awaiting winter?

We are being spoiled by the warm weather lately. It's great, but please don't snow the first weekend in March!  Our daffodils in the woods are way up with buds fully formed. Brad and I took a chance and dug up a couple of clumps from the area across the driveway from the tennis court. He then replanted them in the driveway circle, around the flagpole. According to the experts this is not the right time of year to do such a thing. I hope they survive. If they don't, there are many, many more of the same varieties. If they do, it will look pretty. Can you believe they are already up this high? Of course, these are two early-blooming types.

One of the red-headed woodpeckers has decided that sunflower seed from a feeder is a good deal. This one comes every morning. The photo is fuzzy because of the window screen.

Brad has found a new calling ---- splitting wood. Here he is with one of his new stacks. Pretty impressive! He says now he understands why/how folks who live in the country stay in good shape!

end of january??

Wow there are just a few days left in January. Kelly and Eddie's wedding is 5 weeks from today!  That seems so soon!  I ordered invitations for the rehearsal dinner this past week, and hope to mail them by about the first of February --- so pretty soon!  (They haven't arrived yet)  On Thursday, I found a really pretty dress for the wedding. I'm grateful that was not a huge struggle, since I had postponed the search.

The wedding will bring Nina, Charlie and Evie to visit, and we can hardly wait for that. We Skyped with them last night, and Evie seems to have changed so much in only the 8 days since I had last seen her! She's gaining weight like crazy.

This past week a chimney expert came out to inspect (and clean!) our chimney and two flues. While the living room flue has been used often over the years, the separate flue connected to the kitchen, which serviced a cook stove, has not been used since the 1940s. The expert recommended some repair work for the top of the chimney around the crown, and also to replace the terra cotta "thimble" (new term for me) which connects the kitchen stove pipe to its flue. This will be one of the last expenses directly related to the renovation, one of the last things we planned to do. There is still one more reno task: to install some kind of booster pump to improve the water pressure in the house.

Here's a shot (below) of the top of the chimney. Moss indicates water getting into cracks ---- freezing and expanding/contracting over time will cause problems.

 The photo below shows cracks in the back half of the "thimble."

After these jobs, we will move into a new phase, the maintenance phase.

This morning we had the first fire in our kitchen woodstove. The dogs got real close and curled up on the floor nearby --- Faith in particular loves it. And tonight we have both fire sources running! It't time to start burning some of the wood Brad has been chopping and splitting!

We are looking forward to watching the U.Va. basketball game on TV starting at 8:00 and staying warm!

progress on sources of heat

I came home from Ann Arbor on Thursday (the 19th) ---- leaving behind precious Evie and her parents. We can't wait to see them again in March when Eddie and Kelly get married. I don't travel by myself very often, but over the years when I've gone away, Brad has often completed a surprise project for me while I was gone. This time, when I came home, here is what I found:

 Brad had obtained all the necessary materials, and then assembled the pipe for the wood stove in the kitchen. It is all ready to go. The flue which serves the kitchen is separate from the flue which serves the living room fireplace. The kitchen flue has not been used in at least 50 years. So we are waiting to have an inspection done before lighting the wood stove. I hope that will happen soon!

Then on Friday night, we decided to try out the living room fireplace. This was the first time we have used it since we moved, and the first time since Brad installed a damper and chimney cap --- as well as the first time since the new screen was fabricated and installed.

I'm looking forward to many more cozy living room fires, as well as warming the first floor rooms by using the wood stove.

change in venue

I am not currently in residence at Hanshill. With the birth of our beautiful granddaughter, Evie, on Sunday, our lives forever changed. It was special that Brad and I were spending the night with Eddie in Herndon when we got the news that Nina was in labor Saturday night --- and on Sunday morning that Evangeline Gray Schwarze had made her appearance!

Yesterday (Wednesday) I flew to Ann Arbor to begin a week of doting-ism. Not to mention trying to be the cook, dishwasher and personal assistant for Nina.

Family members are going to help out by "living at Hanshill" in our place over the weekend so Grandpa Brad can join us all here for a couple of days. Hope Faith and Freckles will be good for their sitters.

What a Happy New Year!!

Home heating systems

The week since Christmas has been relatively quiet here. It's nice to sleep late and have a leisurely breakfast.

Today we made big strides on a couple of ongoing projects. First of all, we had ordered a custom-built fireplace screen for the living room. We wanted something that was large enough, and also that would not have to be moved in order to add logs or build the fire. We have been working with Bethel's Welding and they built a screen 60" wide and 48" tall. Today it was installed.

Here's the guy who did all the work attaching the frame for the screen. He had a very difficult time trying to drill bolts into the stone, actually working up a sweat trying to get the job done. He went through both drills he had brought, plus ran down the battery on Brad's as well.

 Meanwhile, Brad and the boss from Bethel Welding stood around watching and chatting. The two guys had to leave, go back and get a drill powered by electricity, and also a clip they decided to put on the doors of the screen.

 Here the boss is holding the screen in place while the worker does some drilling.

 Finally, the screen is in place. We may have a fire tonight!

Another on-going project has been the acquisition of a wood-burning stove for the kitchen. That finally came today, after some transport issues. A lacrosse player from E. C. Glass drove out and helped Brad move the stove into place. Next we're having a chimney expert come out to install the pipe and check out our chimney flues and make sure all is well. (The top is not on the stove)

Also today a guy came to give us an estimate on cutting down a few trees. That will be done in the next month or so.
And in a little while Brad and I are going to meet with the caterers for Eddie and Kelly's rehearsal dinner --- the folks at Main Street Eatery. The wedding is exactly two months away! and I know that time will fly by. In the "small world" department, the guy who was the boss from Bethel's Welding looked familiar to me, and I asked him where our paths might have crossed. None of the places he mentioned rang a bell. But when they came back a second time, he told me he used to work at Main Street, and that is where I had seen him before!

 So today was a busy day. Brad has one more vacation day tomorrow before he goes back to work on Thursday. At least it will be a short work week!