Solar Powered Cat Warmers on the South Side

We've got solar powered cat warmers!  The windows on the south side of the house are really appreciated by the cats for their warm winter sun beams.  Unlike the windows on the north side, which only let in drafts.  The cats spend the day while I'm at work in the front room, snoozing on blankets in the windows or watching the birds in the pear tree.  

If I can't find the cats there, then there's a good chance they are upstairs in the bedroom soaking in the sun on the bed or on the carpet.  So far, the upstairs room of our house is always warm, even without any heat.  When we were tearing out walls during our house renovations, we knew that removing the walls and doorway from the stair well, and raising the upstairs ceiling, was going to make it hard to keep all the warm air from just rising to the top of second floor.  We did it anyway, so I'm curious to see how the winter plays out.  If we spend all our time upstairs this winter because it's too cold downstairs, we may have to consider some options for changing the air flow.  

I really love the way the upstairs ceiling looks with the sloped wood ceiling and the exposed beams - but what do I do to block the view?  I hang wet laundry up there to dry.  Doh!  Oh well, only when the weather forecast says it isn't a good idea to use the clothes line outside (so practically all winter, right?).  I just can't resist those beams which are perfect for supporting a rod to hold the wet clothes, and all that dry heat and solar exposure dries the clothes well.  

The only downside to this system, other than marring my view of the pretty ceiling, is lugging baskets of laundry up the stairs.  I made a point of storing all our clothes downstairs when we were planning the use of this house, because I wanted, for once, to have a bedroom that didn't include a laundry pile laundry baskets and didn't want to carry laundry upstairs to put it away, and now I find myself taking laundry upstairs and then back down again.   I don't mind it though.  And the cats think hanging laundry in the house is a great game.