Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Rain and Sleet, Oh My!!

Sitting here I can hear the sleet hitting the windows, yuck. Hope I can get the car doors open to go to work. The nice thing about all this mess is that I am sitting here in a tee shirt. I am not wearing 4 layers of clothes to stay warm!! Jim had a long weekend and we tried the blown in insulation, went fine. So now the front room, entry hall and part of the stairway have insulation in the walls. The next time he is home for a few days we will rent the machine again and do some more. Jim bought 12 bales of insulation, it is cellulose and uses recycled ingredients, we only used 5 and 1/2 so have some left. He had to enlarge the holes he had first drilled, the hose fit in, but he could not angle it down the wall. It was also very messy, but we think the next time will not be so bad as we have practice. Insulation and the machine rental was less then $100.00, much less then if we had someone do it. He also put in 4 new storm windows, one he got on sale for I believe $35.00 and the others ran around $50.00. The windows have made a huge difference in the front room, before when the wind blew the curtains would blow out like the window was open. This would happen even after I put plastic up and anything else I could think of. So we are making progress for sure. Still do not have wood stove hooked up, need to line the chimney and then we found out we need to insulate the lining before we install it. This will make using the stove safer, will not have to worry about carbon monoxide or overheating. Even with the temps in the 20's the furnace does not run all the time, hooray!!



I thought this sunset was pretty, we get so many beautiful colors in the skies around here. I had always associated that range of colors with the ocean. Just another part of why I love our home here so much.
The girls heard us out in the yard and had to come see what we were doing. This picture shows just how much they have cleared. Not much left for them to eat, but they go out and nibble on the little trees. You can see where they have stripped the bark off. Trees are one of their favorite things. By next year we hope to have all the woods enclosed, they will clear all the underbrush and weeds so we will be able to get in and neaten things up. Lots of downed trees and limbs that need to come out, with the girls help we will be able to do a good job. There is also lots of old farm equipment out there.

Have a wonderful day my friends, I need to go get ready for work.

Barbara

5 comments:

Mary said...

Barbara,

You are going to be as snug as a bug when all of this gets done. We also need new insulation in our home, but it is very costly unless it is a DIY project. I don't think hubby and I are up to that right now.

I received your email and have sent you the address to send the card. Thank you so much for your participation.

Blessings,
Mary

Renie Burghardt said...

Hi Barbara!

I was here early this morning when I saw in my updates that you had a new post, but blogger would not bring up the page. I tried several times and then gave up. Later, my younger son took me shopping and to lunch in a larger town, and we were gone almost all day. Sons are such nice commodities to have! lol.

I'm glad you got so much of the insulation in, and with the new windows, I bet it does make a big difference!

Your sunset photo is beautiful! And I love the picture of the girls helping out by eating some of the underbrush. Doing their job well!

And I read your comment just now, and yes indeed, the tomatoes are ripening nicely in their newspaper beds. Thank you again for the tip. I sure am enjoying the tomatoes in Novemeber!

I hope you don't get too much snow, dear Barbara. Take care, stay warm, and stay safe if you have to drive in the white stuff.

Big hugs,

Renie

Joanne said...

So the goats help to clear the underbrush in the woods? I've never heard of something like that, but what a great & natural way to accomplish this! They look pretty contented with their work, too!

BClark said...

Mary, you and your hubby might want to check into DIY if you have a Home Depot type store. We could have left the machine in the trailer as the hose was very long. The drilling of the holes was accomplished with a special carbide hole bit. The insulation is fed into the hopper, my job. The hose fits into the holes you drilled and is blown in. It really went nicely. If you have a handy friend or neighbor they could help.

Miss Renie, you are so kind. I am glad my tip helped with your tomatoes. I had a nice BLT for dinner tonight.

Yes, these are very contented goats Joanne. Spoiled also comes to mind. They are so funny and gentle. I truly enjoy my weedeaters. The area you see was very overgrown with small trees and weeds. I could not mow there, but the girls have cleared it nicely.

Nancy said...

Snow already? Wow! I clicked on your photos and could see the snow, especially the big flake on your dog's face! Bet they loved the snow!

Your home will be so nice and warm when you finish the insulation project. I really do miss the snow from when I lived in PA.

Your photos of the sunset and your goats are wonderful! I love animals and just know I would fall head over heels for your girls!

I am slowly making my rounds to visit everyone. I have quite a time keeping up, what with working 2 jobs, and this being our busy season for the FL rentals with "snowbirds" coming in for the winter months, and then also the upcoming holiday times, too. I love to visit and see what everyone's been up to...just wish I had more time to visit! Thank you for dropping by!

(((((( HUGS ))))))