Shelter

Leave a house shut down for six months and there are bound to be issues. Sometimes it's the little things like discovering a mouse nest among the cook books. Actually, we have very minor issues with vermin this year. One year I discovered a squirrel had gotten in and made a mess of everything in my cupboards.

Other things can be more annoying. Today's plan was to get the kitchen woodstove running. It didn't happen. There's some mostly cosmetic brickwork in the kitchen where the stovepipe enters the chimney. It shifted just enough to pull the pipe out of the chimney and it can't be fixed without tearing out the old brickwork. That's going to be a tedious job.

Good thing the old oil furnace still runs. It's been so long since I bought heating oil that my account was no longer in the local dealer's system. With heating oil prices down it was a good time to get the tank filled. The combination of a mild winter and low oil prices caused the company to be desperate to get me a new account. They even did an oil delivery a week earlier than they first said they could. All I had to do was to suggest I'd go with another company. With the furnace keeping the house warm I can take my time fixing the brickwork for the woodstove.

The house is dry, warm, the lights are on, Internet running, and we've hot and cold running water. There are some little problems, like the water supply line for the downstairs toilet being plugged. I do have a whole second bathroom for goodness sakes. (built back when I was raising 3 daughters) Fixing that water supply looks easier than the woodstove brickwork so it moves up the list.

There are hassles with shutting down a house for the winter, but being able to travel makes it worth it.


-Sixbears