I would really like to be able to get that fluffy lady and get her spayed! She does sometimes let me pet her, but not very often of late.
This morning, I tried for a head count and got 29, which is the highest I’ve counted in a while. Not sure what to make of that, but cats will cat, I guess!
A brief update on our plumbing situation. Any time I hear a pump go off, I am checking the basement, even if it’s just the well pump. The septic pump makes a different sound now that the diverter is attached but, strangely, it sounds just like the fan in our bathroom!
There is still a leak somewhere, and I’ve had to top up the filter a few times. Sometimes, the filter cap will be tightly seals. Other times, it won’t be. There was one time I checked when I heard it go off, and the filter was low on water, but there was inflow happening. I waited and watched, and the inflow pressure increased as the water level in the filter increased faster than it drained out, and soon it was properly full and working right.
I updated my brother on all of this. He asked for some photos from different angles, and I figured he was planning to come out and see what he could do about it. Something he did eventually confirm, saying he was going to try something with the “back valve” on the pump. I assume there are valves, but I don’t know anything about what they are or where. I look forward to seeing what he does and learning more about it. Meanwhile, my SIL confirmed that she would be driving my brother out and drop him off, so he can take back their car that they loaned us.
My younger daughter and I needed to go into town to pick up our prescriptions today so, of course, we took advantage of the trip to run other errands.
This meant using the truck. I can’t be using my brother’s car, just because it’s there. I’d used the OBDII scanner last night and confirmed it was still the same sensor that was the issue, so there was really no excuse.
It ran just fine, but I really hate having the check engine light on, and the oil pressure gauge not working.
Our first stop in town was, of course, the pharmacy. My new painkiller prescription was filled yesterday, but my daughter’s was just put on file; when my prescription arrived, they called us about it, asking if I wanted it filled. They never called about my daughter’s prescriptions. They were going to need some time to fill it, so I left her to wait for it and did our other errands. The first was to return that security camera I’d picked up, so we could monitor the septic pump without running up and down the stairs all the time. We never did figure out why it wouldn’t connect to our WiFi.
The exchange was pretty straightforward and quick, so I had time to stop at a grocery store near the pharmacy. It’s not one we normally go to, but it was on the way. All I needed to pick up was butter, but on the way out I’d asked if my daughter had eaten anything, and she hadn’t. It was coming up on lunch time, and I knew she’d been up at around 3am and unable to get back to sleep. So I picked up something for her to eat as well.
That done, I went back to the pharmacy, where my daughter was still waiting. They didn’t have one of the meds as a generic in stock, so she got a name brand, instead. Another, they could only fill half of it. It didn’t take too much longer, though. My daughter used to work at this pharmacy, so she got to catch up a bit with former co-workers.
Since I was able to run our other errands while she waited, once everything was paid for, we were done in town.
This town, at least!
We were starting to run low on kibble, especially for the outside cats, so we made the trip to my mother’s town, next, and to the feed store.
The price on the 40 pound bags has gone up.
The lysine I’d ordered wasn’t in. It’s been quite a while since I requested it, so I was a bit surprised.
From there, we picked up some fuel and headed for home, with a quick side trip to the post office. I was giving one more day for the letter mail that got delayed by the postal strike. If it didn’t come today, I was going to assume it was lost and would have to make arrangements.
I was pretty happy to see that it had finally arrived – but also found a parcel slip. I was not expecting any parcels until next week!
The post office hadn’t reopened for the afternoon, yet, so I couldn’t pick it up. They’d reopen in only 20 minutes, though, so my daughter and I headed home and unloaded. She headed in to put things away, and I went back to the post office, just in time for it to reopen.
This is what my brother and I want to try on the ejector. We can’t use the 100′ extension cord my brother set up when he was going to try his heat gun, as it is for 2 prong plugs. We have two, but they are both in use right now. Once my brother retrieves his car, though, one will be freed up, as it’s currently what his block heater is plugged into. I don’t know that we’ll set that up tomorrow, though. If the source of the problem really is the over saturated soil under the ejector, thawing the stand pipe out isn’t going to do much good. It’ll just freeze again. And we certainly don’t want to be switching from the emergency diverter to the ejector on the pump, if only to have to switch it back again later.
We shall see what my brother thinks, when he gets here tomorrow.
Meanwhile, now that we no longer have a clogged drain from the kitchen sink, and the diverter is mostly working fine, we’ve been catching up on dishes and other cleaning jobs. We still haven’t needed to do laundry, though. I’m still on constant alert for the sound of the septic pump; I’m the only one that can hear it when it goes off, and only when I’m in my office/bedroom, which puts a limit on what I can get done.
I really hope whatever my brother has come up with, works!
I must say, though; it may be a pain in the butt to be constantly listening for and checking on that pump, things are a LOT more relaxed now that both the diverter is working, and that clogged drain is cleared!
Meanwhile, I’m hoping to get a much better night’s sleep tonight, with these new painkillers.
Today, I needed to drive my mother to her doctor’s appointment, but didn’t have to leave until morning.
That gave me a chance to check on our emergency diverter set up that my brother made outside the house, ensuring that things were still sitting where they needed to.
Aside from making sure the PVC pipe my brother found was snug against the house, this is the important part.
The orange tarp partially buried in snow is the end of the insulated tarp covering the septic tank that we did not have to move. It was pulled away from the house, instead. This end gets frozen harder to the ground.
The two lengths of pipe need to be kept straight and slow downwards. At the bottom left corner of the above photo, you can just see the section of chimney flu that is supporting it closer to the house. We used basically what we could find in the dark. They will do the job, as long as things stay where they are supposed to. The shoveled area in the snow will basically become a skating rink.
In the distance, you can see the large flexible hose that was meant to be used. The problem is, it doesn’t straighten out entirely. Ever snake-like turn is an area that water could potentially slow down and freeze. The pipe is about 6″ in diameter, but even that can eventually fill and freeze solid. So it looks like we won’t be able to use it.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Using my brother’s car (and making sure to give the engine time to warm up, first!), I headed out early enough to hit the post office.
Alas, the mail that I’m expecting that didn’t come in due to the postal strike, still has not come in. Nor has anything else. Not even junk mail. The strikers may have been ordered to return to work (as a Crown corporation, the Federal government has the authority to do that), but apparently, that doesn’t mean they are going to actually do their work.
Oh, something I learned about this strike. It turns out that Canada Post has two unions. One is for the regular postal workers we see delivering our mail and in the physical buildings, like in our little hamlet. The other is for the ones that work in the distribution centres and such. Those are the ones that went on strike. So, while regular postal workers still showed up for work, they couldn’t do anything, because the distribution centres were shut down. It was a rotating strike, so every week, a different distribution centre would be active again, allowing for some mail to trickle through. Of course, if it was going from one distribution centre to the next, that really didn’t make much difference.
But I digress.
From there, it was off to my mother’s town and, since I was so early, I swung by the hardware store. After talking to one of the staff, I picked up some reflective insulation. They sell this stuff in sizes large enough to wrap around hot water tanks, to narrow strips that would be wrapped around pipes. Which is exactly what I wanted. I also got a small roll of aluminum tape. I plan to wrap the outflow pipe where it butts up against the house, as that is the area most at risk of freezing. Then I plan to add some between the pipes and the supports. Where the log is, isn’t much of a concern, but the ceramic chimney flu and the brick can both chill the pipe and potentially cause an ice build up on the inside. Just a bit of insulation would prevent that.
From there, I made a stop at the gas station. I didn’t need gas yet, but I knew my mother would be getting her Meals on Wheels today. Though I had a large and late breakfast before I left, she had told me she didn’t like to be eating by herself, with someone watching her. So I picked up some of the potato wedges she likes so much, so that I could snack while she was eating, and she could have the rest with her supper, later on.
When I got to her place, though, she had just finished eating her main meal. So we had some tea while she ate her desert. 😊 We were able to have a bit of a visit before we had to leave, and I updated her a bit on what was going on, and that my brother had lent us their car rather than my SIL driving all the way out to drive both of us around, and that he’d installed the diverter. I’m not sure, but I think she was still living at the farm the last time (and first time) it was used.
We left early to go to her doctor’s appointment, and I’m glad we did. I ended up having to go back to her apartment to get her little folding foot stool. Even though the car is so much lower than the truck, she still needed the stool to be able to get in! That is a definite drop in mobility.
Once at the clinic, we had a long wait, as everyone was being called in late. Once in the examination room, we still had a bit of a wait. When the doctor finally came in, she started off asking if we could move to another room, but then she saw my mother and told us to stay put, she would go get her laptop. It turns out the clinic was having network problems with all the examination room computers, and that was why everything was behind.
So we tried to keep it short. The main thing was to get my mother rescheduled for the MRI we didn’t get to, due to dangerous road conditions. I confirmed that my mother’s file was up to date about her macular degeneration and treatment. The doctor has nothing to do with this, as my mother is being treated at the eye clinic in the city, but as the primary doctor, she is supposed to have all this information sent to her. Then we talked about my mother’s breathing issues. One of her neighbours has asthma and uses a puffer (inhaler), so my mother decided she should have one, too. So could she be tested for asthma?
The doctor just prescribed her a puffer. She explained that she could recommend her for testing, but that is done in the city, and my mother would be on a waiting list for probably a year. Using a puffer won’t hurt her. I don’t think my mother as asthma, but even if there’s just a placebo effect, it would be worth it.
After giving my mother a basic physical exam, the doctor adjusted one of her dosages, and that was it. We knew the doctor was behind because of the computer issues, so we didn’t talk about much else. Which is good, because my mother usually wastes time by asking personal questions, or bringing up issues that she has… opinions on, shall we say.
My mother wasn’t due for any bloodwork, but the doctor did want to see her again in 3 months, so I made that appointment before we headed out.
Since the doctor faxed the new and updated prescriptions directly to the pharmacy in my mother’s town, that was our first stop. I went in while my mother stayed in the car, as it was just too much for her to go in and out. My mother was due to have her bubble packs delivered on Friday, and has started her last week’s current pack, so when I got there, her new packs were already there and ready to go. So that got pulled and adjusted for the new dosage. Instead of delivering on Friday, they will deliver tomorrow. As for the last pack my mother just started, the pharmacist said for her to set it aside and use the new once when they arrive, and the current pack can be brought back and adjusted.
As for the inhaler, it would take an hour before it would be ready, so that will be delivered tomorrow, too. Having been given an inhaler to see if it would help with my own respiratory issues (which we’ve never found the cause of, and I’ve basically given up trying to find one), I was able to explain to my mother how they work and how to use one, etc. She’ll need reminding, of course, but I hope the staff that delivers her meds tomorrow will be able to explain it again.
That done, there was just a brief stop at the grocery store for me to run in and pick up a couple of things for my mother before I took her home. I didn’t stay too much longer after that. I’m glad the days are longer, and I did manage to get home while it was still light out.
In between all this, I was able to send the OBDII scan results on the truck to the garage and he was able to respond. It’s basically the oil pressure sensor again. The one that was recently replaced, and also recently cleaned out because it was triggering the alarm and “shut off engine now” warnings, because it thought the truck was out of oil. This time, it has so far just turned on the check engine light again (though I did clear the codes, so that should be off now), and it why the oil pressure gauge isn’t moving. He told me, even if he replaced the sensor again, it’ll keep happening, because of the weather we’ve been having. There’s really nothing he can do about it. I suppose I could pay him to take it apart and clean it again, but that’s about it.
So really, what I need to be doing is getting the engine warmed up and staying warm long enough to evaporate any moisture in the system and triggering the sensor. It’ll resolve itself as things warm up again, as there won’t be that build up of moisture anymore.
I don’t need to go anywhere tomorrow, and it’s supposed to be a bit warmer, so I’ll run the engine while I’m outside.
Which leads me to my phone call with my brother this evening.
I’d sent the pictures he took to the company that installed the ejector, and the response was the same. The pump isn’t pushing out the water fast enough to create the pressure needed. This frustrated my brother to know end, because he knows the pump is pushing fine. As for how long it takes to drain the tank, he told me that 5 minutes is about right, because our tank is about twice the size of most other tanks. It’s huge. I was so young when it was installed, I was probably not allowed to go anywhere near it at the time.
Plus, that ice wall on the sheet of metal roof the ejector expels the water onto shows just how far and how strong the flow of water is.
Or was.
I know I’ve described the ejector system before, but my brother sent me some info with a diagram. The image was a pdf and terrible pixelated, but I think I got a decent screen cap of it.
I don’t know if ours is from this company, but it’s the exact same design.
With our new ejector, it’s about 2′ above ground, so about 8′ is below ground. I think the original was more like 12′ based on how much more was above ground than the new one. The venturi pipe – the discharge pipe, in the diagram – should never stay full once the pump shuts off. Once installed, the venturi pipe can be (carefully!) removed and replaced, which is what we were supposed to do after using enough hot water to thaw the ice and free it.
One of the things my brother brought up again was electric heat tape. There are all kinds of heat tape, and my husband had sent me a link for one that he’d found on Amazon. As my brother voiced concerns that, if we did try to use heat tape to thaw the above ground portion of the 4″ stand pipe, it might melt the plastic, I sent him the link. It is safe for both metal and plastic pipes, and self regulating. It’s also available in a huge range of lengths. He estimated that a 12′ length would be enough to wrap around the pipe, up to the elbow coming out of the cap. It was affordable, so I ordered it. It’s estimated to arrive on the 17th, though, so we have other things to try.
One of the things my brother thinks is a contributing factor is the new location of the ejector. The old one was about 10-15 feet away, and had a big willow overhanging it. The willow may have protected it from the elements (even though the roots were probably why it was starting to lean backwards and eventually start leaking). Right now, the ejector may be in full sunlight, but it is completely exposed to the winds we get. With the temperatures we’ve had lately, that could be a contributing factor so a slow freeze happening, and to the slow flow I was seeing in the filter. As long as some water was getting through, it wasn’t freezing completely, though, and just building up. I have a theory. The night before I discovered no flow was happening at all anymore, the septic pump had not gone off at all. Normally, between the 4 of us, plus my older daughter working at night, there’s plenty of toilet flushing, dish washing and even at least one shower. That didn’t happen, and it may have allowed for the stand pipe to finally freeze solid, and the venturi (discharge) pipe along with it.
I had already been thinking that, in the spring, I would need to put some sort of fence around the new ejector. Being so much lower to the ground, the renters cows out traipse right over it, even with the metal sheet butted up against it to divert the flow of water. My brother was thinking we’d need to build some kind of semi-permanent shelter over or around it, to protect it from the element in winter. I say “semi-permanent” as we need to assume that, some day, it will need to have work done on it, and we’d need to be able to move it.
At one point, I thought of the catio. It has a clear roof and is wrapped in plastic, making it almost a mini greenhouse. It would fit over the ejector.
Then I remembered the metal sheet. It couldn’t fit on top of that, since it has a curl to it that ensures the water flows away, and not off the sides.
But, there was possibilities.
So, while we wait for the heat tape to arrive, we need to see if we can find something we can use to build a shelter over it for this winter. My brother thinks a couple of pallets set up as a V around it, then something on top, would do the trick. We have no pallets, but he’s sure he brought some. There might also be some scrap plywood we could find somewhere.
Which means, I have a task for tomorrow. Going through the barn and sheds to see what I can find that could be used to build a shelter over the ejector. Just something we can slap together for now, but strong and heavy enough to not be blown over and destroyed by the wind. Ideally, I’d find something clear for a “roof” and add a little passive solar heat.
Trudging around outside will also give me a chance to get the truck running and see how it does! We’re warming up over the next few days, including the overnight lows, which should help, too. The day after tomorrow, my daughter and I have our joint appointment. It would be good if we could use our own truck and return my brother’s car! They really do need two vehicles.
Well, we’ll see how it goes. There’s not much else we can do!
Meanwhile, our septic tank still hasn’t filled enough to trigger the pump, so we still don’t know if the diverter will actually work, yet. It should work just fine. It’s just that we’ve had so many things breaking down for so long, now, I’m getting pretty paranoid about it all!
With no rain on the horizon and lower temperatures, I finally had a chance to work on the low raised bed with the logs in place. With the winter squash getting so big right now, it was getting to be a “now or never” situation!
These are some before and after pictures. I started on the side facing the high raised bed first. The vines needed to be lifted safely out of the way, and I was able to use the pea trellis to hold them.
I look forward to when we have our permanent trellis beds done. The temporary trellis is fine for beans and peas, but can’t hold the weight of squash vines. The permanent trellis tunnels will be built with the weight of large vines and heavy squash in mind.
Once they were safely lifted out of the way, I went over the path with the weed trimmer, then rolled the 18′ log towards the high raised bed. I did some weeding on the inside of the where the log was, then used a stirrup hoe to loosen and level the soil under where the log was. Then, cardboard was laid out so that part of it was covering the soil inside the bed, as well as under the log. The cardboard got a soaking with the hose, then the log rolled back. I have a couple of 4′ lengths of wood cut for the ends of the trellis bed that ended up not being used. I set them against the high raised bed and the log to both keep the path at 4′ wide, and keep the log from rolling out of place.
Then I took the wheelbarrow and forced my way through the overgrown grass – some of it reached to my shoulders! – to the wood chips. One load of wood chips was enough to lay on the outside of the log, using my foot to press them solidly under, so it won’t roll away, plus some on the cardboard on the inside, too.
Once that was done, I could take the vines down from the netting. The less time up there, the less chance of damage, though some did get damaged as I was doing this. When laying them down, I set them to train them to grow along the sides of the log, rather than into the path. Some of the vines were growing adventitious roots, and I made sure those were over the wood chips.
I had considered not doing the short ends at all, but in the end, I went for it. The squash at the ends are the largest, and there’s no trellis netting at the ends to hang them off of, so greater care needed to be taken to move them aside.
I did the south end, first, using the same process: move the vine, weed trim, move the log, weed by hand, cover with cardboard, soak the cardboard, then put the log back. With this one, I had a rock I could use to keep it from rolling away, as I didn’t have any wood chips left. When returning the vine, I worked it around so that it will grow along the side of the log I’d put the wood chips against.
Then it was time to do the other side. This time, I weed trimmed the path, plus the end, and moved both the 18′ log and the 4′ log at the North end, then hand weeded. This side required more leveling of the soil as there was quite a gap under the North end of the 18′ log. I had just enough cardboard left to place on the ground, then rolled the logs back. This time, I had a wheel barrow load of wood chips ready and waiting, and got that laid out on both sides of the logs. Last of all, the vines were laid down and laid out in the direction I wanted them to grow. It wasn’t intentional, but I ended up with the vines all running counter clockwise around the bed.
What I am not going to do is permanently attached the end pieces to the side pieces, yet. There’s too much risk of damaging the vines. We’ll do that in the fall, when it’s time to get it ready for the winter. Having the cardboard and wood chips down will be enough for now.
That done, I decided I needed to set up a temporary trellis for the melons. Getting the permanent supports isn’t going to happen quite yet, and the melons were starting to make their escape!
Since this was going to be a temporary trellis, I made it closer to the middle of the bed, rather than the outside. I had recently picked up more plastic coated metal supports at the Dollarama recently, in 4′ and 5′ lengths. I set up six of the 5′ lengths along where the melons are growing, then added 4′ lengths across the tops.
The netting I had was quite a bit longer than the bed. After setting the netting in place along the melons, with jute twine woven through along the bottom to hold it in place, the excess height was draped over the top. I didn’t open up the excess length, and wrapped it around the other side.
Once that was secured, the melon vines needed to be trained up the netting. If I’d had some, I would have used more of the 4″ square trellis netting. With the finer mesh, I wanted to make sure the melon vines were all facing the outside, so they can be more easily tended and harvested from. Some of them were so long, I secured them by fixing one end of some jute twine to the bottom, wrapping it around the stem of the vine, then securing the twine high enough on the netting to hold the vine up. Now that they’re set where they are, their tendrils will naturally start grabbing onto the netting as they grow, but until then, I’ll be checking them and training them towards the netting.
It may be a cooler day today than the last couple of days, but it was still hot out there. I’d considered doing more weed trimming around the house when I was done, but I was just too hot, tired and dehydrated by this time. So that will wait a bit longer. Tomorrow is supposed to have a high of 18C/64F, which will be perfect for the weed trimming. Most areas are still too wet, but we might be able to get at least some areas mowed. Unfortunately, the temperatures are supposed to start getting hotter again after tomorrow, but at least we’re not supposed to be getting more rain. We’re still waiting for the yard to dry out enough to finally be able to use the truck to get that tree off the outhouse!
I’m happy to finally get as much done in the garden as I did today, though. With the temporary melon trellis up, there won’t be any rush to get those vertical support posts in place, so we can take more time to do a solid job of it.
When doing my morning rounds, I make a habit of checking various things, looking for fallen branches, weather damage, etc.
This morning, I found this.
This is the back window to the “basement” of the storage house. The cats – and skunks! – use it to get in and out, so we put an old bench we found in the spruce grove under the window to make it easier for them to do so, without knocking more of the glass out. The board was there to keep some of the weather out.
My guess: there was another cat fight that made its way under here, and a cat went through the window with more force than usual. The only thing holding the window frame in place are those hinges in the frame above, and a bent nail on the side.
Since the window was out anyhow, I took advantage of the open space to take another look under the storage house. I’ve taken pictures under there before, but that had been by sticking my hand through the window frame, where the pane is missing.
This is looking straight in from the window.
That massive root is looking bigger than I remember it. It looks like the cats have been rolling around in the dirt beside it, as it seems more uncovered than before.
I do wonder about that metal tub, with all those holes in the bottom.
What I could see – and reach – this time, was the glass from the broken pane that you can just see a corner of, in front of the tub. I got that out, so no critters will get cut on them.
This is looking to the north side. There are three windows there. Once is completely covered, the one with light showing through is protected by a lattice on the outside, and there is a third window near it, where you can just see a bit of light. I can’t tell wasn’t on the inside, but on the outside, there is a bench sheet of what I think it aluminum in front of it. One corner at the bottom is bent outwards, and that is the usual way the critters get under here. What usually happens is, when they get started away from the kibble house, the dash in through that opening in the corner, then come out through the window I’m looking through to take this photo.
In the opposite direction, there is another boarded up window on the south side.
Here, you can see the concrete blocks the house is sitting on. It’s on a double row of blocks, with the outer row lined up with the outside of the building, so there is nothing sticking out. The weight of the house has caused all these bricks to sink into the soil. Because the inner row of bricks are not completely under the house, they are all tipping towards the middle.
There are SO many of these concrete blocks! There’s the double rows holding the house itself up, the pillars supporting the floor, and even loose ones scattered about.
I admit, I’m pining for those bricks. I’m seriously considering crawling under here, just to get those loose bricks! They are incredibly useful. I used to play under here with my late bother, but I’m not quite as small and agile as I used to be! :-D We would go under there, using the remains of the basement steps that are still attached. There is a remarkable amount of space under here. I should be able to move around all right. Plus, I admit to being curious about what else I would find.
My parents intended this house to be moved to a permanent location onto the quarter section the younger of my brothers lives on now, but obviously, that never happened. I guess it never occurred to them that their sons would want to have newly built homes, rather than an old one that’s been moved a couple of times. Now it just sits, filled with old junk and stuff we don’t know where else to put!
As for the fallen window, I just put it back as best I could. I don’t want to board up the window, as the space under here is one of the safe places critters can use to get out of the weather. The cats use it a lot. They go in and out through that small hole in the wood. When we first moved there, there was an old metal pipe running through it for some reason. I think it was there to brace the window or something. The board leaning on the bench will keep the worst of the weather out of where the window pane is missing, but should still give the cats enough space to get in and out easily.
I can’t see this building being moved again, which means at some point, we’re going to have to go in there and start clearing it out and cleaning it up.
Well, for better or for worse, I’ve started working on the door hinges.
This is intended to be a temporary fix, until we can replace the door and frame completely, but I have no idea when we’ll be able to do that, so this patch job may need to last a while.
The first thing to do was to open the door as wide as possible (with a built in closet in the way, that isn’t as far as I’d like!) and place supports under it to hold the weight.
One of the things we’ve been finding lots of, while cleaning this place up, is laminate floor tiles. It’s amazing, how handy these have become. A couple of pieces of wood under the door made up most of the height, then it took 3 of these tiles to get it fully supported where it needed to be. We’ve also used them to put under bench legs and wooden shelves in the basement, to get them off the damp concrete, and so on. I’ve found a couple of cases of these tiles, just in the basement – there are more in the barn. Definitely things to keep, even though they’ll never be used as flooring! :-D
Once propped up, I could remove the screws which, I’m happy to say, were not damaged as I had thought they were. I do not have to replace the screws. I was able to remove 2 of them with just my fingers, and the only reason I had to use a screwdriver for the 3rd one was because it was the offset middle one, where the hinge wasn’t pulling away from the door as much.
The hinge still needed to be pried loose before I could take a good look at the damage. It fits perfectly in that recess.
Because of how close this is to the frame and storm door , I actually got a better look by taking a picture, then with my own eyes!
The damage isn’t actually as bad as I feared it would be.
The next step was to bring out the Dremel to clean out and enlarge the screw holes.
The Dremel just barely fit in the space available, but it worked. I used a couple of grinding and engraving tips; first a small cone shaped one to clear out the holes, then a metal tip to clean out further into the openings than the cone could go.
The wood is so dry, there was smoke coming out of the holes from the friction!
For the wood plugs, I ended up choosing some pieces of lilac branches I’ve still got hanging around. They were already the size and shape I needed; I only had to strip bark off the pieces, then make one end slightly narrower. Also, I will need to pre-drill holes before putting the screws back in, to prevent cracking, and the core of the lilac is already little more than sawdust that can easily be removed. They’re basically already pre-drilled. :-D
I was going to use wood glue to put the pegs in, only to discover it had dried out, so I went with all-purpose glue that I happened to have.
After making sure the pegs fit into the holes, I applied a bit of glue to their ends, then gently tapped them into place with a little bitty hammer I happened to have. With a normal sized hammer, I wouldn’t have had the space to swing, without hitting the window of the storm door.
The pegs will now sit for a few hours before I check the glue and decide to cut the pegs flush tonight, or wait until tomorrow morning. If I can cut the pegs, we’ll be able to close the door most of the way as the glue finishes setting overnight. If not, we’ll be stuck with this all night…
These are the pieces of insulation we’d cut last year, to fit over the inner door, held in place with Velcro strips, to keep frost from forming on the bottom of the door, and ice on the windows. It worked well, but there were some issues with the strips, and we haven’t found a workable alternative, yet. Thankfully, this winter has had only a few days cold enough for the ice and frost to form.
The arm bar is coming handy for holding the pieces in place!
If this works out, we’ll do it again for the middle hinge. That should tide us over until we can replace it all with an insulated steel door and a steel frame.
With the recent rains and the cooler temperatures, I decided it was time to figure out how to burn the rotten wood I had cleared out of the old wood pile.
I had a bit of a conundrum.
The burn barrel was full, along with a bin beside it, but I didn’t want to use it, because it’s so close to the big pile of branches we’ve been clearing out.
The best place do a burn is in the outer yard. After walking around and deciding on the best spot, I hooked up the remaining usable hoses to the one new hose I got. It gave me a total of 150 feet, but it wasn’t enough to reach where I had wanted to set up. I had to set up closer. At least this put me on a gravel base.
I dug out a large metal ring that has been sitting in the spruce grove for who knows how long, and rolled it over to use as a fire pit. Bits and pieces of rusted out metal broke off the inside as I rolled it over that I had to go back and pick up. The last thing I need is to have one of those slicing open a tire. I also found a sheet of metal near the barn to use as a base.
The Re-Farmer 