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The Chimney and the Barn Owl…
…not a very good combination. Do you hear that tinkling sound, the sounds of shards of glass falling to the cold, concrete floor? That’s my heart, busted into little bitty pieces. A beautiful barn owl died in my chimney’s water tank duct last week. It started late in the evening. I was upstairs, and the [...]
Continue reading...Basement Window Filled In
2. December 2010
I got this done in the nick of time. Winter is fast upon us. If you recall, I had to close up this window because the original 1855 window had finally rotted away, 155 years later. We have water pipes and some drain pipes in front of this window. It was imperative that I either [...]
Continue reading...Let It Snow, Let It Snow, PLEASE OH PLEASE Let It Snow
1. December 2010
We’ve got rain. Rain rain rain. I hate rain. Rain is my enemy. My property lies in a low spot, surrounded by asphalt parking lots. The water table is very high here… so when it rains, all that precipitation usually goes into my basement. I have suffered through some serious flooding here. The years 2004 [...]
Continue reading...Conserve Water With Rain Barrels
6. September 2010
Rain barrels are DIFFICULT to find!!! Well, they were. I recently discovered a site that has rain barrels for sale. Finally! Rain barrels collect, well YEAH, rain! Although we have had no scarcity of excessive rain here in Upstate New York for the past ten years or so, I do not like all the rain [...]
Continue reading...Is It Illegal to Collect Rainwater?
1. July 2009
Short answer: YES. Long answer: Depends on what state you live, and depends on the outcome of new bills coming through the U.S. Congress, as they seem to making up new and stupid ones every day…. From what I have ascertained so far, it is illegal to collect rainwater in the following states: Utah Washington [...]
Continue reading...Parging The Foundation Walls
29. June 2009
I have been in the process— oh, for about THREE years now!! — of parging the foundation walls of my home. Most new homes since the 60s and 70s have concrete block or poured concrete foundations. But waaaay back in the olden days (as when my house was built), foundations were built from field stones [...]
Continue reading...Winter Woes
12. December 2007
Grr. I don’t know what it is about winter. Our basement has been flooding again! All summer long, the sump pump hardly went off, due to our severe shortage of rainfall. I have to say, I was so thankful for the dry summer. My basement was dry! Now all of a sudden, ever since the [...]
Continue reading...It’s Done!
28. July 2007
Our drywell project is completed! We sweated it out on one of the hottest days of the summer to finish it. I’ll keep the narrative brief, with photos: Below: Filling with rocks. We elimated our “rock pile” with this project. Our rock pile was a collection of various rocks, bricks, broken asphalt, and broken cinder [...]
Continue reading...A Smashing Job
23. July 2007
Today we progressed more on our drywell project. The hardest of the project is behind us! Last week, I bought a very large plastic garbage barrel (I could not find a regular rain barrel) and drilled a 4-inch hole in the bottom side. The kids laid about a foot’s depth of rocks at the bottom [...]
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I’m Rebecca
:) I’m a married mom of four teenage children. We live in Upstate New York. We bought an old 1855 home and acre property, over 10 years ago. We've been in the slow, agonizing process of living in the home while (trying) to renovate it. When I'm not renovating, I'm a freelance writer and blogger.
We've learned to dig a French drain, plant huge flower and vegetable gardens, wire a circuit panel, install furnace ducting, understand the enigmatic complexities of the plumbing system, and more. It's been *quite* the adventure.
You can read more about us here, read up on the history of the home, and read about what we've renovated so far. Thanks for visiting!
- Parging The Foundation Walls
- The Silent Summer: No Crickets, No Peepers!
- Building a Winter Cat Shelter
- The Tempurpedic Mattress Update
- How to Create a Serfdom
- Marg: Yup that was an easy one. Where ever there is a bo...
- blueyes: But does she bring you the items as gifts? I hate...
- blueyes: Hey I have a box of old toys too, mostly from McDo...
- Mrs. Mecomber: Lin-- when we finally got the owl out, it was dead...
- Marg: I am sure there are lots of things wrong with an o...
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31. January 2011
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