Winter Weather & Christmas

WEEKS TWELVE & THIRTEEN: We spent the week before Christmas trying to tighten up and cover up. Because of the shape of the house, we had cut four large triangular pieces off the tarps. By taping two of these together, we made two large tarps that we hung from the sill plate over our possessions. These we draped so that if moisture came in, it would run off onto the floor. We also went up on the deck and examined those tarps. We patched with tape the weak places that we found.

That Saturday we received 7 or 8 inches of snow. During a lull in the action, we blew snow off the deck. Frank had trouble coming up the long lane. He went into town and bought chains for his car. One of them came off while he was coming back up, he lost traction, and slid into the ditch--at least on the high side of the lane. After removing the chain that had wrapped itself around the axle, he pulled with John's tractor, and I drove the car up the lane. That night we packed for our trip to Lancaster County.

We started about 8:00 Sunday morning. The worst roads were getting down our lane and off the mountain on the back roads. We saw places with less snow than we had, and places with more. The most was about 18 inches down in parts of Maryland. For the most part the roads were in good shape. Some were even dry!

We spent parts of every day with Frank's dad. This was the main reason that we went there. Frank and his brother Glenn and Dad met with the attorney, and took care of some legal things. We visited with Frank's brothers and sisters and in-laws in the area and ate way too much delicious food. Thursday we also went up to the Reading area and visited friends, relatives, and former neighbors. We were able to attend the Christmas Eve service at Exeter Meeting. After visiting Dad again briefly Christmas morning, we started back here--just as the next storm began. The roads were much worse this time with slush and fog, but we arrived back safe and sound.

Saturday Frank worked on finishing Tonya's guest bathroom. Tonya and her friend had tiled it the week before, and Tonya grouted it while we were away. Frank also hooked up their wood stove.

Now it looks like we will have another week or two of winter weather. I doubt if we will be able to do anything on the house for some time.

WIND, WIND, WET & COLD

WEEK ELEVEN: The title says most of what happened this week. The wind blew and blew and blew. It rained. It snowed. The temps were low during the days and nights, and the wind blew--hard--making it bitter cold. Frank has been working on Tonya's guest bathroom during weather like this. The shower and lighting are functional. The plumbing is ready to attach the stool and the sink. He has added drywall and spackling. This week Tonya painted the room. Her friend will be coming to help her lay the tile floor. (Frank was going to do this until he realized that he did not have the tools needed for the job.) This friend did her own house, and will be glad to work with Tonya on this project.

We keep working on getting the basement dry. We are still having problems with the first floor deck leaking. We had ordered large tarps, and they arrived. We were able to lay them over the deck and place boards and weights on them to keep them in place. It also snowed while we worked on this, so we weren't sure how well it would work. We went out one day and cut one of the tarps to fit, put in new grommets and tied it to the perimeter box. Since the wind was blowing that day, that tarp was not tight, and water came in anyway. Finally, Saturday, the weather was CALM, although cold. We again worked on the first tarp--making it fit tighter. We also blew off the back half and cut that tarp to fit and tied it down. When I looked over there Sunday morning, the deck was flat for the first time all week!















We have made progress on the leaks. The back half was dry. The front half still leaked with the rain we had all day. We think that all the flapping in the wind made holes or weak spots in the tarp. If we have a couple dry, calm days, we will see if that can be fixed.

We did look at appliances and order a washer, dryer, and refrigerator to be delivered in March, I think. Frank heated up the basement and worked on internal basement walls.

Monday was an exciting day! We were able to lay our first log! We have 1/3 of the first row of logs
up.

HUNTING SEASON, RAIN & SNOW

WEEK TEN-- The title tells the tale for this week.

Frank set up his hunting blind on our first floor deck. The weather was miserable--cold and wet. Tuesday evening he took a shot at a doe.....and missed! That's not like him. Neither he or John had sited in their rifles, so it's our theory that it/they were not sited properly. John spent more time out than Frank did. He shot a doe from off the back porch, where it was dry, Wednesday afternoon. He got it, but not where he tried to. (More proof of not being sited in.) This was his first success in eight years of hunting.

Frank was able to put the shed where we want it.

Most of the week was cold, wet, and windy. We tried to work on the house, marking in where doors, windows, switches and outlets were to be placed. The cold and damp made it raw and not suitable to do any thing. We gave up on all but trying to keep water from going through the deck into the basement. Wednesday morning we decided to try tar paper. I tore the plastic off, and blew water off the deck. Frank went for the tar paper. Just as we started putting it on, it started to rain. We finished half of it, getting soaked and cold, but gave up after that. Friday our large tarps came. We planned to put them on Saturday. Frank awoke to snow on our back doorstep (by the radar.) He hurried out to spread the tarps. By the time I woke up and got out, the tarps were on, and so was some snow. I helped with weighting it down.

The next sunny time we have, we will try tying it down around the sides. We would also like to try to do the layout again.


Since the news is sparse, I thought I'd add this picture of our driveways. Notice the fancy "K".