Fail

2/15/15



So much for that. Four days of trying to get out of town (interrupted by Valentine's Day (which was additionally interrupted by a leaky faucet)).




My Grandma has been saving this card for my mom for years! (My mom has a history of kidney stones.) Timing is everything. 2/13/15




My mom went to the hospital on Friday with the worst pain she'd ever experienced. Kidney stone. She's home now and doing fine. Saturday morning I discovered a leak in the kitchen faucet and we spent all day fixing that. Note: This was made possible by the two sinks Elizabeth preemptively scored on Craigslist a couple weeks back. We harvested one of the faucets.




No Fear Elizabeth (and assistant). She just dives right in. No experience necessary. 2/14/15




Today, Sunday, I spent three hours loading the hardwood from the garage. Then we drove to my parents' to load the fridge. We were seconds from lifting the refrigerator into the back of the truck when Elizabeth decided she was too sick to help, which wasn't so much a problem at that moment, but could have meant a round trip drive for the appliance if I couldn't unload it by myself once she and I got to the schoolhouse.

My dad and I loaded it anyway. Padded it with a rug from Leslie. Ratchet strapped it down. Duct taped the flappy bits. Then we picked up scaffolding from the Richardsons'. We were so far behind schedule we arrived in the middle of Laura and Henry's Valentine's dinner (my apologies). They gave us some excellent soup. At 7:30pm and in the dark with no license plate illumination, we got on the road.




So far behind we interrupted Laura's Valentine's dinner for Henry. Our apologies. (But the soup was so good.) 2/15/15




Then the battery light came on. The indicator lights started to go dim. We went straight home and now I'm writing this. I don't know what to do. Everything is ready. I can't bear to unload it all again and lose another day.

(Tomorrow is the fourth day, but it will be used up getting the truck fixed.)




2/16/15



New alternator.

What's to complain about though? We're not stranded on the side of the road waiting for a tow truck. Every year I celebrate Valentine's Day with a woman that laughs at my jokes. My mom is home and on the mend. The schoolhouse is ours and it will wait for us.




Refrigerator, dresser, chest of drawers, 3 kitchen cabinets, counter top, 2 mattresses, scaffolding, rug, 8 bags of ash (don't ask), 500+ feet of hardwood flooring. 2/16/15




8:00pm



My first solo trip to the schoolhouse. E was too sick to go and the truck and trailer were already loaded.

Flip on the power. Ball the newspaper. Kindling. Fingerling. Match. Heat.

There's just enough snow to make it interesting. The truck complained on the way up the driveway, but down shifting and rocking got me to the steps of the porch.



Tuesday Wednesday Thursday




Ten degrees. Windy. I'm less than 12 inches from the stove as I type this. The colder the snow gets, the louder it squeaks underfoot. When I tip the butcher block countertop up on end the snow shrieks.

Standing outside in the dark is spiritual. Orion watches proudly over me. The quiet is something tangible. It is as large as the sky and as tiny as the thoughts whispering in my head. Wow.

The cold is just a period to the quiet. Not even unpleasant. But when the wind picks up it devours all of the senses. 90 seconds with my gloves off and I'm enraged with the frustration of trying to do simple tasks while Mother Nature taps me on the shoulder with a baseball bat.

11:00pm

Three hours and I can still see my breath. Oh, sleep. You seem so far away.




2/17/15



The fire is little more than coals when I get up to check on it, but it springs back to life with fresh fuel. It needs to be fed every two hours or I lose ground.

6:00am

I can still see my breath, but it's noticeably warmer. -2 outside. The fire has died down quite a bit and it takes some coaxing to get real heat out of it again. I'm sleeping in bursts with all of the clothing I packed including two coats and a pair of slippers. I'm on top of ten inches of padding and under a comforter and two blankets. It's not too bad. Only my face is cold. Sunrise in an hour.

8:00am

Twelve hours of fire and I can still see my breath. I think the previous owner's survival strategy involved chopping wood constantly to stay warm. In two short visits this winter we've used a third of the firewood stored in the basement. Keeping the heat on here is a full time job.

It's also rather chilly outside. -6. Almost 40 degrees below freezing. And only 454 degrees above Kelvin.

Of course it's perfectly pleasant upstairs in the loft. I should be sleeping up there, but I'm all set up downstairs...



David helping with the wood flooring. 2/17/15




1:00pm

Elizabeth arrived with reinforcements: Jay, David, and Brie! The five of us made short work of the refrigerator and the remaining wood floor.

Exhausted but satisfied. I'm so glad to have that all done. So good to have our living room and some of our garage back.




Seth, David, Jay, and Elizabeth. Lunch at Peggy Sue's just before heading home. A job well done. 2/17/15




6:30pm

Home. Just finished unloading the junk furniture from the trailer. My hands hurt in so many ways.




Must remember moisturizer. 2/17/15





NEXT POST: With A Little Help From My Friends
Brie tracks. 2/15/15