This weekend was rather sloshy, so many of our outdoor projects remain unfinished. Teague did get a chance to replace 4 out of 5 broken window panes in the cupola; the last pane should come in some time this week. This is good news, since I’ve been waking up at night CONVINCED that a bat has flown in through the broken windows and is now flying around the room. As of yet, I haven’t been fearful enough to bother getting up or turning on a light, but I do cover my head with a blanket. You can’t get rabies through a blanket, right? (Just kidding, Gram)
Instead of making good progress on our to-do list, we ended up spending half a day at the New York State Fair, and the rest of the weekend recovering from Fair food and puttering away at our favorite rainy day activities. For me, that meant painting. Trim painting to be exact. Oooh, the joys. For Teague, it meant more electrical work. The upstairs hallway and one bedroom are now completely rewired. Only 3 bedrooms and one bathroom to go; piece of cake. Prior to yesterday, we’d never had an overhead light in the hallway – and this one has A SWITCH. It’s amazing the joy such small changes can make. It’ll also result in fewer stubbed toes.
The fall-like temperatures have us nervous. It’s almost September. What happened to our nice long summer? We’re running out of time!
Our must-do before freezing temps list looks something like this:
- Finish the upstairs electrical
- Insulate the outer stairwell wall
- Hang drywall in the hallway and stairwell, including the ceiling
- Insulate as many other outer walls as we can before winter (using blown-in)
- Re-varnish the french doors with a few coats of spar varnish to protect them this winter
The want-to-do’s are:
- Wash all window exteriors (they’re nasty)
- Strip and stain the other front-door (I did the first one last fall)
- Replace the side door with something a little thicker and prettier that actually closes without a rough hip-slam (we have the door already, just need to put it up)
The list goes on, but these are the major ones! Is anyone else feeling that oh-my-god-it’s-almost-winter panic?
Comments, Thoughts, and Feedback
do you two blow in your own insulation, or do you hire somebody to do this? if so, do you have a link to one of your very instructive posts on same?
YES! We have NO BACK PORCH! We have to get one installed before winter and the next three weekends are totally booked. It’s supposed to be highs in the 70s this weekend, and we’ve had nights in the 50s for the past few weeks. Winter is coming way too fast.
Yes! My wife and I were having this conversation last night. We’re figuring that we have until October to get things sealed up better than they are now (weather stripping for all the doors would nice). Usually it doesn’t start getting cold until Oct-Nov, but we’re noticed some changes in the sunlight and weather that are making us VERY nervous. Will there be an early winter this year?
Also, for the first time in years, we don’t have a wood stove or fireplace for back-up heating; we’re one ice storm away from freezing our asses off & we don’t like it.
Panic about winter quickly approaching? Yes. To-do list goes as follows.
1. Finish painting house.
2. Finish painting house.
3. Finish painting house.
4. Finish painting house.
That’s just the top 4.
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