The war of the thermostat

The war of the thermostat
                        

As soon as it gets really cold, my Taller Half and I square off for our annual thermostat war. He likes the winter temperature set at 70 F, and I like it at 68 F. It is a constant battle with no hope of a permanent win.

He turns the heat up in the morning when he gets up. I turn the heat down when I get up. We are only talking 2 degrees here, but each of us can feel the difference.

After a week of our differences, we agreed to keep the temperature at 69 F, at least until we got the power bill. One degree made a surprising difference in the amount we pay each month to avoid freezing.

Now we have renegotiated, and the thermostat has been reset at 68 F. Outside on a sunny day, it is lovely when it is 68 degrees. Inside on a cloudy, rainy or snowy day, it is downright chilly. Our house thinks so too and has sided with my Taller Half.

Our dogs have sided with my Taller Half and like the thermostat set at 70 F. They will lie in front of a vent whenever the furnace comes on. Once the furnace stops blowing that lovely warm air, those dogs come looking for a warm person, preferably one with a throw on their lap.

Should the larger dog get a lap first, the little dog will resort to trickery. She lures him down on the floor by pushing one of their bones around. Because the bigger dog feels all bones are his sole property, he will jump down and grab that bone away from her. Once he’s down, the little dog leaps up onto his abandoned warm spot on the couch. Poor big dog, he hasn’t figured out yet how she always gets his warm spot.

As I sat in my chair reading the newspaper this morning, my feet were freezing. Of course I couldn’t say anything about how cold I was or my Taller Half would take that as a request to turn up the heat. Instead I got up very quietly, slipped into the bedroom and put on my fur-lined slippers.

Unfortunately Taller Half noticed, and while I was out of the room, he raced to the thermostat and turned up the heat. I will admit it was much more comfortable, so I tolerated his kindness until he left the room and I could run to turn down the heat. I also ordered fur-lined slippers for his Christmas gift.


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