IT'S HOT!!

JUNE 27, 2010




A week ago today we returned from celebrating Father's Day with Frank's family in Lancaster. Frank insulated the Gazebo walls, and then started insulating the bedroom ceiling. He continued going counter-clockwise from there. The process goes like this: First, put up the Styrofoam that channels outside air from the soffits up the roof.










Second, add the insulation itself.














Third, cover everything with plastic wrap.












This shows how the whole venting system works.








With temperatures in the high eighties and low nineties, and humidity nearly as high, we hoped the insulation would keep the house cooler. Both Frank and I have been sweating "showers" several times a day. Even with the door open and the fan drawing outside air inside, the temperature inside dropped by six degrees. That's with the insulation still not complete! It was a noticeable and much welcomed difference.


Meanwhile, I started sanding in the study. If you remember, that was the room that I first stained, and we didn't like the color. I decided to more than lightly sand it, and try to make it lighter. It did. It also made it uneven. So, I put a little of the stain we like on the too light places, to try to make the color more even. That worked better than I had hoped. It is still too yellow, but now not as dark yellow. I added two coats of the clear finish, and called it finished.





I have the Laundry/pantry and our bedroom to do yet. I am waiting for more stain. We ordered more, and, evidently, it came in, but someone else took it before we even knew it was there. Everyone in the store has looked and looked for it, and Frank and I did, too. We have no choice but to wait until more can come in.




I decided to work more on flowers. I harvested, then thinned and transplanted my window box lettuce. I added some trailing plants to the window boxes. I repotted some irises and lilies. Here are the lilies before I repotted them, but after I knocked them down off the deck. I still divided them into three pots, even after breaking some off. I also planted wax beans in the garden.

Tonya has decided that we now have a compound up here on the Ridge. Their pole barn is up.

The new tractor presides inside. It has already taken water down to the hex house for me to water flowers, and brought a large, round bale of hay down from the neighbor's field.

The hay has weathered a year or two, and will now supply much mulch to the garden.