I was totally caught off guard when I noticed when I went into the basement this morning that my water heater does not have an insulated blanket over it. It seems to me that I put one on it a couple of years ago. Last year I had some maintenance work done on my furnace and water heater, I think that the maintenance man might have removed the water heater blanket when he was checking out the water heater. I wonder why he didn’t put it back on, maybe he ruined it when he removed it. Looks like I am going to have to go buy a new one here real soon as old man winter seems to be pounding rather loudly on our door.

While on the subject of heaters, I have been seriously thinking about finding one of those outdoor patio heaters that I’ve been reading and hearing about. As much time as I spend outdoors all year round here, I am hating the fact that winter is fast approaching and that I’m going to be freezing my rear end off so much of the time just taking care of all the things that need to be taken care of by me and me alone. We had a very mild winter last year and I still stayed cold most of the time. I am hearing that we are going to pay dearly for that mild winter and I do believe that we are. It is all ready getting very cold at night and it is only September for goodness sake. I am so not ready for the sleet, rain and snow that is inevitable here real soon and I do believe that one, maybe two of these handy dandy outdoor patio heaters just might be a great solution, better than the metal drums that I’ve used in the past that I build a fire in to help keep me warm. I am always afraid that this isn’t the safest way to keep a fire going outside although I’ve never had a problem with one yet, but I’ve heard stories…….