The Night Without a Furnace

Corrie and I live in Southern California. One of the perks is the weather. As much as I miss the seasons--crisp autumn breezes, icy afternoons in January--having the days be relatively the same across the diurnal shift and across the four seasons is a novelty we haven't had anywhere else.

Right now we've been hit with a cold spell, or what constitutes a cold spell down here. During the summers, our apartment would bake in the late afternoon sun, and proceed to radiate that heat throughout the night. By morning the apartment was nice and cool, having lost the previous day's heat. It would be pleasant all the way until the late afternoon sun would start the baking.

We have one of those classic yet inefficient wall furnaces. I believe I wrote a post about Tuxedo sleeping in front of it all day. In any case, Corrie and I were trying to be proactive about turning it off during the day, which is on me. Overall, I figured I'd be proactive and keep an eye on how much we leave it on.

Eh, how much I leave it on. Even when I'm not cold, I like standing in front of it. It's relaxing.

But last night, right before heading to bed, I turned it down enough to be essentially off, thinking the apartment might hold the warmth from the day's worth furnacing. But, here's where the inefficiency comes in, because there's no way the furnace could get the entire apartment as warm as an entire afternoon of direct sunlight.

So this morning, wowzers was it frigid.

Well, what constitutes for frigid down here in the Southland. It may have been down to the low fifties inside, which I think is cold enough inside an apartment or house. I won't be turning the heater down that low overnight again.