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Cottage Gardens

Pop Corn Farts - Ya think

midnightsmum (Z4, ON)

15 years ago

So, my furnace is finally fixed!!! Yea!!! Over the holidays, I was mostly home, so fed the firebox. However, I am hoping to go back to school; I had the wood stove fired up and went through almost 5 cords of wood. The furnace, is great- - but no way to moistitisrj the air.,

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Comments (8)

proudgm_03
15 years ago
Funny you should mention pop corn farts! We were discussing the Dust Bowl in class one day(high school)and inadvertenly said that it was as dry as a pop corn fart. I then had to explain why a pop corn fart was dry as none of them had ever heard the saying before I must be getting old! My dad had some dandy sayings that I guess I should write down and save for the grandkids.
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thinman
15 years ago
Count me among those who haven't heard that expression, and I'm not sure I catch the logic behind Nancy's message. Can you 'splain it to this Michigander?

ThinMan
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plantmaven
15 years ago
I never heard that either.

k
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aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
15 years ago
You've never heard of a popcorn fart? I have thought the meaning to mean very dry or arid but others attach other meanings to it. The link below gives a few more definitions. A

Here is a link that might be useful: Todays lesson
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midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
Original Author
15 years ago
Annette - lol! I had no idea it had more than one meaning!! And TM, it said it was regional to Michigan!! To us it means dry, referrence how you might be in the morning if you had popcorn for dinner!! And I meant to say humidify the air!! I had a root canal yesterday, and when the freezing came out of my sinus, you'd have thought I had a head cold! With the wood stove, I kept an old teflon pot full of water simmering, and went through about 3 quarts every 12 hours or so. Yesterday I bought a cheap humidifier on sale, but now realize I need something to measure the humidity in the air, although my nose seems to work!! lol.

Another localism I had not heard till I moved to the Ottawa Valley is 'eyeball heat'. This is from the old days, when the 'boys' all gathered at the General Store, and sat around the wood stove, trading lies. They would get that stove so hot, it was said to dry the corneas on you eyes - hence, eyeball heat!!!

Nancy.
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thinman
15 years ago
Yep. I saw the Michigan reference, too, but that area is up in the upper peninsula. That's a whole 'nother world up there and those yoopers don't talk quite the same as we trolls do.

TM
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lorna-organic
15 years ago
Nancy, you can leave a large bowl of water somewhere in your house. The natural evaporation process will create some humidity. My bulbs planted in marbles and water are serving dual purpose. They are humidifying the air, and growing flowering plants indoors during winter. The paperwhites are stinking up the house real good. The scent of these flowers is a bit overpowering indoors.

Man, I'm aghast that you have plowed through five cords of wood! I expect one cord to last me the whole winter (wood stove). I do have a central heater which runs on electricity and propane. I get about half of my heat from the wood stove.

This has been a mild winter in New Mexico, thus far. We've had snow a couple of times, but it didn't stick. This afternoon it is 61 degrees! But when the sun goes down it will get chilly quickly. I have already brought in two armloads of wood in preparation.

Lorna
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midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
Original Author
15 years ago
Hi Lorna, we had a lot of -20C nights before the furnace got fixed. I would wake up about 3 am to stoke the fire, and again, 8 am. If I went out in the day, didn't stoke it a 3 am, or slept in, the fire would go out. Which is OK, if you have a lot of coals, or the flue is still warm, but past that, it is hard to get the fire going again once it's right out. I did have a oil circulating heater in the plant room, so that was a bit of a back-up. I don't want to see the electric bill for December. lol!!

Nancy.
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