battening down

There's nothing like a nice snowfall to make you realize that you don't own a shovel.


Also, that nice rake that I bought yesterday is now completely useless. Hopefully we'll have a couple of warm days and the snow will melt so I can rake the yard. Either that or I'm hoping the leaves will rot really quickly come spring.

Let me tell you, there are certain disadvantages to moving into a neglected house just before winter hits. I spent last evening and most of the day today caulking the large ancient windows, and we need to purchase a ladder quickly so that we can install the storm windows on the outside. Until then, there is A SINGLE pane of glass in the windows keeping us safe from the snow, and Oliver the Min Pin has told me that that's not good enough. About half of these windows are so old that they are wavy - they're beautiful to look at. If I were sentimental I might feel bad about the new, energy-efficient windows we plan to install in the spring.

So besides installing the storm windows, there is one badly cracked pane of glass in the mudroom that needs to be replaced, and how can we forget that part of the bathroom window is completely missing its glass, and is instead blocked off from the elements right now by an old floor tile, two toilet paper rolls, and a tiny box that has been squished into the remaining gap?


Then there's the old front door that blew open in a stiff breeze last night, and some piping from the bathroom that's exposed in a cold storage area of the house and needs to be insulated. I could do something about that right now, but I'm too drunk from caulking fumes. Mark says the house smells like airplane glue.

He's right.

In the interest of showing you our new house, here are before-and-after shots of our living room. It's not done - no curtains, half-unpacked mess everywhere, but you get the idea:



The dog are settling in. Arlo LOVES LOVES LOVES the windows in this house. He pretty much just goes from one window to the next, staring out at the world. He likes watching all the activity at the school across the road, but it really makes his day when he sees a squirrel. There's a window just before the bottom of our staircase, and when he goes down the stairs in the morning he stops at that window, with all his legs on different stairs, and stares. We have to remind him that he wants to go for a walk.


I can't mislead you - that pic was not taken in our new house. Those modern, double-paned, well insulated vinyl windows are not mine.