The Old Folks Home

[Perris]

poor you! no power in the big freeze can't be nice

 

[sourland]

Good morning, OF. If your weather is crap, hunker down and stay safe.

 

[CapricornFarm]

NO MORE BABIES!!! Too many chickens as it is. ROFL

I can't believe you could have too many!

 

[CapricornFarm]

The power was out from Tuesday to Saturday a couple of weeks ago. Many are turning in claims to PGandE for spoiled food and hotel stays

Hubby is trying to cram more stuff from the fridge freezer into the chest freezer. He has been using the inverter to keep that cold.

 

[Sally PB]

We're going to get 4-6" of snow tonight. Feeling lucky; 6-10" is going south and east of us.

Right now our problem is that our chimney doesn't draw worth crap, so no fires in the wood stove until we figure out why. We have a pretty good idea: it's an another example of the builder of this house being a face smackingly stupid butthole about some of the design of more than just the chimney.

Rant: We're on the river. The house doesn't have a view of the river. The woodwork (ceiling) in the bathroom was never sealed, so it's gotten mold and mildew. There is no floor drain in the basement, but I guess that isn't uncommon; still, every house I've ever lived in with a basement had one. End rant.

Stay safe, everyone.

 

[Perris]

rant away @Sally PB - get it off your chest - then you can concentrate on trying to fix what the nincompoop did or didn't do

 

[Sally PB]

you can concentrate on trying to fix what the nincompoop did or didn't do

Well... we can't really fix the non-view of the river, other than to go out and look down at the river. The chimney is a "what the hell was he thinking?" arrangement. Rebuilding it is maaaaaaybe in the future; till then we'll deal with our workaround.

Taking care of the bathroom ceiling means sanding, probably. I don't know of any way to clean mold/mildew off unfinished wood. Sanding up above your head... well, that would give my upper arm flab a workout, huh?

One thing I love about this place is the location. Like they say about real estate, location, location, location. It's at the end of a dead end road, last quarter mile is a private drive. It's the right size for just the two of us, a dog, and chickens. We have really good neighbors too.

One day the guy who built it stopped by, out of the blue. He was showing his girlfriend the houses he built (he built the one next door as well). We chatted a bit, me biting my tongue so that I didn't say, "Well, nitwit, why did you..."

After he left, both hubby and I thought that he came off as a major @$$hole. I've since learned he was a real slime wad too.

This house is one of the luckiest things to ever happen to us. We love it out here. If we sold it, we probably couldn't find anything nearly as good, anywhere. I have to remember that on days like today when it's very cold, and going to get much colder.

 

[Perris]

we can't really fix the non-view of the river, other than to go out and look down at the river

knock a hole in one of the river-facing walls and add a window? (not now in the middle of winter obs!)
We are in a similar situation - fantastic spot, substandard house, though in our case that's mainly because the quality of building materials in the 70s was

 

[Sally PB]

Well, to demonstrate the idiot-itude of the builder.... the "room" to the west is the garage! Even with a window, we're too far up over the hilltop to see the river, probably even from the second floor.

All the windows in the house face either north or south. We're talking about putting a wrap around porch on the east side and some windows out that way.

I am rather spoiled by the houses I've lived in long term in my life. The best on was built by my dad, and then added onto by my stepdad. Both were very skilled, even though they weren't builders by trade. And... it was on Torch Lake. Yup. I was VERY lucky to grow up there.

 

[Perris]

sounds like a plan! And maybe convert the garage...?!