Tag: house

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Watching for the Bus

When we moved out here, the idea of having a lot of land for the boys to run and play was one of the top reasons I wanted to get this house. The house itself is really old and needs a lot of work, but my backyard is 40 acres of woods, with creeks and hills, and a large cleared area down by the road where I can put a garden in the spring.

The only drawback to this property so far is that the school bus comes really early to pick up my kids, as they have to be down by the mailbox in the dark during the winter to catch the bus to school. It is only dark for about a month in the middle of winter, and every day that we get closer to spring means there is more light and the days get longer.

I don’t feel comfortable with the idea that my kids are standing by the road in the dark by themselves, so I usually get dressed when they get up and after breakfast I walk down to the mailbox with them and watch for the bus.

This morning it wasn’t so dark anymore and I thought that I might stop walking down to the road with the kids. But they surprised me and flipped out when I suggested it. I think that is kind of cool that they like spending those few minutes together first thing in the mornings. And I could use the exercise, anyway.

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Raccoon’s

Well, with the cold weather here, it’s brought a little family of raccoon’s to nest in my attic. They may be cute, but they are very destructive and I store my holiday decorations and various other things up there.

I called a pest control service that humanely removes the raccoon’s with traps and then set them loose in the wild. I couldn’t see them harmed as some people would do, so this is best. Besides, the kids would not understand if we didn’t trap them, they would be very upset.

They set the traps and caught them within a couple of days. Now that they are out of my house, I have to clean up the mess and fix the hole they made getting in. Time to get to work.

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Busted water pipe

Well, the pipes in the bathroom downstairs froze and one busted. Fortunately for me, it is easily fixed and I can do it myself without having to bring in a plumber this time. Last time I had to have a plumber come out to the house and fix a busted water pipe. That was a bit expensive.

I went to the hardware store and bought everything I need to fix it and it actually didn’t cost that much. So much the better for me. After just a little experimentation and luck I had it fixed in no time. Glad I made sure to watch that guy when he fixed the last one. =)

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Time to decorate the house

Well it is that time again. Time to decorate inside and outside the house.

This year we are building a nativity scene for the front lawn. We sat down last night and drew out our plans for the entire thing and made a list of materials we will need.

I am also going to purchase new out door lights for the yard and house. This will be a big adventure for us and we are all looking forward to it.

I am pretty sure this project will take longer then the kids think it will, but we will have fun with it.

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Working on the house

Well, there were a few spots of cold air coming in the house from outside that we did not detect until the weather turned colder. I thought we had done a pretty good job of weatherproofing the house, but I guess we missed a few spots.

These are easily fixed with a bit of caulking. I just have to run down to the hardware store and get some to take care of it.

We are just about ready for winter. I am rather tired of raking leaves though. :/

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Time to winterize

The time has come to winterize the house and garden. The end of October always means the leaves have turned color and fallen and the temperatures are dropping every night.

We went an procured several loads of manure for the garden and mixed it in well for the winter season. The gutters have been cleaned from most of the fall leaves, and we only have to put new insulated foam around the pipes to keep them from freezing.

I do believe we still have to check the windows and doors for airflow as seals will dry rot from age over time. Other then that I believe we will be set. The rest of October and November will be chopping wood for the fire place and bon fire outside. Busy as always. =)

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I need more room

Our home is rather cluttered and there’s a lot of things I just don’t want to do away with or put in an expensive storage facility.  I think I’ll check into how much it will cost for one of those steel buildings to put behind my house.  They’re a lot better than those wooden ones that can rot and fall apart and will protect our possessions much better from the elements and critters too.