JOSH HUTCHINS.COM

Are you ready for it? I won't give you another lame checklist to help you get ready, but I will say this. It's going to be a very cold winter. That's what all the fortune tellers and soothsayers are giving me. And, according to the letter stuffed in my energy bills from Northwestern Energy and Energy West, our heating costs are going to go way up this year. So don't fart around this time, be ready. I'll tell you what I'm doing. I'm putting about $200 worth of more insulation in my attic and under the stairs against the foundation. Then I'm getting some of that foam weather stripping and putting it around my front door. We have a programmable thermostat, and we'll be setting it on 65 degrees while we're home and 60 while we're gone. Lots of pajamas and robes in the Hutchins home. We'll cook with the oven a lot and leave it open afterward to cool. We'll open the curtains on sunny days so the sun can heat the house. I'm putting down winterizing fertilizer this weekend on the yard. I already checked my tires, and I think they'll make it through the winter. Some things I'm not doing include venting my dryer indoors, setting up an indoor clothesline, and eating beans everyday to generate fart warmth. Fart warmth is really kind of a luxury, so I try to avoid it. It's just excessive you know.