Ended up doing the next best thing--moved parakeet to bathroom after filling tub up with piping hot water.

Good idea about tough love on the heat...was just envisioning wide, thick straps of plastic hanging from the ceiling over the bar to separate the kitchen from the living room, to provide a walk thru weather barrier.

Another project to ponder is prepositioned tarp tie downs in strategic locations (for various aspects of the roof). Also need to figure square footage for such tarps on garage and house.

Have tornado threat to worry about after ice/snow season is over

At least I won't have to worry about the trees anymore...