Wednesday, September 23, 2009

The Sun is Coming Out!



Okay...it's time to get outside & do some gardening. The last couple days have been foggy & cloudy with some rain thrown in. Not that I don't appreciate some down time from the garden :-). I do need to get an area prepared for garlic soon and weed around the strawberries & blueberries so I can put down some straw for winter.


I have been very busy inside moving things to the attic that we don't use very often so we have more room on the main floor for working on projects. Also doing a little sealing of the new windows & French door.


Monday I met with Johnny Murphy from GreenHome Solar and set up a time for him to install the Munchkin Boiler unit. Steve & I are going to run all the pex in the basement and put up the insulation in the next month. Can't wait to feel that warm floor on my toes. Mia will love it! She probably won't want to even sit in her favorite chair anymore.


The guys from Heartland Co-op came out too & set the propane tank and then came yesterday to fill it. Ouch! That's expensive. We shouldn't be using too much though with the wood stove as our primary heat source. It will be for the boiler, which is super efficient, and the cook top. At least we won't have to worry about frozen pipes this year.


We had a hard time trying to decide where to put the propane tank. It's not exactly a beautiful thing. Five-hundred gallon, white tank. A big blob in the yard. We ended up putting it behind the also ugly electric service. Now we can fence the area in or do some plantings around all of it.


Tomorrow the plumber comes to rough-in the kitchen sink & run a outside faucet. Not sure when the electrician is coming. Supposed to be this week.


I talked to Lizze Monday when we were getting the mail. Everyone is doing fine. The kids are in school now & Eli and the older kids are working in the vineyards near here and also on some construction jobs.


Last weeknd we went to the Vernon County Fair. It is our third time there. We really enjoy the small town atmosphere. In Illinois, we used to go to the Sandwich Fair (DeKalb County) but like this so much better. You don't have a sea of people to try to get through and they have more animals too.


Steve got another window in on Saturday, which involved moving the existing hole over so it would match the others. That always takes a lot longer since it involves making the hole bigger & cutting & putting up new siding. Two more windows to go, in the front of the barn.

Okay, now I am going outside to tackle the garden...

4 comments:

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

I can imagine that You have lots to do now. Are You moving in there full time when all is finished? Looking at Yoyr pictures and reading about Your neighbourhood almost wants me to move there :-) It sound so great!

I realised that I have forgotten to send Eli and Lizzie the letter I wrote ages ago! I´ll have to write a new one now and remember to send it to them too :-)Tell them Hi ftom me when You meet them would You!
Have a great day now!
Christer.

Anonymous said...

The windows are looking great. Good thing Steve is a handy soul! So good to hear that Lizzy and Eli are doing well. The baby must be getting pretty big by now. Please tell her I said Hello...debbie

angie said...

Barb,

Do you have a date that you guys are moving permanently? You seem to be making great progress!

The Country fair is one of our favs too.

Barb said...

I will tell Eli & Lizzie "hi" from you Christer & Debbie. We don't have a moving date yet. It was supposed to be this spring, but things didn't work out mostly due to real estate slowing down. Well, stopping :-(
Our new target is next year. Putting properties in IL up for sale in the spring unless the bottom drops out of the market (again). We are very anxious!