Back from Michigan
I spent 2 1/2 weeks back in Michigan earlier this month to dog sit for my daughter and daughter-in-law as they traveled for their honeymoon. Fortunately, the weather was very mild back in Michigan with temperatures getting up into the 60’s most days. However, I left just in time. It’s been snowing pretty much since I left to come back to South Carolina. Below is a picture from our camera that’s mounted on our pole barn at our 10 acre property in Michigan. This is why we moved to SC for the winters:
Mike was quite busy while I was gone. This post won’t be as picture heavy as most of my posts because, let’s face it, there’s only so many plumbing pictures I can post before everyone starts getting bored, including myself (Mike will probably disagree with me on that :) ). We’re replacing the plumbing, most of which is galvanized steel, with a PEX system. For those of you not familiar, this system utilizes high-density polyethylene tubing that plugs into a pipe manifold connected to the main water source. No need for welding copper or splitting lines from one main source. Each sink/toilet/shower can have a direct connection to the manifold using the red (hot water) and blue (cold water) piping. The piping is much more flexible than PVC and so much easier to work with than copper - not to mention, less expensive. So far we’ve connected the kitchen sink (the water pressure is soooooo much better), the shower that we’re currently using (hopefully our upstairs bathroom renovation will be completed in the next month), the upstairs toilet, and the clothes washer. We’re planning to tackle the 2nd downstairs bathroom this weekend.
Mike continues to repair the roof where water is leaking. Some repairs have been quite successful, others have simply moved the leaks to different locations. But, as my brother put it, at least we have the water “on the run.”
We had a professional come out to look at the boom lift. The good news is, it’s still actually kinda working. The bad news is, for a mere $8000 (minimum!) we could PROBABLY get it repaired. (It cost us $800 just for the technician to tell us this). So we’ve decided to limp it along for now and get as much use out of it that we can. Once it’s completely dead we’ll sell it for scrap metal and purchase something that perhaps has less of a history and isn’t quite so challenging to haul.
Now for our newest challenge: cold! It’s been unseasonably dipping down into the mid to high 20’s, low 30’s at night making the house very cold during the day. Mike installed a furnace (apparently, if they didn’t know it before, all the neighbors within a 2-block radius now know the house is occupied given the expletives coming from the front porch as Mike built the plenum), but it’s not quite doing the job. Night time is not a problem, at least for me - Mike sleeps under several blankets even in the summer. I just throw on a blanket or two and I’m good. But during the day I’m wearing several layers, sometimes even outerwear, to keep warm. In the afternoon, it’s often warmer outside than in the house. So we’ve decided we need to insulate the crawl space and purchase some gas log inserts for the fireplaces that are in the rooms we’re using (not all rooms need to be heated since it’s just the two of us and we have a total of 20 rooms - as well as 10 fireplaces and 5 chimneys). So, the plumbing and heating will be our goals over the next couple of weeks. I will be replacing the runner on our back stairs - my first solo project! Stay tuned!
We continue to meet new people in our little town in South Carolina. Everyone is soooooo friendly here. I believe we’ve found the best little town in the U.S. And everyone is so excited that we bought this house and can’t wait to see what we do with it (no pressure there - the whole town is watching!) We’ve managed to make time to attend some of the town events. There was the tree lighting ceremony last night and tonight is the wine tour. Looking forward to that!
Until next time! Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!