Winter Prep

It's cold. And by my definition of cold, I mean below 70 degrees. The leaves are turning color... the Halloween decorations are up... and the Weather Channel is talking about naming snow storms with name choices including: Athena, Draco, and Maleficent. Ok, so maybe I added Maleficent. (Maybe I should be on the naming committee.)

All this changing of the seasons means it's high time for some winter prep around the house. First thing's first - the kitchen roof. Last weekend, as you recall, we were supposed to be roofing. Well, turned out to be rainy and windy. Foiled again. However, the past two days it's been sunny and in the 60's. Perfect roofing weather. So, the guys have been working in the evening.... in fact, they're working right now as I type. And I hope they plan on finishing tonight because it's supposed to rain tomorrow and the next day. Thunderstorms. Wind. Lovely.

The chimney would be second priority. Wouldn't you know, the guys were supposed to come out and finish that this past Monday. Didn't end up happening for reasons unknown. We are still waiting for the rescheduling call, as we're just 10 feet away from completion on that one. Mike was so excited, he even got a log splitter and split all that locust wood we got from the Nstar fallen tree in the front yard. Oh well, no stove today Senor Lumberjack Breakfast.

Third priority? Well, while we've got chimneys (chimnies?) on the brain, Mike decided to help out our poor old furnace chimney so it could possibly survive another winter. (This one he built years ago, on his own, before having any knowledge of proper chimney construction. It's a bit of a hack job.) Today, having accidentally scheduled a Thursday off a week prior to me returning to work, Mike decided to really have a look at the thing. And wouldn't you know, upon closer inspection, the chimney had some huge hole in it that was allowing sand to enter whenever it rained. Nearly the entire exhaust was full of sand. No wonder the thing ran like poop and made loud noises whenever it kicked on.

As Mike worked to clear that mess and fix the hole, he discovered dead spiders all over the place and more trying to enter through the same orifice. (Yay vocab!) Great. Sand in the furnace exhaust and another grand entrance for the wolf spiders.

He ran to the chimney store, picked up another couple pieces of pipe and replaced the entire lower portion of the stove exhaust and chimney. Already the thing is running quieter, and hopefully more efficiently too. With a new baby around, we've already had the heat on for nearly two weeks and I can feel the upcoming disturbance in the monetary force... oil is not cheap these days.

Still on the agenda - staining the basement closet doors. That must be done before our Halloween party. (Or bust!) Window bottoms would be nice too... we'll see how things go in the next two weeks!