We have a whole routine we have to follow in the winter regarding our windows. This is a very old RV and it is made for warmer climes. It was also made before they started putting doublepaned windows in them. Even now, double-paned is only an option on a lot of RV's, not a standard. Or at least that is how it was a few years ago.
We use foil insulation sheets in the windows at night. They look like foil covered bubble wrap...the kind with the tiny bubbles. Cut to size, we put one up in each window. This makes a HUGE difference on the amount of heat we lose. Then we slide our curtain blankets over the two main side windows. Considering the size of the RV, these are big windows. The window on the couch side runs almost the length of the couch. The one across from it, behind me, is slightly smaller.
Even as I sit here, I can feel the cold air coming in from the one across from me where I have taken the foil back out of the window to let light in. Hmmm...light or heat. What a choice! I have not taken the one out of the window behind me yet...and I may not. I may leave it in, especially today, since I will be gone part of the day. In fact, when we go somewhere...on those very rare days that we do...we will often leave the foil in the windows to conserve energy. It is 18F out there right now and I have just shut the blanket curtain. I am thinking of putting the foil back in for awhile because of the cold. The condensation makes it hard to see much out of the window, but it is nice having the light. I also just turned the heater up. :P
On nights when it drops below freezing, taking off the foil insulation sheets can get very interesting. There is so much condensation that forms on the inside of the windows that the foil is often frozen to the window with bits of ice...or even a sheet of ice in the bottom part of the window. The fact that the ice can form is a testimony to how much heat the sheets are deflecting back into the RV. I have to very carefully peel the sheets off.
When it is not freezing, I simply pull the sheets off, wipe off the window sills and squeegie the condensation off the windows. The window frames are made of aluminum, so they act like heatsinks to the outside and the inside of the frames get very cold and condensation will often form on them, too.
When it is freezing, there is a whole other routine I must follow. First of all, the condensation has run into the little holes in the two ends of the window frame and frozen into ice dams. So, the water that would normally drain right out of the track is stuck. Well, if I don't get those holes thawed, the condensation on the windows, along with the melting ice, will overflow the tracks.
Along with that, the window is in two pieces...one stationary and one sliding. The sliding one is on the inside and the track gets very narrow between it and the inside wall of the track. During the night, enough condensation has formed and dripped down to make that little part of the track fill completely, or almost completely, with ice. So any water that drips down from the sliding window will automatically run right over the ice and onto the sill.
Thus starts a whole new routine for the winter. My son has a little experiment kit. OK...now you are probably thinking "huh? What on earth does THAT have to do with winter window routines?" Well...read on and learn! :) In that kit is a little plastic pipette. The first thing I do is fill a cup with very hot water and the pipette.
Now, the size of the plastic tube on the pipette just happens to be the perfect size to fit into the drain hole on the window frames, IF the hole is not dammed up with ice! Starting to get where I am going with this? I very carefully take a pipette filled with hot water and squirt it where the hole is. I keep doing this until I can stick the pipette into the hole. With each squirt, I can get it to go in farther and farther until the ice is melted through and the water can drain. This must be done immediately for the ice on the windows starts to melt as soon as I pull off the insulation sheet.
Immediately after that, I have to go take care of the ice dam on the sliding window side of the track. Again, the tube on the pipette is the perfect size for fitting along the track between the window and the inside wall of the track. Very slowly, I slide the pipette from the middle where the sliding window meets the stationary window toward the end of the sliding window, while gently squeezing out the hot water. I have to squeeze it fast enough to get it out while it is still hot, but slowly enough that it is not just running over the ice and onto the sill. It takes a little practice, but is not really hard to master. In fact, it is kind of fun! I get to be an adult who plays with water and ice! :)
The main thing is to NOT let the hot water touch the frozen glass! THAT would NOT be good!
I just keep sliding and squeezing the hot water into the track all along that side of the window track until the ice dam between the window and the track is completely melted. It takes a few minutes to do this as the pipette does not hold much water. Once the holes are unplugged and the track is clear, I can squeegie away and the water won't overflow. Although, I do have to squeegie slowly on the sliding window because the track on that side, being so narrow, can still only hold a certain amount of water at once.
So, there you have it...ice dams! But what about the frozen hearts? Well, this morning as I was working with the windows I thought about how this can be a parallel to spiritual life.
When the cold winter storms of life hit is my heart kept warm by the fire of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit)? Or am I allowing them to freeze His fire out of my heart? I know that, as I look back on my life, there are many times that I have allowed my heart to grow cold. Thankfully, and only by the grace of Yahweh, I don't think my heart has ever totally frozen. However, I DO know that He has had to warm up my cold heart many times over the years when I have allowed it to get cold due to anger, or frustration, or despair.
My abusers tried to freeze my heart toward God. But they never succeeded! I have always, since the time I was very young, had a heart for God. I was not always able to live it, but I strived for it. And He blessed me in it. Yet, there have been times when my heart grew cold...sometimes due to being blessed...sometimes due to being overwhelmed.
We each have those things that tend to make our hearts grow cold toward our heavenly Abba (Daddy). What is yours? Do you have so much that you don't feel a need for the fire anymore? Are you hurting so badly that, instead of running TO Him, you run FROM Him? Have those who call themselves by His name wounded you so deeply that you have forgotten that He is NOT those people? Whatever it is that temps you to let your heart freeze, please don't let it! Run from the temptation. Ask Him to put that fire back in your heart. And remember that this world is temporary. It is not all there is. And not everyone who calls themselves by His name... are really His!
Are YOU His? That is the key most important question you can ever ask yourself! The answer settles your destiny. Do you think you are His? Make sure! Sha'ul (Paul) wrote:
2Co 13:5 HNV
(5) Test your own selves, whether you are in the faith. Test your own selves. Or don't you know as to your own selves, that Yeshua the Messiah is in you?--unless indeed you are disqualified.
If you are sure, rest in it, for Yeshua (Jesus) said:
Joh 6:37 All those who the Father gives me will come to me. Him who comes to me I will in no way throw out.
Joh 6:38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
Joh 6:39 This is the will of my Father who sent me, that of all he has given to me I should lose nothing, but should raise him up at the last day.
And we have this promise, too, along with so many more!
Heb 7:25 Therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, seeing that he lives forever to make intercession for them.
I will try to write more about our day later...but for now...have a good day from all of us here in our Little RV on the Hillside!
Farewell to Günter Bechly
15 hours ago
4 comments:
Why do you have to de-lice the widows and why do the get so icey
Dear Abigail,
Congratulations on your blog!
You have stepped out in confidence!
I am grateful for your demonstration of faithfulness and for all you share!
Thank you for this spirit-filled message! This very important message has spoken to my soul just now!;-)
I shall continue to remember you and yours in my thoughts and prayers, dear and treasured Sister in Him!;-)
Stay warm and continue in your life of faith!;-)
I wrtie with deep appreciation.:-)
I am so glad that you were blessed by what I wrote and that its was timely for you!
Post a Comment