So, the winter prep is pretty much done. After a mostly benign but occasionally grim wait of three weeks for a replacement part for our furnace, we have lovely warm natural gas heat blowing up from the crawl space. Apparently the furnace is 'why companies like these went out of business' - it's 30 years old and should last another 30. Not very efficient, but considering a new furnace is $7k, and the gas cost (excluding delivery - so just the cost of the gas we burn) is about $600 a year, an update that saved half is in no way worth it.
Suffice it to say that new, more complicated furnaces probably don't last as long, either...
I've done some 'yard work' - taking branches and leaves to the dump - so the garden looks ok. Three trailer loads! That's stuff that has built up over the last year and a bit. So the pile behind shed number two is more manageable. I want to get a wood stove in here so we can burn the bigger bits!
I also got gravel for the rear easement, and parking spot at the front. Hopefully that'll help with drainage in the spring. $30 for 'a yard' of gravel - bargain.
Finally, I just put the winter ti/yres on the car. Phew. Forget chopping wood to keep warm! The breaker bar I got last year is a godsend...
So we're all good, snug and cosy in our little house. The final tomato harvest was a thing of wonder - probably over a kilogram of really small ones, not ripe but they ripen up just fine near a banana! Should keep me going another week or two! Yum!
In other news - my house in Texas is tidy and ready to rent, just waiting for the agents down there to find me a tenant... Fingers crossed it won't take *too* long...
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