tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post2421103622927847315..comments2024-03-14T11:50:14.761-04:00Comments on DarwinCatholic: The Anti-Sacramental HouseDarwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08572976822786862149noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-38502169098077841292021-02-19T20:47:08.781-05:002021-02-19T20:47:08.781-05:00Agreed re mood - I notice that about both cold and...Agreed re mood - I notice that about both cold and heat here. Most winter days are fine just with sunlight, but some days I feel like curling into the couch with my tea and not moving, sort of paralyzed in the face of my list, and then I realized it's 59 inside, and I turn on the heat and we all relax and go on with our work.mandamumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-61845356914489566112021-02-19T00:09:57.338-05:002021-02-19T00:09:57.338-05:00Michael, I'm beyond thrilled that you should m...Michael, I'm beyond thrilled that you should make the connection with Christopher Alexander. I read A Pattern Language like a devotional -- a page here, a page there, and then meditate.<br /><br />Mandamum, our house does let air circulate, and indeed, we had no air conditioning until four years ago -- on all but the hottest days, it was quite liveable. It's remarkable how much air conditioning does to improve our mood on those worst days, though. Just a few degrees makes all the difference.MrsDarwinhttp://darwincatholic.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-82190621824782167812021-02-18T13:46:51.220-05:002021-02-18T13:46:51.220-05:00We had a fireplace in our old house (in south-cent...We had a fireplace in our old house (in south-central WA, which should have known better) that made the house colder, even without having to open a window - it radiated next to no heat, and pulled the cold air in anyhow (not a sealed house). But the pellet stove in the basement would heat the whole house with fair ambiance ...as long as it had electricity to run the little doodads. <br /><br />My parents have a woodstove in place of a fireplace, and when circumstances forced a re-do, they got a very efficient one that you feed wood, but whose heat runs its own little fan to send the heat out into the room. It keeps that part of the house toasty and firelit (and the lack of heat elsewhere keeps people in the public rooms enjoying the heat and glow).<br /><br />I remember your comments about new box-houses having no cross-ventilation. You can sort of tell when houses were built, I think, by whether they allow this. I have friends here in the Mojave desert who can keep their older ranch house quite comfortable in the summer on swamp cooler alone, because the house is so structured that in the evenings one can allow the cooler air to blow through the entire house, and in the morning one can shut up the back bedrooms to hold the cool, while the swamp cooler keeps the main area liveable. The visitor center at Zion Nat'l Park was designed with serious thought toward passive heating and cooling - if you pull air from low, it will be cooler, if you shine sun on a black wall that can radiate into the room, it will warm,, etc - very fascinating. Green and also self-sustaining, even when the power is down.<br /><br />We are praying for those suffering in Texas.mandamumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-81849800017004132572021-02-18T01:22:46.712-05:002021-02-18T01:22:46.712-05:00Your rumination on fireplace—'heart' and &...Your rumination on fireplace—'heart' and 'hearth' do sound so much alike—reminds me of Christopher Alexander's work. Neither buildings nor anything else ought be tossed in to satisfy a marketing checklist; rather each feature has sort of life and vital criteria, which if not satisfied makes the thing dead and useless, like a porch no one ever sits on.<br /><br />We use our fireplace occasionally for ambiance, but have to open a window for it to draft properly. Heat from the fire cannot be felt beyond the room it is in anyway. I had to look it up, but am not surprised the record minimum temperature for my city is 25°F. My sympathies for Texas.Michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15706375351999428103noreply@blogger.com