Weathering the Weather

Snow is in the forecast. Uggggghhhhh!

I have seen enough snow to last me the rest of the year.  The problem is we have at least two more months of snow ahead of us.  We have been getting hit week after week with major snowstorms.  It has been a major pain managing all of it.

Ross has been a real trooper.  He gets out after every storm and starts clearing it off the roof.  We had water leaking onto the ceilings in two of our bedrooms earlier this month from ice dams that formed on the roof.  Clearing it off is of upmost importance.  Part of the issue is that all our heating ducts run up from the basement and into and through the attic.  The duct then runs to vents in the ceilings.  I guess this was a novel way to run a heating system in the 50s. Novel and inefficient.  Our contractor said that we probably lose about a quarter to a third of all our heat before it ever reaches a room.  What a nice way to spend our money.

We have hired a company to run new duct work throughout the basement to remedy this.  I choked a bit on the price when the contract was presented to me; thank God we didn't need a new furnace as well!  Hopefully this will help alleviate the ice dam issues that we have put up with over the last three years (or at least minimize their effect).  We will still have to clear the snow off the roof as we don't want it to cave in.  We have removed so much this year that you can see that Ross is taller than the roof when he stands on the pile of it.  We are praying for a slow melt off this year as too much melt too quick is going to cause a lot of flooding.

Max has been enjoying the snow.  He likes to run around in it.  He ran out to me on Saturday and fell down in the hole where my leg was (you can see his little head peering out in the picture to the left).  He climbed himself out with a little help from his Papa.  I jokingly told Ross that Max is going to be very confused when all the snow melts as he is right now running around about two and half feet in the air.  He runs right off the porch onto the snow banks, but in reality there is a step down from the porch.  I surely hope he looks before he leaps.  His potty training is going well.  Bootsy and Cloe are still not too happy about his presence.  We keep telling Max that barking at them is not helping his cause.

We officially began our 2011 renovation project.  We ripped out the old linen closet (last weekend) and the tile surrounds (this weekend) in the main bathroom.  I find it funny that there was tile on all the bathroom walls except in the bath/shower alcove.  In there they used a laminated sheet to protect from water penetration.  There was some old newspaper stuffed behind the toilet paper dispenser that I guess they used as insulation.  It was dated 1967; the last major update on this bathroom was over 40 years ago.  We are not surprised.  We plan on gutting the entire room and starting over from scratch.  It will be nice when it's done.  More importantly, it is the last room in need of major renovation.  It will also be nice to not have big projects looming over our heads. Best of all, it's a great way to take our minds off all the snow, and God knows we need the distraction!

Home Ownership, Yay!

Most of the time home ownership is a wonderful thing. Most of the time...

Last night I was sitting on the couch reading a magazine and enjoying time with our new pup Max.  All of a sudden I heard a strange noise; it was water dripping between the main window and the storm window nearest me.  Dripping water is never a good sign.

I got out the ladder and climbed into the attic.  We had several spots where water was dripping down the nails holding the shingles in place.  We had ice dams that formed on the roof.  This did not make me happy as we had cleared off the first several feet of snow nearest the gutters to prevent ice dams from forming.  It didn't help.  The worst drip was over one of the bedrooms (you can see the water spot in the picture).  There was also another drip over the bathroom which didn't irritate me as much as we plan to gut this room shortly.

The problem is that our forced-air heating system runs through the attic and feeds vents that are in the ceilings.  I'm not quite sure why whomever installed it decided on this plan, but I can tell you that it was a bad choice.  Even with the heating ducts insulated, there is too much heat released to the attic.  This causes the snow closest to the shingles to melt and allows the water to collect at the edge where it is easily turned into an ice dam by the cold, night air.  All the subsequent melt runs down to this dam and then backs up under the shingles where it finds it way down the holes from the roofing nails.  Lucky us.

So Ross and I got out the ladder, the snow rake, a shovel, and a hammer and went to town on the ice and snow.  This all started to happen about the time Ross started cooking dinner which subsequently went straight to the refrigerator.  I know that time flies when you are having fun, but I can now attest that it also flies when you are not having fun too.  We finished exhausted at about one in the morning after breaking plenty of ice and having a couple of personal meltdowns ourselves.  I double checked the attic and all the drips had stopped.  We didn't get to bed until close to three (Ross actually finished our dinner which was mighty fine).  Our bodies ache and we are both plum tuckered out.  It was a most eventful first day home for Max.  He actually slept right through all the banging on the roof.   The cats on the other hand were not as thrilled.  I think they believe the admittance of a dog into our midst brought about the wrath of God.  All in all, it was not the way I hoped to spend my Saturday evening.  On the plus side, at least I got to spend it with Ross!

Introducing Max!

The stork brought us a sweet little bundle of joy. He is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi. We named him Max. He is a wonderful addition to our brood of chickens, bees (new ones to arrive in the spring), and felines. Sometimes when you are not expecting it, your heart strings are tugged, and then an addition is added to your family.  Shannon & I both agree, no more inside animals after Max.

The chickens were afraid of him at their introduction. In time they will learn that he will be their watcher.  Corgis are natural herders.

Bootsy & Cloe are still trying to figure out what that little sausage-like thing is. In time they will all have their own rhythm.

We are in the planning stage of the remodel of our bathroom. How exciting! Little Max will be able to help with all the gutting and work. Actually he will probably just get under foot, and be excited with all the stuff going on. As you can see he is plum tuckered.

The house is quiet right now. Phew! Dinner is simple tonight, homemade ravioli with homemade sauce. Off to the kitchen. Have a good evening all!

Take That 2006!

What a day.  We had a Nor'easter that dumped a ton of snow on us overnight and through the morning. The previous single snow record at Bradley International Airport was 21.9 inches set in February 2006. That record was beat today.  The last I had heard there was 22.5 inches of snow, and it was still snowing.  I think it is safe to say that we got between 22 and 24 inches at the house.  I doesn't really seem like a lot when you hear the numbers, but when you're standing in it you know it's a lot.  The picture to the right was taken around 7:00 AM.  You can tell how dense the snowfall was.  I trekked out to the street because I could not tell from the house whether the street had been plowed; visibility was that poor.  The plows were running, but they were not able to keep up with the amount of snow falling.

It took Ross and I about three hours to "clean up" after the storm.  We got out the roof rake and cleared several feet of snow off the edge of the roof to help prevent an ice dam from forming.  I like the look of icicles, but I am not that keen on the possible water damage caused by the ice dam that formed them.  As you can see in the picture to the left the snow drifts were to the top of my legs as I moved around the house.  Next we got out the snow blower and cleared the driveway.  I don't know what we would have done without the snow blower; it is worth every penny we sent on it!  We also had to dig out our cars as the chickens are still in the garage.  Finally we cleared paths to the front and back doors.  All I can say is that I was happy to be done.  Now if I could only get the weather guys to stop talking about the next storm expected this coming Tuesday!

A Welcome 2011

Cluck, cluck (chicken for Happy New Year)

It's been a while since we last posted so let us wish you a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  It is a welcome 2011 given all our loss in 2010.  I should mention that we officially lost our colony of bees.  The repeated bear attacks left the colony small in number.  They froze during the last cold snap of 2010.  An unfortunate ending to a year filled with unfortunate endings.

We travelled home to our families for Christmas.  It was a whirlwind trip moving from one family home to another.  I wish we could have spent more time with each.  It is such a joy to see everyone.  On the day after Christmas Ross' mother got married.  It was a nice ceremony.  Ross' dad also let us know that he would be proposing to his girlfriend on New Year's Eve.  We wish both much happiness.

We ended up visiting an emergency vet with Cloe while visiting my mother's.  She had an impacted anal gland that caused what looked like a boil on her poor, little butt.  They sent us home with some antibiotics. Her spot has been healing well.

On the day after Christmas the East Coast got a whopper of a storm.  Due to the blizzard winds I can't say exactly how much snow fell.  There was practically no snow on the roof, but the drift in front of the garage door was at least a third its height.  I was dreading getting home knowing that the first thing I was to do was shovel a path to the house.  Our neighbor Mike gave us the wonderful Christmas present of clearing our driveway and a path to the door.  All that and he watched the chickens for us too!

We had our family Christmas the morning after we got back and then spent the rest of the week doing something we rarely do; we vegged on the couch.  It was nice to relax.  We also talked about our plans for the new year.  Given that we already had to buy another package of bees we decided to add a second hive to our menagerie.  We added the bird baths Ross' mom gave us to our flower gardens (I had to dig holes in the snow for them).  I also used my Christmas money to purchase an electric control panel for our electric fence (Thanks Rick and Sito).  Speaking of Christmas gifts, Ross's (and my) sister-in-law Teri had me for the family gift exchange.  She remembered the story about me running outside in the morning to put the beehive back together after the second bear attack.  It was mentioned that I was in my nightshirt and boots and all I was missing was a stocking cap.  Well thanks to Teri I now have the stocking cap.  I really do enjoy it.

2010 was a hard year for us, but we still do realize how blessed we are.  Blessed to have each other, our critters both here and gone, and our families and friends.  We are looking forward to a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year, and we wish the same to all of you.