Axel: Its been very mild here also. For stonefruit and pears we've always planted varieties with the lowest chill, and since the quality of these has been exceptional we don't feel left out any and I don't worry about the lack of chill. Apples are not as dependent on the chilling and any apple will fruit here, but the lack of chill makes them blossom much later. This actually works out to our good, as this means they ripen later in the fall where cooler temperatures produce superior fruit. October is still summer here and anything I can do to get them past this helps.

Thank you Kms2 and Jandey! I got plenty of sheets so I just need to get some clothes pins or clips. We're looking at a few nights in the low 40's. It has been raining on and off all day today and barely reaching 60s. So this AM I have moved all my babies (new rooted plants) inside where they will remain through this cold/wet spell. The medium sized plants are safely stored inside the two storage units on the balconies. All I have left are the larger 5-7 Gal plants... and they are all huddled under the covered portion of the balcony. I will cover them w/ a blanket... wish I had some xmas lights to warm them up though. But everything is in storage. Fingers crossed that it doesn't dip below 40!

CE - just found your note and wanted to follow up. At the GC's suggestion, we waited until they were ready for the final coat. They came and did the one room that was separate from the rest of the house. After 3 days of curing, I went in to wipe it down (with a wet cloth), to verify it looked ok. It was a nightmare - not only had pieces of lint and dust gotten into the finish, but they also managed to seal over areas where the painters had managed to drip paint on the 2nd coat - it wasn't a lot of paint, but small drips and smudges permanently sealed under the poly. And they were scheduled to come the next day to do the rest of the 1st floor. I sent pictures to the GC and told him that either the painters or the floor guy needed to verify that all the paint was gone from the rest of the floors before putting down the 3rd coat in the rest of the house and that we needed to meet to discuss what to do about all of the paint, hair, lint, etc. that was already sealed in the poly. I then spent the rest of the night, washing the entire 1st floor on my hands and knees, marking all of the paint, dust, hair, etc. in both parts of the house. The next day the painters came and cleaned all of the paint that was on floors that didn't have the 3rd coat applied. The floor guys came and scrapped by hand all of the places where they had sealed in the paint and where lint and dust landed on the floors. the day after that they came and redid the separate room and the rest of the house. After all of that, there were still a few places with paint in the original room that they had missed. They used a special lacquer pen of some sort to mark over the few spots and you can't tell there's paint under the poly. The floors finally look great, but, I firmly believe only because I spent the time on my hands and knees marking every spot. The floor guys blamed the painters for being so sloppy and the GC for removing the paper covering too soon (before the painters were completely finished, as they had to return about 16 times before we would sign off on their work - lint in the paint (I think they quit cleaning their brushes at some point), areas where they didn't prime the wood before it was installed, so they just painted it, and it raised the grain, so they had to go back and sand then repaint), areas where the switch/outlet covers weren't flush with walls (painters were responsible for finishing the drywall) - and when they did things like just try to fill in around plate covers without removing the covers, we removed the covers and had them do it again. A lot of work on our part, but it seemed to be the only way to get them to do the work correctly. And the GC just left it up to us to identify anything we didn't like. I did get tired have having them come back again and again, but I also knew that if they didn't fix it, I was going to be the one who was going to fix it, because I certainly wasn't going to live with having to look at all of the flaws in their work. After a very long 9 months, we're very nearly finished with the project. Whew...

I think you have some good suggestions above regarding heat. Electrical heaters are very expensive. We had two that used dryer like outlets and they cost tons to use. We also went through many of the cheap electric heaters -- they only last so long before they stop functioning. We live in Southern Ontario, Canada. We have been re-building/expanding our house for close to 4 years. We have lived through all sort of horrible, freezing conditions. We have four kids. I have a long winter coat that gets lots of use inside our home. Having a shower is the worst. Don't forget that poly plastic can make a huge difference for pennies to make a wall more insulated. You can poly over tons, and block off a section of your home with poly as well. A few winters ago, we did rent two propane heaters. They were not that great at spreading heat around the home, and they were expensive too. I do hope you find out your old furnace works. I would certainly get a quote to see what that would cost to fix. The difference in fees to rent another heat source, or pay for electrical energy to heat might be more than the furnace repair. Good luck. I hope your winter is not an extreme one. Carol