Yesterday Paul informed us that there was a tree lying across the creek.  ‘Thing was big, and with a little less patting of the backs, we got that straightened out, too–mostly Paul, really, and just the creek part.  There’s still about twenty feet of dead tree in the woods, just lyin’ there laughing at us.

Here’s hoping the creek flows free this spring.

-Paul

“Now what?”

“Slope”

“Leaf” (Couldn’t think of a better name.)

“In Wait” — I had gone to check up on my favorite crab spider when this little fly landed on the leaf above him.

“Cosmo Leaf”

- Paul

Naomi also spotted a small Praying Mantis, got a shot of him too:

-Paul

But I don’t have the photographic skills to back up that claim.

I spend a lot of the mornings when the kids are independently studying, lurking around the windows with the book and binoculars close by. Five years ago I wouldn’t have known a Cardinal from a Robin’s underside, but now it’s my personal goal to spot and identify every single one–resident or migratory. When someone else in the family points one out that I haven’t yet noticed, there is a pang of resentment (get away from my window).

Paul got into photography when he was younger, and has always had his eye on the latest and greatest middle-0f-the-road equipment. I admit that I have always complained about the expense and pointlesness of it all…until one day when I commented to Paul that it would be great if you could put binoculars on a camera, and he looked at me kind of weird and educated me about zoom lenses. A great big zoom lens started looking really good to me as I tried to get a closer shot of a house wren nesting in a tree cavity, to no avail. And, we’re taking our first little family vacation this summer, to Glacier National Park…so the bird-watching opportunities will be varied.

So, great big zoom lens it is. All for the sake of some twittery little animals that wake us up in the spring with their infernal yammering and peck each of my tomatoes exactly twice…(sigh)…I pitched in for half the lens with my allowance, and I’m learning the basics of picture-taking. The one he bought has “VR” built in, which basically means it steadies my hands. (I’m sure the other blogger will fill the reader in with the technical jargon, at some later date.) Paul’s probably wondering if he can con me into pitching in for a flash, but maybe he realizes that I don’t really need a flash for most bird shots. Anyway, I’m looking forward to posting some (hopefully) good pictures of birds, kids, etc. that I couldn’t previously capture. Stay tuned.

– Hawtch-Hawtcher

Back… November I think it was, the weather was pretty mild up to that point. The furnace needed its yearly maintenance so we had a local HVAC company out to give it a good once-over. Unfortunately, it was in such bad shape by that point that the technician turned it off and advised us to leave it that way. Every person who had come out to maintain the furnace had told us it was about spent so this was no surprise.

Just a week earlier we got a Home Equity loan from our bank; “Just in case.” Well, just in case now happened. We called around and had two HVAC companies out for estimates. They were two ends of the spectrum, professional clean cut and the local boys. The clean cut sales guy knew his facts, but the local boys sent the owner’s son-in-law, who wasn’t clean cut but really knew his stuff. We walked through the basement and he commented on craftsmanship of the house’s return duct work. Unfortunately the supply ductwork had been damaged by a burst water hose in the bathroom above and torn out, unprofessionally replaced by ugly ducts each running the full length from the furnace to the vent they supply. This will eventually need to be redone.

I was impressed with the owner’s son-in-law so we went with those guys.  It was an alright choice; they did a very good job of installing the furnace but could have done a better job cleaning up after themselves.  Nothing major, but just a little more and it would have been a perfect installation.  Also, we’ve never gotten a follow up call from them.  We spent over $3000, a call asking how things were running would have been appreciated.

The details:  It’s a 90% efficient Bryant with single speed blower.  For purchases like these I usually like to try to get something that’s a little more than we need but not over-kill.  The choices were 80% or 90% efficient with a single or variable speed motor.  90% single speed would get the job done well with out the added expense of the variable speed motor.

So, one more big-ticket item to cross off the list.

The girls have really impressed me with their willingness to work hard with us and endure some discomforts.  One-and-a-half winters without a reliable furnace, during which we kept the house at 55 degrees (the front room with fireplace could reach up to 68), they learned how to dress in many layers.  Rather than complaining, they became grateful for the things they had.  They help around the house more, and some work has become play to them.  I think it’ll be really fun for them to look back someday when the house is fixed up and realize how many projects they were involved in.

There’s more work to do, but because of that we’ve been home more, doing the work.  And so the home improvement has really turned out to be somewhat of a family improvement. 

So here’s how it actually went. Start digging, bright-eyed and chatty. Dig, dig, dig. “Wow–these brick things go down pretty deep.” Dig, dig. “You know, we might have a little trouble lifting those things once we find the bottom.” Drive to Pep Boys to get a tow strap so the truck can pull out the brick thing, but first, shop for a tamper, some clay pots and other seemingly unrelated necessities, swing by the local garden co-op for a load of pea gravel, and stop for a picnic lunch in the back of the pickup. Around 2pm, rig the strap and rev up the truck, which successfully tips the back end up, but does not have the intended effect of getting the brick thing out of the hole. “Better go ask our neighbor if we can borrow his bucket loader and lift out the brick thing.” Walk down the street to neighbor’s, who is unavailable. Stroll back home to survey the progress. “Maybe we can tuck some of the gravel under the tipped end of the brick thing, and then somehow pry the front end up and slide the rest of the gravel under the front end.” Two more hours of head-scratching and hard work with no progress. “Boy, they sure poured a lot of concrete in under the brick things.” You get the picture.

In the end, we decided to smash the brick-and-concrete things into manageable chunks to lift out, replace them with plastic window wells screwed to the foundation, and replace the soil in the holes we had dug. We cleaned up the brick-and-concrete pile. That took care of Saturday. The local co-op is closed on Sunday, so we dug around the second brick-and-concrete thing and then spent the afternoon putting in a couple of hours gardening.

Paul made a couple trips to get topsoil on his way home from work this week, and we’ve spent our evenings unloading the truck and filling in that grade (on one half of the designated area). It took more than a cubic yard just to fill in the one corner, since those brick-and-concrete things were really big.

Today we had to see the new Spiderman movie, so we got that done right away (Paul was able to find a 10am showing). So, bright and early (after the movie and lunch, and picking up the kids at my parents’ who needed help moving a huge roll-top computer desk) we started in digging more and smashing up the second brick-and-concrete thing. Also on the Weekend Warrior agenda was shopping for Carmen’s birthday presents and helping my parents pick up a new box-spring and mattress and deliver it to their home. It seemed very important, too, to mosey around the entire yard seeking out poison ivy and honeysuckle with the Roundup can. Grilled out, ate dinner, put the kids to bed, and…the brick-and-concrete pile is still sitting on the lawn, and tomorrow we have lunch plans with some friends.

I’ll write again when this job is done.

At the beginning of this summer one of my neighbors bought a nice zero-radius riding mower and I bought his old lawn tractor. Prior to this we had been mowing with push mowers, needless to say the riding mower was a very nice step up. Included in the purchase were weights for the tires and a snow plow. Currently the riding mower is in the outside garage with flat tires and a dead battery, getting it up and running has become a pretty high priority now.  I’ve got to admit I have my doubts, but I hope if I get out before the snow is packed I can get enough traction to push it off the driveway.

Anyway, we’ve got people coming out to install a new gas furnace tomorrow (YAY!), I really hope they don’t have any trouble getting in and out on the ice.  I’ll save the details of the furnace purchase for another post.