Sunday, December 8, 2013

It's a bit chilly and no water



A low here of 8.2*F.  Of course the fire went out during the coldest part of the morning and it was in the mid 50's inside. It's my fault, I opted for heat in the evening & there wasn't room to stuff a really large, fire box filling, chunk of wood in the stove before we went to bed. And of course I oped to stay in bed when the chill (and my aches & pains) woke me up around 3 AM because I was too lazy to go down in the basement and stoke the old wood furnace. For some reason the pump has shut off in the well and there is no water. The pump house in insulated and I have a heater in there. I turned it up. It must not have been hot enough to warm the pipes near the floor.
On the brighter side, we painted the house. When we pressure washed it, it removed almost all of the original paint on the South side (and about 1/8" of wood). The house had evidence of only one original coat of paint, and no primer. It took 12 cases of caulk to seal all the cracks. As the house, which was built somewhere around the late 1800's has no insulation, it was important to seal everything. This had the added benefit of keeping the lady bugs and alder bugs, and starlings from sharing our living space. It is now on the average, about 25 degrees warmer inside when I let the fire die than before.
Update: Water came back on at 11:00am when the temp. reached 21*F. WooHoo! We can flush!












It took almost four week to prep (pressure wash, caulk, and repair wood), land only a few days to paint.
I worked around the bee hive in the upper wall, opting to let them continue to live there as the feral hive has been there as long as I can remember. It would be a major job to remove them, and I can always try to catch them when they swarm.
Last seasons swarm

4 comments:

  1. I sat next to that old furnace with your father one winter afternoon. Wish I would have done it more. House looks good. If I didn't have to open the gate I'd come visit more often.
    I've been looking for my mower. Have you seen it lately?

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    1. As you know, the trick to opening gates is to have someone else in the truck.
      I think the mower is frozen to the ground in the same place you moved it to the last time.

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  2. Nice. Every house should have an upstairs and a verandah!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Ralph! It's not a masterpiece of woodworking, but it shows it's honest heritage.

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