Wednesday, August 3, 2011

heat loss

It's been a very cold summer. So cold in fact, that I haven't bothered to turn off the gas to the stove, which means the pilot light continues to burn. Amazingly, just the pilot light alone keeps the top of the stove quite warm. Willow and Rose take advantage of this and love to nap on the warm stovetop.

These past few days have been relatively sunny and warm. The temperature may have actually reached 75°F! So, I decided to go ahead and shut the gas off to save a little money.

The summer nights in Seattle are cool, usually in the low to mid 50's. That's cold enough that Rose and Willow seek out heat. So, sure enough, the day after shutting off the gas, I come downstairs in the morning, and I see Rose jump up on the stove expecting it to be warm but instead it is stone cold. She walked around the top looking confused and sad. After a minute, she gave up and sulked off.

Feeling horrible for taking away this simple pleasure from Rose's life, I did what every cat obsessed person would do. I immediately turned the gas back on and apologized profusely to her.

Silly humans, always messing with purrfection.


  1. LOL! Our mom would have done the same...turned it off, then felt guilty. :-P

    Low to mid-50s *is* cool for a summer night, but great for sleeping. It's usually in the high 60sF during the night here in the summer, warmer during the hot spells. Cooler is nicer for least from our human's point of view.

  2. I'd do the same. What is their life if not comfortable.

  3. Here in south FL, everybody bundles up if it gets below 70 degrees! Even though it is warm here, I have a heated cat pad that I spend hours sleeping on.

  4. You did the RIGHT thing in correcting your error.

  5. What we wouldn't do for our cats. There probably isn't much. Rose needs the stove. The pacific northwest is definitely a colder part of the country in summer. Hopefully you all will get some warm weather soon.

  6. What will happen when you start using it again? Do they understand that it's hot?

  7. Barbara - when the stove is in use the cats do not remain on it, they get too hot and settle in the bed directly in front of the stove! Being a gas stove, it never gets dangerously hot, which is one of the reasons we selected this stove.


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