Back in Order

Back in Order

We have been back “home” for three days. The trip up from Hobe Sound was not too difficult. We stayed at a few new campgrounds and a couple that we had been to before. Frankly, they all seem to run together after a while. It is hard to remember when we stayed here or there and there is a sameness to them that sometimes dulls the memory. While staying in Middle Creek, near Buchanan Va. I think we’d both had enough and just wanted to get back to NY. In the past we’d stopped in PA at a state park (which was always near vacant, spooky, dark and quiet…)but this time we plowed on and swallowed the last 479 miles arriving home at 5pm. It was a tough push for us but the reward of getting here and sleeping in our house was significant. Gurler was particularly happy to be back.

The water and the heat, which I had turned off and drained completely, was turned back on that evening and I didn’t have any leaks or problems with the systems. We did however have a great deal of sediment in the pipes and the water that came up from the well was very sulfurous. It smelled like rotten eggs. I let it run to waste for quite a while and I opened the well head and treated the well with a cup or two of chlorine bleach. It is okay now. The smell is gone and the water is clean and clear. “750 feet deep”. As for the heat, the system seems to have filled without any trapped air and within a couple of hours we had hot water at the tap. We’ve had a couple of cool mornings and yesterday was downright chilly but the heat seems to be functioning well. It was chilly inside when we first opened the doors to the house so the first thing I did when I got here-after turning on the water-was turn the valve for the propane tank and fire up the fireplace in the living room. When the flame ignited in the hearth it was almost like the house had been given CPR and come to life. It made me smile.

Elisabeth bustled about cleaning and opening curtains. I didn’t get to un-screwing windows until the next day. (I’d put screws and/or brackets on each window against possible invaders!) There was, she said (though I didn’t see it) some evidence of mice. Except for the chill inside all seemed to be in order. I remember the smell of a closed up house from the bungalows in the Catskills and dreaded that in my home, but there was little or none that I noticed. I did note the full sound of the steel sided 275 gallon tank of #2 oil in the garage when I tapped on it. That gave my heart a twirl! The house came through nicely, I think, with no leaks, no smell, no vermin. I’d used little electricity, no oil, no propane all Winter. My seasonal cost had been some work decommissioning the place in the Fall and getting it back “on-line” in the Spring. As a bonus I’ve had a certain peace of mind all Winter knowing the place was not going to flood. If I do this trip again I will follow my own example and drain down.

As for the “body” of the house, it appears to have done well. The new roof (a story in itself) looks nice. It is a shade of forest green …the house blends in to its surroundings even more than it used to. The new leaves on the surrounding trees were a lemon’y shade of early Spring green and the hedges are all bright and strong. The new hedge I planted at the bottom of the property is coming in like gang-busters. The “lawn” (my patch of weeds) needed mowing. About the only problem I found was on the porch, where the finish has peeled and crumbled on the steps and the railings. I have already begun to strip, sand, grind and paint to get that back in order.