Bitter Cold / Social Security

              The cold temperatures have hit Alabama. I just checked my homepage and the temp at 9:39 a.m. is 21°. My furnace is working overtime to keep the inside temp at 65°, which is really pushing it for me. It has been a long time since cold like this has settled in. I’m reminded so of how it was living in Lockport, NY in the cold. I was pretty infamous for keeping the thermostat low and having a cold house back then.

There was only one heat run in that house to the upstairs. The stairway was enclosed which made closing it off pretty easy. It would get frigid. Many nights I’d sleep on the sofa downstairs so to not have to contend with the cold.

My bungalow here in Alabama was built in 1922. It has nowhere near the tightness of my old Lockport house. These old houses were meant to be leaky as to allow air ventilation to filter out the humidity in the summertime. It is when these old homes are sealed up the mold and mildew problems really surface.

There is a swinging door from the kitchen into the dining room which is kept closed. I just installed a piece of canvas to block off the front room from the hallway. I do have the door that was here originally. I hate to lose the wall space it would take up when not in the closed position. These front two rooms have the heating vents closed off. It was 7° colder in the dining room over the hallway where the thermostat is located. The blinds are open allowing the full sun from the southern exposure to stream in.

The room to the right in the picture is closed off and has a northern exposure. The master bathroom is off this room. The temperature here is 48°.

The back study has windows on two walls and is totally closed off. The temperature in that room is also 48°.

Basically I’m heating just the kitchen, hallway, bedroom and the small bath off it.

I can tell it is cold when Stumpy is not pestering me to go outside and instead parks on the heating grate!

I contacted GM Benefits to check on my retirement changes for when I turn 62. I was informed that one month before that happy event I will be notified by mail of the changes in my pension and it is my responsibility to contact Social Security. Back in the old days you would make a trip to the plant office and a Benefits Rep would walk you through all the ins and outs. That luxury no longer exists.

I remember taking my mother to the social security office with the rows of chairs full of people and the endless wait time. I am never in the frame of mind to subject myself to that kind of torture. I researched on line and on the Social Security Website I was able to fill out the initial application and start my registration process in next to no time. In my case it is pretty cut and dry, I don’t foresee any real problems.

I started a new file for Social Security information with the printed copies of the online forms filled out this morning along with my original Social Security Card that has the number XXX-XX-XXXX. Ha I fooled yo

u!

Time to get changed and to the “Y”: It will be a chilly walk this morning!