Oct. 24-30, 2021

Weather | 10/24, 5.29" rain, 45°, 61° | 10/25, 42°, 47° | 10/26, 32°, 57° | 10/27, 44°, 61° | 10/28, 0.67" rain, 43°, 45° | 10/29, 0.33" rain, 45°, 47° | 10/30, 38°, 57° |

• Sunday, 10/24: Too Tired and Too Wet
  
  • When we woke, lightning and thunder was still active. We stayed in bed for a bit. Dogs and cats forced us up. Rain totaled 4.93 inches over an 8-hour period. Rain water filled the lift tracks left in the lawn. A tiny puddle of water dripped down the side of the chimney and through the sunroom ceiling, which is expected, since the roof is only partially done. Even so, the roof shed water much better than it's ever done since we've lived here.
  • I made waffles that we ate with strawberries.
  • All of my muscles hurt. A pulled muscle in my lowest left rib is excruciating. We turned on the electric heater in the living room and took the day off.
  • Katie called around 7:30 p.m., while in the Anchorage airport. She's overnighting in Fairbanks, then off to Venetie to meet a planeload of roofing metal arriving this week, to finish the village school job. She had a great 2.5 weeks off in Gulfport, MS.
  • We watched the 6th Harry Potter movie.
  • It rained and misted all day. We got over 5 inches, today. It's soggy, so trekking an 11-ton lift across the lawn won't happen for a few days. Northerly wind gusts to 30 mph kicked up after dark. The roof is holding up. It needs some days of drying time before shingles go on. That's good, because my body needs some resting time.
    
    
• Monday, 10/25: Bread Day
  
  • Mary baked 4 loaves of bread. It smelled delightful. She hasn't baked any bread for 2 months.
    
  • While bread dough rose, she made her yearly freezer chart, to keep track of food items. Not only does it inventory food in the 2 large freezers, but accounts for all homemade wine, and acorn squash.
  • I rested a good part of today, then moved the lift. When I parked it, one set of tires were on the lawn. Moving it put an 8- to 12-inch trench right next to our lane and in the lawn (see photo, below). It will take time for the lawn soil to dry before I can use the lift, again.
  • I called Prairieland FS, an ag place between Lewistown and La Belle, which also sells fuel and I found out they have a credit card operated pump for off-road diesel. I found a large plastic funnel that fits into the diesel fuel can, went to Prairieland, and bought 5 gallons of diesel for the lift. It's 40 cents more per 5-gallon jug of fuel, compared to Fastlane, but it's much closer.
  • Mary made a monthly menu and created a shopping list.
  • We watched the 7th Harry Potter movie.
  • Two deer were on the lane, opposite of Bluegill Pond, first thing in the morning.
  • Even after 5 inches of rain, the ground is wet, but not as soggy as it can get, due to the fact that it was dry for several weeks.
  • A windy, cloudy morning changed to a clear, still night and at bedtime, it was 39°, outside. Get ready for our first frost!

  

  A deep rut left from moving the lift.
  

• Tuesday, 10/26: Shopping & Wind Tearing Off Tar Paper
  
  • I poured the 5-gallon can of diesel into the lift's fuel tank. It needs more. We used about 8 gallons Saturday night.
  • The sun was bright all day, which helped dry soils and the lawn.
    
  • We shopped in Quincy, IL. I got United Rentals to extend our use of the lift to mid-November.
    
  • Upon returning home, we saw that several pieces of tar paper are breaking loose in the SE wind. We made the wrong move by using staples, instead of nails, to tack down the tar paper. The ground is drying, but I don't trust its dryness to running an 11-ton lift on it, yet. Wind gusts are 30 mph tonight and tomorrow. The lift cannot be used in gusts over 28 mph. Rain is predicted for tomorrow night through Thursday. It will now rain on bare wood. About a third of the house is now in danger of rain drips. Drying the roof's wood surface will take more time. More time means more money spent on a lift. Redoing the tar paper adds another day to the project. I HATE THIS HOUSE AND ITS DAMN STEEP ROOF!!!!!
  • We ate nachos and watched the last Harry Potter movie.
  • I researched tar paper hold down issues, online. I need to get cap nails to use in the place of staples.
    
    
• Wednesday, 10/27: Moving Belongings & AC Removal
  
  • After checking cap nail availability at Home Depot, Menards, and Lowe's in Quincy, and how many I'll need, I decided to go to Quincy and buy a bucket of 3,000. I need 900, but it's cheaper to buy 3,000 at $27.48, compared to 4 boxes (280 nails per box) at $7.98 each box for a total of $31.92. I bought a bucket of cap nails at Lowe's and a 12-quart plastic dish pan from Menards that we use for watering pets.
  • Mary moved books and belongings out of rooms of the house under the quarter to third of the roof where tar paper is blowing off the roof, because we're expecting rain, tonight.
  • It was depressing to watch big hunks of tar paper vanish off the roof due to the strong SE wind.
  • I removed all 4 window air conditioners and stored them on the shop bench in the machine shed. Doing this tightened up air flow in the house.
  • Around 5 p.m., the wind died, so I started the lift. Mary watched as I tried to drive it onto the lawn. She waved me off as the front tires started to sink into the turf. It's still too wet.
  • Rain started falling at 11 p.m., but it was very light. I went to bed and set the alarm for 7 a.m., with Mary checking for leaks every so often throughout the night. It started raining heavier at 3 a.m. She ended up putting down 2 buckets in the sun room to catch drips.
    
    
• Thursday, 10/28: Bumping To the 6 Inch Rain Mark
  
  • We experienced rain or heavy mist all day. We're .04 of an inch shy of 6 inches of rain for the week and there's a 90% chance of rain tonight and an 80% chance tomorrow. Plus, they're predicting north wind gusts over 35 mph, tomorrow. It could be worse, maybe, if we expected an ice storm. A chance of snow is predicted for next week. No tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, or meteor crashes are in our future, I hope.
    
  • About four 8-foot pieces of tar paper are blown off the roof. Even so, we're seeing fewer drips in the sunroom than when the roof was covered with old shingles. Our sticky ice and water membrane covered all of the holes pounded into the W valley flashing with roofing nails. So, even though rain is flowing into bare plywood at the peak of the south-facing roof, water dripping into the house is at an all-time low. That's how bad it was.
    
  • After house guard duty all night long, Mary slept from 10:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. while I kept an eye on leaks and caught drips with additional buckets. Mary plans on doing another nighttime drip sentry duty, tonight.
    
  • More online research revealed that Sunbelt Rentals has a 4x8-foot item they rent out called DuraDeck. It weighs 87 pounds and when linked together, can support up to 80 tons over grass and sand for a temporary road. I sent them a written message with questions. If I don't hear from them by noon, tomorrow, I'll call them.
  • I drew up a Christmas wish list. After evening chores, Mary and I compared notes and placed part of our Christmas orders. I also sent wish list ideas to Bill and Katie. We hope to finish ordering tomorrow, so there's plenty of time to receive items shipped to us before Christmas.
    
    
• Friday, 10/29: More Rain
  
  • We had another day of continuous rain and mist. Today's and yesterday's rainfall equaled exactly 1 inch. For the week, the rain amount is 6.29 inches. We got 8.14 inches so far this month, a very wet October, which is usually dry. By sunset, skies were clearing in the west, with rain falling on us. On the nighttime dog walk, skies were clear and the Milky Way was very bright.
  • I made waffles, then Mary took a 3-hour nap, after staying up all night babysitting leaks, which weren't as many as last night.
  • I updated the checkbook and did a bunch of online reading.
  • I texted Katie with a bunch of information related to 401K investing advice.
    
  • Mary made a chicken pot pie with corn-on-the-cob for our main meal.
  • We had 2 pots of tea, each, in the evening. It was nice.
    
    
• Saturday, 10/30: SUN!!!
  
  • Mary moved some items back into the sunroom, since we had sun all day, today...YAHOO!
  • Mom texted that Karen and Lynn were arriving at her house, today, in Circle, MT, and staying overnight. They then will pick up their 4-wheeler on a trailer at Lynn's brother's house in Forsyth, MT, go to Gillette, WY, rent a truck, load their belongings, and move it all back to their new home in Cleveland, GA.
    
  • I took a wire brush on a drill to exterior rust on the woodstove, then touched up all of those spots with silver automotive high-heat paint to the front, and flat black auto high-heat paint to other parts. We opened several windows to let the strong paint smell move outside. After several days of rain, the air exchange in the house was good.
    
  • I removed door gaskets on the 2 doors of the woodstove, cleaned out the grooves with an old screwdriver and a wire brush, applied sealant and put new gaskets in the woodstove doors.
  • Working on the woodstove is essential. We've been using an electric heater in the living room, but predicted low temperatures are dipping down to below freezing in a couple days, so we need to get a better heat source. Tomorrow, I'll clean soot out the stove pipe and chimney.
  • Asian ladybugs swarmed the house, today. Along with them were flies and piles of tiny spiders flying in the wind on their webbed parachutes.
  • We watched the 1998 movie, Practical Magic, tonight.