For the Birds

The woods around us are full of a variety of birds. It's our hope this feeder will bring some of them closer into view. We've already had chickadees, nuthatches, titmice, blue jays, ravens, goldfinches, purple finches, downy and hairy woodpeckers, red squirrels, grey squirrels, and chipmunks.

Dining Room Table Progress

Remember those cherry logs we took to the saw mill (see post August 15th) to be turned into boards for a dining room table? Well, they have been kiln dried and are ready to go. Don picked them up today at Lathrops.

Book Nook

This recess in the living room is intended for a built in book shelf. The measurements have been taken and the simple design drawn and it's now in the hands of the cabinet builder. Meanwhile, books and favorite nick-knacks wait in boxes and piles

Wood Shed

The woodshed, started over a year ago, is being finished in time to get the wood under cover for the winter. Pat Reed and Don are making use of scrap wood to build it. I'm thinking it looks just about perfect for a few sheep instead of wood.

Smokin'......not

The upstairs fireplace has been equipped with a fan on top of the chimney to help keep it from smoking. It seems to be working and we can have a smoke free fire upstairs. But, the house is soooo tight it even sucks smoke in around the edges of our closed spring loaded damper on the downstairs fireplace. So...the downstairs fill with smoke. Back to the drawing board. Next try...somehow rigging a box to place the fan on top of both flues. Stay tuned. Clyde the cat seems to be oblivious to any issues what so ever. Guess he doesn't hear those coyotes howling outside.

Hold On!

At long last we have our front porch railing. Very useful for balance.... and help getting up and down slippery or wet stairs.

Spring Loaded

Our 'energy star rated' home is so tight, maybe too tight?, that when we have a fire in the upstairs fireplace, there is not enough air for it to draw properly, so it smokes terribly. Not only that, it also sucks air in from the downstairs fireplace flue (even when it's closed) causing the downstairs to fill with smoke too. The fix is still in progress, which will include a fan on top of the upstairs fireplace flue, and a spring loaded damper for the downstairs flue.....already installed and shown here. Maybe we've taken making our houses energy tight a little too far? We were required to meet certain energy star requirements to get our Hinesburg Town Certificate of Occupancy. The energy police didn't much like us putting in a fireplace from the very start. But with 7 acres of woods and a pyromaniac for a husband, a fireplace was non-negotiable. Plus...winter in Vermont with no fireplace just wouldn't cut it.