Finally have a chance to catch up on some things which I couldn't post or a while. Couldn't post from my phone because Blogger changed the interface and it was incompatible with my phone.
I did ultimately get the whole yard tilled. In multiple places, more than once. Mixed in most of the wood chips and large or excess wood chips went into the compost bin.
Started collecting leaves once they fell but have been diverted multiple times in multiple directions. Had vehicle problems more than once.
Got money together and had power turned back on, as mentioned in last post. Knew some wiring would have to be replaced, as some of it is original, circa 1966 and installed with methods that were outdated in most places at that time. Asbestos cloth wrapped and I believe covered with creosote. Then it turned out that even the newer cables installed before I moved in are just connected to old wiring. In most cases, the third prong on electrical outlets were connected to nothing at all. Could not afford to have the electrician rewire the whole house. Cost around $1000 just to get enough done to get the power back on. So, now I'm in the process of rewiring the whole house and finding some amazingly bad things about the old wiring along the way. Outlets in the kitchen on the same circuit as outlets in the living room. Junction boxes installed under the floors and nailed to the joists. Can't get past the water and gas lines beyond a few feet into the crawlspace and there are cinder block walls which block access under newer sections of the house. So going to have to cut trapdoors in several places. Just make them permanent for any future work. Upgrading everything as I go, adding new outlets on new circuits. New breaker board has capacity to hold up to 30 circuit breakers. I'm going to fill the whole board. Much safer that way. Add some outdoor outlets for different things.
Had plumbing problems. Tree roots growing through the pipes. Used the tiller to dig up the pipes, manually cut the roots back and place broken cinder blocks around the pipes. Won't completely stop the roots but will slow them down. Had to buy some professional plumbing tools to remove roots from inside the pipes. At some point in the future, get a motorized heavy drain snake to run through the pipes once or twice a year. It'll pay for itself in two uses.
Pipes froze again this past week, in spite of insulating the pipes. However, temps went down lower than they have in years couple times this week. As low as 4 degrees F the night the pipes broke. Since then, fixed the pipes, insulated them, had built a crawlspace cover for the electrical work. Had some outdoor carpet someone gave me which I hadn't used yet. Used that to cover the crawlspace cover for more insulation. Also helps the house by reducing wind from getting in the crawlspace.
It will help once I can finally get some portion of the solarium built. Had begun building shelves and such for organizing the house and had planned on getting some portion of the solarium started. That was when all the diversions began.
Planted lots of flower bulbs for spring. Hoping those do better than the seeds have. Dug up all the tomato plants but most are still outside in buckets. Not sure if they'll bounce back or not. For insurance, I'll start seeds in Jan indoors again.
Thanks to weather and soil, pumpkin harvest was really poor this year. There was no corn this whole year. Green beans did well right up to first frost. Kinda sick of green beans for the moment.
Guess that catches things up. Been an eventful few months. Now I need to get some sleep. Have more wiring to do tomorrow.
I did ultimately get the whole yard tilled. In multiple places, more than once. Mixed in most of the wood chips and large or excess wood chips went into the compost bin.
Started collecting leaves once they fell but have been diverted multiple times in multiple directions. Had vehicle problems more than once.
Got money together and had power turned back on, as mentioned in last post. Knew some wiring would have to be replaced, as some of it is original, circa 1966 and installed with methods that were outdated in most places at that time. Asbestos cloth wrapped and I believe covered with creosote. Then it turned out that even the newer cables installed before I moved in are just connected to old wiring. In most cases, the third prong on electrical outlets were connected to nothing at all. Could not afford to have the electrician rewire the whole house. Cost around $1000 just to get enough done to get the power back on. So, now I'm in the process of rewiring the whole house and finding some amazingly bad things about the old wiring along the way. Outlets in the kitchen on the same circuit as outlets in the living room. Junction boxes installed under the floors and nailed to the joists. Can't get past the water and gas lines beyond a few feet into the crawlspace and there are cinder block walls which block access under newer sections of the house. So going to have to cut trapdoors in several places. Just make them permanent for any future work. Upgrading everything as I go, adding new outlets on new circuits. New breaker board has capacity to hold up to 30 circuit breakers. I'm going to fill the whole board. Much safer that way. Add some outdoor outlets for different things.
Had plumbing problems. Tree roots growing through the pipes. Used the tiller to dig up the pipes, manually cut the roots back and place broken cinder blocks around the pipes. Won't completely stop the roots but will slow them down. Had to buy some professional plumbing tools to remove roots from inside the pipes. At some point in the future, get a motorized heavy drain snake to run through the pipes once or twice a year. It'll pay for itself in two uses.
Pipes froze again this past week, in spite of insulating the pipes. However, temps went down lower than they have in years couple times this week. As low as 4 degrees F the night the pipes broke. Since then, fixed the pipes, insulated them, had built a crawlspace cover for the electrical work. Had some outdoor carpet someone gave me which I hadn't used yet. Used that to cover the crawlspace cover for more insulation. Also helps the house by reducing wind from getting in the crawlspace.
It will help once I can finally get some portion of the solarium built. Had begun building shelves and such for organizing the house and had planned on getting some portion of the solarium started. That was when all the diversions began.
Planted lots of flower bulbs for spring. Hoping those do better than the seeds have. Dug up all the tomato plants but most are still outside in buckets. Not sure if they'll bounce back or not. For insurance, I'll start seeds in Jan indoors again.
Thanks to weather and soil, pumpkin harvest was really poor this year. There was no corn this whole year. Green beans did well right up to first frost. Kinda sick of green beans for the moment.
Guess that catches things up. Been an eventful few months. Now I need to get some sleep. Have more wiring to do tomorrow.
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