Tis the weekend

Another fine day, blue sky, fluffy clouds and not too much wind. Jim, my talented husband,
is under the backroom putting in insulation. He is going to seal all the cracks to keep the wind from whistling through. When you walk from the kitchen to the back room it is like going into an ice box in the winter and a sauna in the summer. When this room was added on little care was taken to insulate it, there is bare minimum in walls and does not seem to be any in roof or floor.
Our goal is to have this place be as green as possible, so insulation is a big plus. The radiant heating he put in is working very well so far. Putting up roller shades made a big difference for the heat in summer and I can tell the difference with the cold also.

When I had gone out the other day and found several of our new Maple trees were stripped of bark, I thought deer. Makes me sick, I have hauled hundreds of feet of hose all summer watering them, weeding them and they were growing so nice. Jim was talking to some of the guys who work for him and they say squirrels. Apparently when the sap starts to run the squirrels think the tress are a big treat. I have concocted what I hope is a sure fire cure that will keep those pests off them. I had a couple dozen jalapenos left in the garden so I have run those through the food processor. We are going to wrap the trunks in burlap and then paint on the pepper mixtures and then put chicken wire. I know peppers are used to repel squirrels from the bird feeders so hopefully this will keep them off our trees.

I know there are all kinds of hints out there so will research and see if there is anything else to do. I know to wipe my measuring cups with oil so the honey comes right out and all kinds of little gems like that. Repelling squirrels is pretty new!! As I have mentioned before living here is a constant learning experience. Those ramblings always bring me to the thought of how the heck did the pioneers manage to live out here.

Scratch what I said about the beautiful fall weather, it has done an abrupt about face and is now overcast and the wind has picked up a lot. Jim is still under the back room, but making progress. You can feel a big difference, no more wind pouring out into the basement. He is great.

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