Mid-January, Rain - January 13, 2012 |
October 06, 2009 Cold Morning I wake up with stiff hands now. Can�t bend the fingers all the way for a while. It was 62 in the living room this morning so I turned the heat on. It takes a good while to come up, usually. I�m sitting here in two layers of pajamas, my robe and a hat, thinking we really have to get that pellet stove in. Before we can do that, however, these things must happen: 1. Small chimney must be finished. I had the idea this morning, in the predawn where the moon was casting shadows just like the sun (did anyone else see this? The moon was out ALL NIGHT, watching over us, at least in these parts. Lovely!), that if I was going to varnish just the area under the stove at first, and if there weren�t any visible �seams� caused by doing certain parts at different times, then I could actually do the whole floor except for walking paths and never have to move out of the house while the floor dries. The dining room is essential right now because it leads to the kitchen and the one working bathroom. But I could get a good bit of it out of the way at once. I�ll see if Marc can sand it this weekend. (Gack. Do we have to remove the radiators?) I have rehearsals and gigs all weekend so will be working around that. Plus I�ve already been paid for the first gig, so I won�t be coming away with more than �walking-around cash,� as Dar puts it. Well, better grocery money than none at all. That will improve later this month. Marc and I did a bit of work outside yesterday evening � he taped some exposed electrical connections that would have caused a lot of trouble if they�d swung in the wind and touched each other. It�s where the wires come off the house and bundle up to go out to the pole. I think that�s electric company jurisdiction but it was only a matter of wrapping these joints with black tape, so he just did it. The old covering had worn off. They were also next to the downspout that has to come down and he didn�t want to be messing around near live wires on that job. My brother-in-law will take a lot of risks in his work, even to the point of being cavalier, but he is smart enough not to get electrocuted! He did discover there is already a grounding rod. It�s wired to the meter outside, not the panel inside, which is why he didn�t find it sooner. There is only one, which was up to code when it was put in. Now they want two rods, six feet apart. He said we could leave this one for now; it�s adequate, and we�ll put in another when we replace the tube of wires going up the house. That�s on the list of �projects for another year.� So I can return the two rods that we got at Home Depot last week. After that we took a few shutters down to the basement, and it was the first time I�d been down there since the last rain. There are a couple of large puddles but one place we thought water was seeping in, apparently it isn�t. I had put a bucket under another spigot that leads outside (I have a water spigot on the far side of the house I didn�t know about. It�s not open right now and we don�t want to crack the pipe playing with it, but eventually it�ll work.) to catch a drip, and voila � no more puddle on that side of the basement. Excellent. He also discovered that there is now a leak under the toilet. The wax seal isn�t holding. He said it was no big deal; we put an old bucket under it for now. ALL those pipes are getting switched out anyway. I hope to God that happens this year. After he left I started to make dinner and whatnot, and went back downstairs for something or other. At the bottom of the stairs I was greeted by a beautiful snake, the kind we�ve seen around the property before. I don�t think they�re poisonous or anything, just garden snakes. It wasn�t very big. I didn�t know how to pick up a snake, though, although Marc does it if he finds one. But he wasn�t there and I couldn�t think how to catch it, so I gently nudged it under the stairs with a broom handle for now. Later I talked to M. and he said, �Oh, you just walk up to it and grab it.� I think I would like to see this done before I attempt it. But I have to be able to pick up a little snake if I want to live here. Still � I wish I�d had my camera in that moment. It was really beautiful. ******** I did take a stab at the new bass song last night, though I only had about half an hour in me and I didn�t get terribly far. Don�t know if I�ll have it in the bag by Friday or not. You know what? The world will not end in that case. Tuesday Morning The roof work is scheduled for the middle of next week. Hooray! That gives Marc time to repair the trim board at the top of the mud room first. Back to work now, I suppose. Marc isn�t in today; he�s building a brick walkway from their driveway to the silo. It�s pretty quiet here. |
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