I went through a letter box of mine, trying to clear space in a metaphysical sense. There are some unnecessary things one hangs onto, but others that help make us who we are. I guess the thing is to let go of what is no longer serving your higher self at the time.
I found a beautiful card or two from my mother, sweet letters and cards from my kids and one from one son to another, too sweet to do anything besides cherish, of two boys, one small and one big, holding hands. It was to the older one from the younger. They must have been sixteen and the other turning twenty-three, a birthday card.
There were letters to and from myself and Baba Hari Daas, an enlightened Indian master in northern California. I found just some friendly letters from people I never got to know so well.
Most amusing were the romantic entanglement letters. Example: me: 'Perhaps you should be looking for another place to stay while I'm here doing this gig in California. Still, I am hoping we can go to Charleston and take your car, etc... Sorry to sound so businesslike.' This is not an exact quote of course.
Response: 'So, you just do whatever you want to assert your independence...?' At the time this may have partly been true, but it was my place after all. This was correspondence I did not keep, lifetime drama.
And then there was one from a guy I thought I really loved. Although the relationship was pretty toxic, the card was too sweet to throw away. I only say thought, because I am not sure what true love really is anymore. So often it is so unhealthy, and you think you are madly in love with someone, so much codependence, neediness, obsession, addiction, but seldom any real balance or anything truly functional. Still, you have to believe that something good came of it somehow. At least I do.
Funny how the years go by, the relationships with people we have had. I realize it is all attachment, but someday maybe I will write some memoirs and can use the past. My life has to come to some resolve before this can ever occur. People ask me sometimes if I will ever write a book about my life. I suppose that is my answer.
The good news is that I can even laugh at myself, my old self, even my new self sometimes. I am grateful for all of it, the bad as well I suppose. The important thing is knowing my kids loved me, and I guess still do, and even my mother loved me I guess, and maybe even still does.
In my experience of living in the south, you can have some really cold weather, below freezing. I have had some experience with freezing pipes in three different homes I have lived in. In a condo or large complex, there would usually have to be commercial technicians to thaw pipes. The biggest danger is the pipes bursting and this is expensive, and of course there is the risk of water damage.
Here are some tips. If you live in a beach house, older home or mobile home, possibly you may not have good insolation. A carpenter can add insolation under the sinks and also under your home in the crawl space. You can do this yourself if you know how and are handy.
There are many opinions, but even though leaving the water dripping is not foolproof, it does help. Both the hot and cold should drip, so that water is flowing through the pipes and not too cold to avoid freezing.
If however, the pipes still freeze, turn the heat up. You can run a space heater facing the pipes as long as it is not in a place it could fall in water and electrocute someone. If you run too many space heaters too high, the breaker switch may go off. Make sure the protector outlet switch stays on. I suggest either warming the frozen pipe with a hair dryer or a heating pad can be rapped around a pipe. Do not turn the heat down at night. Keep it the same as during the day.
When my son was in high school, he would get up during the night and turn the heat up to about 75%, as well as turning on the emergency heat. Never turn on the emergency heat. The only time this should be used is when the regular heat stops working altogether. The auxiliary heat will switch on automatically. There is also no point putting the heat higher than 72, because unless your home is very well insulated, it will not be able to get that warm in very cold weather.
Check the heat pump for a clogged drain pipe, and always make sure it is not covered with ice or snow. If it gets iced up, you will have to use the emergency heat, because it will not be able to heat the air from outside. And of course as the same in hot weather, keep the filters clean. This is important to avoid any type of mold and allergens in the air as well as anything air born, which can cause disease.
If you have storm windows, this is a good thing. Plastic can help as well, especially if you have a porch, but drapes are helpful too. I hope you enjoyed this winter maintenance blog. You can also follow me on twitter, Google and Youtube.
I went through a letter box of mine, trying to clear space in a metaphysical sense. There are some unnecessary things one hangs onto, but others that help make us who we are. I guess the thing is to let go of what is no longer serving your higher self at the time.
