I dug a new flower bed last month; several new plants needed space. I suspect it won't be the end of my perennial bed digging ventures. I have big plans. I have enormous plans. Unfortunately I don't have enormous funds to bring them to fruition. Ha! But what I wouldn't do with $50k!! It's good to dream. A heated greenhouse, a porch on the back of the house, retaining walls in the field above, a big round raised garden assembled from rocks, a water feature to occupy the water that needs to be directed away from the house! And more!! Yes, I like to dream.
There are, however, more pressing needs. The oil furnace is on it's last legs and will need to be replaced. I am told it is original to the house: 1974. It looks it. That's some workhorse of a furnace if it's true. Since it's viable days are numbered I decided to buy a wood stove late this summer figuring it can supplement and take over for the oil burner after it has vaporized it's last drop of oil. It's also insurance against power outages. For sure, I've been pretty nervous these past 4 or so years since I got rid of the old wood stove.
It was late when I went in search of seasoned firewood and consider myself pretty lucky to have found some in a neighboring town. It was $300/cord delivered which isn't a bad price compared to going rates. I bought 3 cord and hope they will last till at least February. I bought 4 cords of green wood from my neighbor, $225/cord delivered and will use some of that late this winter if I need to. But I hope most of it will be able to sit out all year for the following winter. I do hope the oil furnace will last all winter, it's nice to get the chill out quickly, early in the day, but I don't want to go through any more than one tank the whole winter. When it goes kaput, I'll have it replaced.
The 3 cords of seasoned wood was dumped in the middle of my lawn, right on top of the walkway. I got one cord stacked on a Saturday then 2 wonderful ladies from the quilting guild showed up to help me stack the rest of it on a Tuesday. How very kind of them. We got it all stacked that day then went in for some lovely bean soup.
On the subject of home improvement, I'm chuffed with myself for replacing the pressure switch on my water pressure tank down stairs. The water pressure started waning last week so I went down to have a look and it appeared the switch was at fault. I could get the well pump to come on if I took a wooden dowel and gave some good taps to the side of the switch. Having removed the cover to the switch, I could see blue sparks when I did this and noticed that the contacts were almost completely corroded. I finally found a plumbing outfit in Plymouth that could replace the switch for me but it would have cost over $400!!!! Can you believe it!? To replace a $32 switch!
I watched some videos on YouTube, went down to the hardware store and bought a switch, a new wrench, and a volt meter. It all looked logical enough on the videos. As long as I didn't electrocute myself, I figured it should go ok. Hence the volt meter. I knew which fuse turned off power to the pump, and there is also a breaker above the switch but I wanted to be extra sure the power was no where near that switch when I started poking a screwdriver among it's screws. It went pretty well; it took me 40 minutes but I took my time and thought it all through as I went along. So my water is under pressure again, but the pressure tank itself needs replacing, I think it is what they call "waterlogged". When the pressure goes down, it starts and stop the pump every few seconds. Not good for the well pump I'm told. I don't think I have the confidence to replace that myself and will ask around for a plumber... with reasonable fees.
The harpsichord has found a new home with a local chamber group. I had the piano moved to the living room and my dining area--which used to be at one end of the living room is now in my old music room. It's nice to have a proper dining room, and now I have more room around the piano for parties and much more room to practice cello. It's all worked out very nicely.
I've been knitting some hats. Currently finishing up the 3rd one... all the same pattern. The first one I made with my own handspun wool in shades of purple and orange, the 2nd is golden colors, and the current one is red and green stripes. The current one will be for around the yard, snowblowing and all that.
I finished another wool applique piece this summer. A wall hanging. I saw a picture of it in a magazine and could not resist. All the applique is hand sewn, I don't care for machine applique too much.
Also on the finished pile is the table runner I was weaving in "shadow weave". It came out nice and I quite like it. A little scare one day when I went up to work on it: I noticed a bit of fray at one location along the edge. Some critter (a mouse) wanted some of my new weaving to start a nest! Luckily, it wasn't anything that damaged the integrity of the cloth but I was somewhat fuming about it.
I made a couple new shopping bags. One is made from a bird seed bag; I've started keeping them instead of throwing them away and the bags are ever so easy to sew up. The other is a bit more involved sewing wise, but the results are worth it. A very sturdy, strong bag with pockets on both sides.
I have noticed that up-close work has become a bit more strained for my eyes as of late so I picked up a pair of rather trendy magnifying glasses for those times when I absolutely must see what I'm doing.
I am just about ready to embark on another quilt--two quilts. They will be my winter projects.
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