The shed in winter...we're still loving it...

We burned the fir wreath on Epiphany...

Bird feeders are always busy, though the birds were camera shy today...

I love how it looks in the early evening, with a light on...

I hope you have all had a wonderful holiday season and now, peaceful and quiet in the depths of winter...

Winter at the Shed

It's been a while since I added new images here...but I spend part of every day in our little sanctuary, sometimes alone, often with my husband, and it is precious to us.  Peaceful, beautiful, close to nature...magic.

January snow...there's nothing like that warm, inviting glow against the chill of oncoming night.

Almost night...and worth getting snowy boots to capture...

Art supplies and cups of tea in my handmade mug and the company of tiny bears...I sketched them soon afterward!  This is Cocoa and Sebastian...

A place to meditate and read and create...carve stamps, journal, enjoy the gifts of the earth and be grateful...

Our infrequent, shy visitor, the female flicker...

a downy woodpecker male...

brilliant cardinal and blue-shadowed forest...

It's Winter!

First snow, the other day...and 10 degrees!

...and my old heater just wasn't cutting it any more...it was 38 degrees in there that morning, so we are REALLY glad we bit the bullet and decided to go for the new faux woodstove, on sale at Plow and Hearth!

You may remember I'd been wishing for a stove like that for three years now (check out this post)...but why make any sudden moves, right?

Winter Robins

I love seeing these guys in the winter!

Sketching at the Shed

Pepe is SUCH a good model, even when he's lying on my lap!

Very quick sketches in the snow, on the Winter Solstice...

Some of the "tree people" near the shed...

Yep, still winter...drat that groundhog anyway...

This was the view yesterday...some of the snow has fallen off the branches now, and rain has fallen on top of that, so it's a big crusty...

Over the fence and the top of my canoe...the snow isn't really THAT deep!

She looks like she's saying "come ON, let's get IN there." But this is Belle the Biter, who cost me a doctor visit, tetanus shot, and some anxiety this fall, so...nope.

So far the electric heaters and wool rug are up to the challenge, once I get warmed up a bit...having that sound side floating like that may have to be dealt with.  Too much air under there!

And the shed got a prezzie, from my good friend the artist Molly Morgan-Roberts!  I've had the stained glass cardinal for years, but Molly made the wonderfully wacky vintage fork wrapped in spirals and beads...I threatened to make omelets with it. 

Really unique ones...

J. discouraged me, since he's the usual dishwasher...

Winter wasn't finished with us...

Yesterday, I was sitting on the deck, barefoot, reading.  Today?  Not so much.

Guess what?? It's WINTER.

I put up "guess what" photos on my Flickr from time to time--it's become a game with us!  So far no one has actually nailed this one, though they're very, very close.

I've mentioned the problem with the insulation falling off under the floor of the shed...that means there's 3/4" of plywood between my feet and the North Pole!

So what IS this?

It's the paint water in my little enameled tin pot; I left it on the floor overnight.  We keep the heat in the shed at about 48 degrees when we're not there, but it can't overcome that icy floor!

I'm thawing my paintwater in front of the little heater!  Since we have to carry water over from the house, I'm sparing with it.  It'll work just fine once it melts...

And happily, I've since discovered that if I leave the little pot on the wool RUG instead of the floor, it doesn't freeze.  Nether does Pepi's water.  We WILL solve this before next winter!!!

WINTER!

It's been cold, snowy, and icy for days now, but J. makes sure I can get to the shed.  This morning, since they're calling for Snowmageddon and ice, he's gone out with the Ice Melt!

He's been joining me more often since we got a comfortable chair for him, too, and it's lovely! 

I've been working on a series of new mini-classes out there, and it's the perfect place for it.  Not so many distractions, no Internet, no Facebook, no Flickr, no email (though J. did bring the netbook out to work on taxes one day, and said he got the 'net on it, SSHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!  I'm pretending I did NOT hear that!)

I've got a pretty good setup for shooting mini-videos for the classes, but the photo I shot of it didn't work--will try again!

Nature continues to amuse and amaze me, there...who knew how much I was missing, in the house! 

I never realized till now that gray squirrels are such gourmands!  They only eat the germ and discard the rest of the kernel like picky kids at the dinner table.  No worries, though, the blue jays, raccoons, and fox squirrels don't mind cleaning up their plates!  I keep an assortment of magnifying devices at the shed to help me see these details better.

All in all, I've been working hard and playing hard, and it's great!

Another cold morning...

This was the view from the front yard, just before sunrise the other morning...really looks like it's in the woods, doesn't it?  I bought this lot because it backs up to a wooded hill that's kept encroaching in our direction!  At one time, the lot across the alley was a garden...it grew up in small trees.  When the house next door burned down, I bought this lot, and this was where MY garden was.  But the trees grew up here too, so now the shed feels wonderfully isolated.

As long as you don't look south, which is all houses and the small state highway!

And for those who have asked about keeping warm...so far, this is working.  And polar fleece leggings, and a robe...

Mostly.  With a tower heater left on low all night... :-)

Snow days

The sky was a beautiful warm peach this morning, and the sun hadn't yet cleared the East hill beyond the shed...the snow still looked blue and cold.  And well it might, it was 10 degrees when I went out to take photos, and had been colder still.

Enough warmth escapes through the roof to soften the snow and make it slide down the smooth metal.  The icicles curved oddly, and I had to get a photo!

We got about 8" of snow; I wanted to get out to the alley and get a shot of the shed before it got too tracked up.  Those are mostly my footprints and the neighborhood cats, along with a few hungry squirrels digging beneath the snow for their buried provisions.

And sure enough, the bowl of water on the floor inside had a rime of ice on it...

icy morning sunrise

Glowing in the cold...





This warmed me up nicely...home made 7-grain/carrot/raisin muffin and marmalade...

Sunrise snow at the shed

I could hardly wait to get out there with the camera!

And yes, it was quite habitable, once I had both heaters going for 15 minutes or so. I'd left the tower heater on low, 38 degrees, so my paint water hadn't even frozen, but the bowl of water on the floor had, and stayed that way. Glad we're getting the new insulation under there!

Still trying to figure out the heater issue...

The tiny electric, ceramic space heater is OK, for now (especially with the timer that turns it on an hour or so before I go out there), but I don't believe it has enough surface area.  You need to pretty much be in front of it.  Directly.

So still researching.  It can't cost too much, right now, and I don't want propane, so that narrows the field...I need clean, more or less allergy-free heat.  

Almost bought a little heater that looked like a wood stove--I know, it's nuts, but it was CUTE!!  I was willing to give it space in the shed--till I read the review that said the fake logs were styrofoam and when they heated it made her sick.  Uh oh...ceramic heaters don't do that...

>Not impressed with the oil-filled ones...J. knows of two that lost one of their two heating elements in a short time, and the one I had to do with simply didn't offer enough heat.

The wall-mounted panels seem OK, but not overly impressive, and seem to need to be on longer to heat the area.  No blower on those (something they share with the oil-filled ones)...which is good news and bad news.  Hot blowing air CAN dry your sinuses, but no blowing air sometimes doesn't feel like enough heat."color: black;">

And of course the woodstove would need a hole in the shed (wall is J's choice, roof is mine), double-walled chimney, fireproofing for the wall and floor, and take up considerably more of our 10' x 10' space...and chopping and splitting firewood.  Hm.  That's not going to happen right away, if ever...

So back to electric heat, for now...

I found this guideline on Amazon.com--and it looks worth reading!

Five Tips for Buying a Heater

Choosing a space heater is a matter of sifting through a bewildering array of types, power ratings, and fuel sources. Let's break it down a little to make the process easier.
What are the different types of space heaters?
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• Radiant heaters emit infrared radiation that directly warms the objects in front of the heaters (rather than the surrounding air). If you only need heat by a desk or in a small section of a room, a radiant heater is quiet and will use very little power.
• Forced-air heaters use a fan to blow air that has been warmed by metal or ceramic heating elements. A forced-air heater is appropriate for quickly heating up a small- to medium-sized room, but can be noisy.
• Convection heaters draw cold air from the floor; the air is warmed by heating coils and emitted from the top of the heater. A convection heater is appropriate for quickly heating up a small- to medium-sized room, but also can be noisy.
• Radiators work by heating oil enclosed in a reservoir, gradually heating the surrounding air. If heating speed isn't an issue, you might want to opt for a radiator. These are extremely quiet and effective--perfect for bedrooms.

Should I buy an electric or a combustion model?
If you want a heater that will be available in emergencies, or that can heat areas larger than a single room, choose a "combustion" model--one that is powered by a gas or fuel like propane, kerosene, natural gas, or diesel. Which fuel type you choose depends largely on convenience and local availability. For example, diesel would be appropriate for a heater you take with you on long car trips.

How powerful a heater do I need?
Heaters are rated by BTU, which stands for British Thermal Unit (the amount of heat needed to heat one pound of water by 1 degree F). To find out how many BTU you need:

• Calculate the volume of the space to be heated by multiplying square footage by height.
• Multiply that number by 4 if your insulation is poor, 3 if it's average, or 2 if it's good.

The resulting number is a ballpark figure for how many BTU you'll need.

Do space heaters cost a lot to operate?
As a general rule, electric space heaters are more expensive to use than combustion models. To ensure energy efficiency, a thermostat is a must-have feature for any heater. For radiant heaters, models with a 360 degree heating surface can heat larger spaces. If you need a forced-air heater, models with ceramic elements tend to be more efficient.

Are space heaters a fire hazard?
Space heaters are implicated in about 25,000 residential fires every year. To ensure proper safety, always follow the manufacturer's usage instructions and fill out the warranty card to receive informational updates from the manufacturer. Also, look for extra safety features such as an automatic shutoff switch that can shut down the unit if, for example, it gets upended. In addition, choose a model where the heating element is adequately enclosed within the unit.

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Thanks, Amazon, still considering...babble babble...