As of about 7:00 tonight, we have HEAT! The boiler man, Mike, and later in the day, Mrs. Boiler Man, worked most of the day today, and we are sitting in toasty comfort, without being burnt up on one side by the fireplace insert.
I am letting the embers in the insert die out, then will clean the hearth and stash the firewood and kindling baskets for looks, not function, in the morning. My day was spent in sunshine and 65 degree temps, painting porch rockers and planting ten dozen daffodil bulbs I grabbed on clearance Wednesday at Lowe's. All the beds are edged with boulders and mulched, too.
Decided that today was prime for paint drying and digging...the pomegranates are set in a row in the front yard and mulched, which is the last pottedcstuff i had on hand. I have found a taker for all the plants pots I have emptied this summer and fall. Boiler Man's daughter wants to start a greenhouse. I plan to bag and haul them there tomorrow, when I run out for groceries and to pay them for this install.
Tomorrow is supposed to be forty and very windy. All the beds need lime, fertilizer and watering. I am hoping for a tall, bearded helper to materialize, sinc ei tried not to ask for anything but one load of boulders all day long today.
The whole house needs a dust and vacuum, after all this tromping through the last couple of weeks. I plan to start there in the morning, and hopefully move outdoors for the nutrient and water pass, before we leave for the Real World.
Today was the last big deal we had to get done to have the house mind itself for a few days, while we are working away from here. We are hoping the heat will hold up for three days at a stretch, between our overnights here. This is a big learning curve for us...and will take a lot of experimentation.
Mike and I have agreed that we can talk more easily about Jenna and our lives here than there. If this work and expense is what it takes to help us deal with her leaving and us staying, then it is energy and other resources well spent.
