Thursday, May 26, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
The Dreaded "Letter"
I knew it was bad....not time for any kind of correspondence from our homeowner's insurance company. Not thick enough for policy documents. Just enough paper in there to "notify" us. We're being dropped. After using Liberty Mutual since we moved to Florida in 2002, they are dropping us. They need to make changes in their coverage areas. The hurricanes of '04 & '05 are still affecting them. I guess they're affecting us now too. boy that stinks. It's pretty darn hard to find coverage for a 1915 wood frame house. It will be even harder to find coverage we can afford. We pay $3100 annually now...and from what I understand, that is very low for old house coverage. We get a hipped roof discount (substantial) along with the monitored security and updated systems discounts.Wish us luck!
Thermostat Location Costing Us Money?
I finally figured out why our upstairs bedroom feels so cool - cold actually, when the thermostat is set on 78 or 79...even 80. Our upstairs thermostat is located in the upstairs hallway; there are no A/C vents there, and most of the upstairs doors are normally kept closed, keeping the cool air mostly out of the hallway. The thermostat is reading the warmer temperature in the hallway, so the A/C stays on, and when I go into our bedroom, it is FREEZING (in my opinion, anyway). The downstairs is all open, so this issue does not exist there. What to do? Relocate the thermostat to our bedroom? I wonder if anyone else has this problem? It's hard laying in bed listening to the A/C unit churn on and on all night while I lay there freezing.....especially when I am anticipating electric bills in the $500 and $600 range.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Chickens and No Eggs!
We expanded our chicken coop/run a few weeks ago, in an effort to get the ladies back into egg-laying mode....only two eggs from the older hens since then. What gives? We switched back to Feed Depot's egg layer crumble (Shells did not have the grit and calcium FD's does), and gave them a nice sized area to peck around in....sounds like we need a chicken whisperer...
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Hot Again!!
I won't go into how long it has been since I have posted....I have been quite preoccupied with work, failing banks, regulators, dog rescues, chickens, smart-mouthed teenagers, job searching and driving to my new job - not necessarily in that order.
We haven't done much around to house due to time and money resources. We did have the air handler in the attic (bad idea) overflow it's pan from condensation, with no shut off switch, for MONTHS before the ceiling in our bedroom finally came down on us at 4am one fine morning...so THAT is fixed. Finally painted that ceiling!
We have our deck maybe 80-90% taken down; I never thought it fit well with our 1915 house; I would prefer some patio area off the two back doors, and some "floating decks" around the yard, where we will reuse the Trex boards from the deck. Our backyard is a huge mess....lots of die off from the two previous winter's hard freezes, lots of building materials scattered around, lots of attention needed there. The one thing which is new and complete back there is the CHICKEN COOP. We have 2 2nd season hens (a white leghorn and a NH Red) and 2 pullets(a barred rock and a buff orphington). When they are totally happy, we will get as many as one egg each, every day. They are not always happy. We are learning.
The siding and windows continue to deteriorate; we replace what is in most need. that will never be done, it is forever ongoing. We will need to do some windows VERY SOON. I honestly don't know what is keeping some of them attached to the house. The front porch will need to be rebuilt too. The floors need refinishing. Regardless, this house is our home, not a museum, or a showroom. I hope someday that the "finished project" fairy will visit us in our sleep, and we will wake up to gleaming floors, painted trim, rebuilt windows and new, smooth siding.
We haven't done much around to house due to time and money resources. We did have the air handler in the attic (bad idea) overflow it's pan from condensation, with no shut off switch, for MONTHS before the ceiling in our bedroom finally came down on us at 4am one fine morning...so THAT is fixed. Finally painted that ceiling!
We have our deck maybe 80-90% taken down; I never thought it fit well with our 1915 house; I would prefer some patio area off the two back doors, and some "floating decks" around the yard, where we will reuse the Trex boards from the deck. Our backyard is a huge mess....lots of die off from the two previous winter's hard freezes, lots of building materials scattered around, lots of attention needed there. The one thing which is new and complete back there is the CHICKEN COOP. We have 2 2nd season hens (a white leghorn and a NH Red) and 2 pullets(a barred rock and a buff orphington). When they are totally happy, we will get as many as one egg each, every day. They are not always happy. We are learning.
The siding and windows continue to deteriorate; we replace what is in most need. that will never be done, it is forever ongoing. We will need to do some windows VERY SOON. I honestly don't know what is keeping some of them attached to the house. The front porch will need to be rebuilt too. The floors need refinishing. Regardless, this house is our home, not a museum, or a showroom. I hope someday that the "finished project" fairy will visit us in our sleep, and we will wake up to gleaming floors, painted trim, rebuilt windows and new, smooth siding.
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