in love with, and the lady gave it to me.
That was the beginning of collecting dragons. Of course I never burned the candle. I have carried it with me from dorm to apartment to house all this time. In this house I had it upstairs on a shelf nestled in with a few stuffed animals and other treasured relics of childhood.
Today I noticed that the dragon was face down. I went to set it upright, and realized it's not that it had been knocked over. It *melted*, probably during the June heat dome. 116 degrees! Fifty-two-year-old me cried real tears and ceremonially carried it to the trash.
Ironically, I was looking closely at that shelf because I'm thinking about getting a heat pump mini-split for my bedroom, which is unheated except for a small electric heater I mostly don't use. There's no air conditioning in the house, although the basement stayed cool even during the heat dome.
The HVAC person said the room would be comfortable year-round. YES, I want that! Sadly, I'm not sure it would actually happen. Online reviews of the Mitsubishi system are mixed about reliability, and I'm worried that it would be noisier than I would be happy with. And also off-gas at first and give me headaches. Not to mention costing $6K+ to install.
It would require rearranging furniture, which I find myself reluctant to do. It feels right the way it is. There's a tall bookshelf which wouldn't really fit anywhere else, since the upstairs is a built-out attic with sloping ceilings. It's filled with memorabilia, not books, but I kind of like having the old photo albums and games visible, even if I rarely open them.
I think the first step is to run the silent electric heater that's already there more frequently. If I'm willing to spend $6K and then pay for electricity to run a system, I can just pay to run what I have. I think it would need supplementing if it gets really cold, but it's better than nothing.
While I love the idea of being cool and comfortable in summer, I also like sleeping with the windows open and being in contact with my surroundings. I resist shutting myself away from the natural world to run a machine instead. I hate that climate change is tilting toward needing air conditioning here.
Anyone out there have experience with heat pumps? What do you think of them?
That was the beginning of collecting dragons. Of course I never burned the candle. I have carried it with me from dorm to apartment to house all this time. In this house I had it upstairs on a shelf nestled in with a few stuffed animals and other treasured relics of childhood.
Today I noticed that the dragon was face down. I went to set it upright, and realized it's not that it had been knocked over. It *melted*, probably during the June heat dome. 116 degrees! Fifty-two-year-old me cried real tears and ceremonially carried it to the trash.
Ironically, I was looking closely at that shelf because I'm thinking about getting a heat pump mini-split for my bedroom, which is unheated except for a small electric heater I mostly don't use. There's no air conditioning in the house, although the basement stayed cool even during the heat dome.
The HVAC person said the room would be comfortable year-round. YES, I want that! Sadly, I'm not sure it would actually happen. Online reviews of the Mitsubishi system are mixed about reliability, and I'm worried that it would be noisier than I would be happy with. And also off-gas at first and give me headaches. Not to mention costing $6K+ to install.
It would require rearranging furniture, which I find myself reluctant to do. It feels right the way it is. There's a tall bookshelf which wouldn't really fit anywhere else, since the upstairs is a built-out attic with sloping ceilings. It's filled with memorabilia, not books, but I kind of like having the old photo albums and games visible, even if I rarely open them.
I think the first step is to run the silent electric heater that's already there more frequently. If I'm willing to spend $6K and then pay for electricity to run a system, I can just pay to run what I have. I think it would need supplementing if it gets really cold, but it's better than nothing.
While I love the idea of being cool and comfortable in summer, I also like sleeping with the windows open and being in contact with my surroundings. I resist shutting myself away from the natural world to run a machine instead. I hate that climate change is tilting toward needing air conditioning here.
Anyone out there have experience with heat pumps? What do you think of them?
no subject
Date: 2021-10-15 05:52 pm (UTC)Your description makes it sound like the obvious next step to adapt to climate change, which is a different narrative than, "I've become weak and need to be more comfortable." They might both be true!
no subject
Date: 2021-10-15 06:33 pm (UTC)Oh, I meant to say: it also has a movement sensor that you can turn on or off, that will back the thermostat off three degrees if the room appears to be unoccupied. We've disabled that feature for the bedroom, because it can't determine that we're there but asleep, and there's no point in changing the room's temp just because someone passed through to change clothes. But we do have it enabled for the living room. It frequently mistakes "working quietly at my computer" for "no one here", but that just reminds me to take periodic get-up-and-move breaks.
Re climate change: you don't have to use the AC any more than you actually want to, but we've been very happy to have it as summer highs have increased, and especially now that we're working out of our house and are here all the time.