Winter in NH

Aha – the winter has arrived as an icy, yucky mess.

It’s good for New Hampshire so we deal with it.

Coming up soon is the 3rd Annual Pond Hockey Classic. It’s been moved to a smaller lake in Meredith as the big lake, Lake Winnipesaukee, isn’t frozen enough, yet.
A photo from last year – Burlington Free Press

The next weekend is the Ice Fishing Derby with lots of people standing around on a frozen lake, catching fish. That’s us in 2005. And nope, no ice fishing for us!

To each his own…

Meanwhile, below are two photos of some of the birch trees in our yard today. They should pop back up, I hope.

No builders were here today. And, no, the generator isn’t hooked up yet. The power stayed on today, although… there were a few blips.

Oh, yum…

A break from the renovation fun! Not really, but I’ll start with the yum.

Back in the fall, we were in Front Royal, VA to visit Moffett’s cousin Dick and his wife Lorraine. We had a delightful lunch in downtown Front Royal at a place called Soul Mountain. While there, Lorraine purchased a package of their corn bread mix called Boo Boo’s Corn Bread Mix. Gave us half and told us it was delicious. Lorraine is a champion baker so if she uses this stuff instead of mixing/baking her own, then it has to be good. While cleaning out the pantry shelves this weekend, I spied the bag. Moffett was making chili (he really has become quite a cook!) and so I decided to make corn muffins with the mix.

Oh my goodness! Best darn corn muffins we’ve ever had! And along with the chili, was a perfect dinner after watching the Patriots win their game.

Regrettably, the restaurant doesn’t have a web site but they are on Facebook. So, Lorraine, if you’re reading this, I may be sending a request for another package.

Ok – back to the renovating with just a few photos. In one week, we’ve had freezing temps, snow, ice, fog, and today – 40 degrees and sunny. Scaffolding is up. More of the old deck is down.

It’s noisy around here

Moffett and Mike, our contractor, in the snow, this morning.
Those are the 40 ft beams behind them.

Renovating in the winter, in New Hampshire, is proving to be a fascinating experience. And a loud one. There are days that I’m happy to leave and go to work!

We’ve finally gotten a couple of snows and some really cold temperatures. That’s a good thing as the Ice Fishing Derby is next month and so far, there’s not enough ice. There are a couple of bobhouses on the lake anyway – I think they’re nuts.

The work guys are here each day, hammering and sawing and making noise. They’re all bundled up in those insulated work clothes. They’ve told us they’re enjoying being at our house because of all the sunlight, when the sun is out.

The plow guy can only plow part of the driveway due to all the stuff at the top of the driveway. He’s done a great job of working around it.

So – some photos!

 Ryan, our electric guy, installing the box for the whole house generator. He had to shut off the power for an hour this afternoon. Resetting clocks, the microwave, the oven, the answering machine is annoying. The generator will do a “self test” (shuts off regular electric and runs for a few minutes) on a regular schedule and so, we’ll get better at the “resetting.” My computer is on a battery back-up so hopefully, that won’t be an issue.

The guys removing some of the siding for the screen porch floor.

Moffett

The view

Moffett loading buckets in the truck to pick up more sand (for the snow/ice) at the dump .

All 183 (so far…) photos are on Picasa if you’re interested.

https://picasaweb.google.com/105953454981608317254/Dpg?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCN7dtOP02uzGiAE&feat=directlink

Some hiccups…

It’s cold here, really cold.

We’ve had a few hiccups on the project.

The generator has to be moved as it’s too close to the house. The digging guy knew that but the electric guy (he’s young…) didn’t.

The roofers were here until 7pm in the dark and cold on Wednesday night. Moffett called me at work and said, “You need to go to Golden View. You don’t want to come home.” That’s where dad was and I still visit some people there who were friendly with dad (who died 3 years ago, yesterday.)  There was an air compressor in the entry as it was too cold to run it outside or in the garage. We had snow and sleet and **** on Thursday, and the roof leaked big time into the living room. So they were back on Friday morning in the freezing rain to fix it. We had to get someone (our digging guy) here with sand just so they could drive up our driveway. They had to get the snow off the roof before they could work on it. Their clothes were totally frozen. We kept the coffee going and the leak is fixed.

The electric box thing for the generator can go lots of places but we’d like to have it in our utility/storage room. But… That meant we needed to move some water pipes. Our plumber called Friday morning to come over but I told him we had utter chaos going on, so he stayed home. He came today (Sunday). Got everything moved and then sat and drank a beer with Moffett and watched football.

The plumber is someone we met the first month we moved in. Moffett and Kyle were on a fishing trip in Utah and I was “home alone.” Our elderly neighbor, Lloyd, stopped by and I told him I needed to find a plumber as something was dripping in the garage. He gave me a name and number but it was the weekend and really not an emergency (small leak), so I waited until Monday to call. I called on Monday and the plumber’s wife said, “Ohhhh, you’re the one Lloyd has left all the messages about…” He’s a great guy. He’s retired but still does stuff for us. He and his wife came to dad’s Funeral Mass. I really, really appreciate living in our small town.

Here are all the photos, so far…
Skip to the end if you’ve watched this!

https://picasaweb.google.com/105953454981608317254/Dpg?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCN7dtOP02uzGiAE&feat=directlink

The building continues

Wanna waste some time? Go to Pinterest. OMG, good thing it’s winter and we can’t do much outside. Not because of snow, as there’s none, but it’s been very cold.

The work continues and they (the building, digging, etc… people) are fascinating to watch. It’s like a ginormous puzzle and it is all coming together slowly. With thanks to the lack of snow…

The whole house generator…
We haven’t lost power for more than a day but the year before we moved here power was gone for many days. There are days when we can’t get out due to snow/ice. If the power goes, we’re sunk. So, we’re getting the generator. The generator uses propane so… we need a propane tank. We don’t want a tank sitting in the yard so, a hole was dug (took 3 tries to find the space without ledge (rock/granite) preventing the digging of the hole.

The deck…
Our friends, the Dobbs, were here a couple of years ago and Donnie said, “You need a new deck.” It is pretty old, the house was built in 1984, and parts of the deck are pretty rotten. The builder we’re using came out this summer and after walking around said, “You’re not using those steps, are you?” He fixed the steps and now we’re building a whole new deck, with new steps! Very neat (and expensive!!!) part, no more deck post in between the garages. Today, several 40 foot beams were delivered. No more worrying that someone will back into the post and take out the deck! Another plus, this deck will be strong enough that we wont HAVE to get out there and shovel off the snow immediately as the builder says it won’t be falling down.

The screen porch…
As long as we’re building a deck, why not add a screen porch? Moffett was just a tad surprised when I mentioned it but, we’re adding a screen porch! I love sitting on our deck but me and sun just don’t get along. So, shade and no bugs is my idea of “nice!”

The roof…
Since we’ll be putting a roof on the porch, it makes sense to go ahead and redo the whole roof.

French drains…
Moffett spends much time on a ladder in the back yard raking the roof and clearing the gutters during the winter. We’re too old to do this stuff! The gutter will be removed and melted snow and rain will now drip into the drain. Probably with the help of some heat strips in the gutters/spouts. Ice damns have not been fun.

It’s a whole lot of fun – not! But it will be, when it’s done.

Happy New Year!

No profound statements…

I wish everyone only the best in 2012.

(Photo Credit: http://www.voiceable.org)

Merry Christmas!

The tree is up…

The food is planned… It’s just us and my brother, Kevin. Chris arrives on Tuesday. He and Kyle are spending Christmas together in Kansas.

We’re not doing gifts, so there’s no last-minute wrapping to do. Our gift is the dpg (deck, porch, generator).

Meanwhile, the work continues. There’s a reason NH is the Granite State. There are a whole lot of rocks out there. The propane tank hole was finally accomplished on the third try. The tank is supposed to be delivered on Wednesday. The hole for the new deck stairs came perilously close to our septic line coming out of the house.

Sadly, you won’t be subjected to my glee when the daffodils bloom in the spring. I think they’re gone. Kevin says I’ll be singing, “Where have all the flowers gone?” They worked hard though to keep my lilac. I really hope it survives. I think there are a few forsythia that have been lost in the digging also. Oh well.

The footings for the deck and porch are in, along with redoing the footings under the present den/porch.

The guys doing the work are delightful. Even the two who had to be here today in the snow were working hard while trying hard not to slip and slide too much.

We’re just leaving the front door unlocked each day so they can get to the downstairs bathroom (better than having a porta pottie in the driveway). And, we’ve set up a table and chairs in the entry hallway with coffee each morning.

Sunrise yesterday morning. It was beautiful!

Hope your Christmas is simply wonderful!

dpg-12/16/11

dpg = deck, porch, generator

So I’ve learned something. If I do the updates on a page, it doesn’t alert! those of you who are subscribed.

Wanna subsribe? Click on leave a reply. Leave a reply (your email is not shown on the post). Then just below your reply there’s a box you can check to “notify me (you) of new posts via email.”

So, back to regular blog posts!

More photos…

Yesterday at lunch time.

By evening… They even have the door blocked so we can’t fall out!

It was a great day for working outside. Temps in the 40′s.

Hmmm, this is an original post under the den/porch. This could be a problem…

Building a…

We have to replace our deck. It’s old. It’s not going to stay up through many more snow storms. Even the stairs aren’t weren’t safe.

Chris (eldest son) pointed out that the stairs were coming off the deck last spring. He’s a very smart young man but I really thought he was exaggerating.

The builder who came out this summer to look at the deck and help us decide what to do about building a new deck, took one look at the stairs and said, “You’re not using those, are you?” Ummmm, well yes…

He told us to block them off. Stop using them immediately. He sent someone over that week to repair the stairs.

He’s a busy guy and we told him we weren’t in any hurry. He’s also a friend from church. I know builders are having a tough time right now, so we let him know that he was welcome to do other jobs before ours.

Last weekend, he showed up with the plans for – are you ready… new deck and (yippee!) new screen porch.

This has all quickly turned into a massive “get everything done at one time” project.

So – I’ve set up a new page (see, up there at the top?) to post photos of the construction as it progresses. (http://nhmeanderings.wordpress.com/projects-page/)

The projects:
Whole house generator
More parking (if you’ve been here, you know it’s not easy)
Screen porch and deck
New roof

About the electricity…

We’re biting the bullet and getting a whole house generator…

I’d never even heard of one before we moved here. We bought a portable generator shortly after moving in. New Hampshire had a BIG ice storm in 1998, the year before we moved here. And it was not fun according to friends.

We’ve never used the portable generator…

It’s a pain. It’s in the garage and so would need to be pulled to the other side of the house. We have the hook-up for it and that’s where it gets plugged in. It runs on gas so we need to have gas. And to be honest, I think you need to be younger than us to deal with all this pulling and plugging (don’t go there…).

Our friendly electrician, who used to work with his dad, came out this week to meet with Moffett and determine what we should have. So we’ll get the generator and the propane tank(s).

We’ve not lost power for more than 24 hours since we moved here. But, there’s always the chance. It would be different if we were able to get out easily if there’s a lot of snow, but we can’t.

And yup, we knew this when we moved to this house. We love living here and if it takes a generator to keep us here, then, that’s what we’ll do.

2008 Ice Storm