Bruce's Journal

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Mr. Bruce,

Thanks for responding. Sorry to hear about your aunt, but as you and everyone else has said, it sounds like she lived a good life.

I hope you got pictures of you plowing the driveway. I also hope that your equipment didn't give you any grief this morning. Nothing like going out to clear the driveway only to discover you have a dead battery, or a flat tire, or a frozen snow blower,

We got about an inch of snow on top of about an inch of sleet, similar to what Miss @Baymule got. I plan to post pictures later today.

Hope you can post more soon.

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[Ridgetop]

So sorry about DW's aunt. It is those people that are greatly missed because of their tremendous experience and enjoyment of life.

Don't worry about the dressers - eventually she will get them and yours too when you go into the home!

 

[Bruce]

The bigger "worry" is what the heck are we going to do when MIL moves out of the 2 bedroom retirement home house (actually part of an L shaped 4 plex)! FIL is already in the assisted living building with Parkinson's. MIL is 88, FIL is 96, both going to be a year older in the next 2 months. More beds, more dressers, many "knick knacks" including a LONG bridge FIL built out of toothpicks when he was a teen. And then there is the ENTIRE set of National Geographics from month one We will make space for the Swiss clock, it is one of only 2 identical ones made and I'm told the other is in a museum in Switzerland.

I blew snow twice yesterday then shoveled the 2" where DWs would be parking her car. Still snowing lightly but is supposed to get sunny later so I'll blow again before DW gets home.

The chickens are happy to hang in the barn, they don't like snow. And apparently we have a cottontail that thinks the hay stall is a great place to live. I've seen it in there twice. It can squeeze out beside the sliding door, I've seen it do that so it isn't trapped.

 

[farmerjan]

So how much snow did you finally end up with? How cold did it get? Kudos to the cottontail.... he's no dummy. Found a place to get some good "grazing" and warmer if he wants to snuggle inbetween the bales....

 

[Ridgetop]

Storage facilities are for all the extra stuff belonging to parents and children. Once they stop asking about where it is you can start to get rid of it. LOL

Donate the bridge out of toothpicks to a library or school as an exhibit. It is almost 100 years old so certainly a "collectible" even if lacking a few years to the 100 year antique mark.

 

[Baymule]

You let your kids go shopping in your house to furnish their home/apartment, then you fill it back up with relatives things. My daughter went shopping in my kitchen when she moved out, taking some of my favorite things. I'm ok with that, happy that those items are being used and loved. Oldest Granddaughter says she is going to take my set of Pyrex mixing bowls. LOL LOL

 

[Ridgetop]

That is why I am trying to give some of my good stuff to the kids so they and their kids will enjoy it now.

 

[Bruce]

Hard to say how much snow with all the wind blowing it around. At least the 10" they predicted, maybe more.

DD2 went shopping at Aunt Ruth's so some of the stuff on the porch will go with her if she ever leaves. That would include a twin bed, 2 dressers and a night table. I don't see anyone renting an apartment to someone who has seasonal jobs and only works maybe 9 months of the year.

DD1's BF's house in VA is 2 bedrooms. Apparently the front porch is as big as the house (~900 sq ft). He plans to screen it in. But there is only so much room and I THINK she said he has FIVE beds. I have no idea why. Don't know if they need any dressers. She has a couple of chairs here, a wingback that was my grandmothers and one she bought when we bought the couch in 2013. I didn't buy it because I don't find it comfortable but she really wanted it.

I already have furniture from my mother's side, including a settee, 4 chairs and an armchair that were made in the family factory in Baltimore. They exist only because the set was in the family's house when the Confederates burned the factory. And a large marble topped dresser that was her father's, circa 1870's. And the dining set. And some nice dressers that my Dad didn't need when he moved back to So. Cal. And a BIG armoire from the same move.

Ran out of fuel oil yesterday, discovered it about 8 PM. I swear the tank gauge said about 1/4 last week!!! Went to the gas station and got 15 gallons of diesel (sadly the expensive on road stuff) to get it going again. Fuel delivery sometime today. Of course I'll have to pay the "emergency delivery" fee unless they just happen to already have planned to deliveries in the area today.

 

[farmerjan]

Are you on a "call in" for the diesel fuel when it gets down to a certain level? I used to be at the other house but the furnace ran so much that I went to mostly using the couple of electric oil radiators and other "room size" heaters in the rooms I spent most time in. When I moved here I went on automatic delivery with the propane because I had no idea how much I would use with the stove and LR gas fireplace heater... plus knowing I was going to be having the knees done, I didn't want to be bothered with having to be responsible for checking the gauge. It costs no more to be on auto delivery than call in... and the call in says you have to call in before it gets down to 30% so they can schedule a delivery when the truck is in the area or then it is emergency delivery fees and all that. What I want to do is put in a bigger tank and fill during the summer when the prices were NORMALLY cheaper. I lease the tank for the propane.... but there is no charge if I use at least 100 gallons a year ... it is a 100 gallon tank.... Propane use has been less than I expected, but won't have a problem with using at least 100 gal per year... don't know if the same rules apply for a bigger tank... going to look into it this year.
Delivery yesterday was 40 gallons @ 2.99 gallon. $121.99. I do also use the small ceramic heater at the desk sometimes... and the oil filled radiators in both the bedroom and the back room... that one is set low to just keep the chill off... Electric runs about $200/month for everything.... I have 5 freezers, full, remember I put over 80 chickens in the freezer last year.... and a beef......regular electric lights and all, as well as the hot water is electric... so I am not unhappy with it right now.
I have been there with running out of diesel in the other house.... gone to get 15-20 gallons several times to get me through... YEP... expensive. Diesel here at the local stations, just went up to over $4.00 gallon. Thankful I have the 500 gallon tank full for use in the tractors this coming year... it will help with the costs... but don't know how painful it will be to refill this summer....

 

[Bruce]

NORMALLY we don't use a lot of fuel oil, just enough to keep the basement from freezing so I call when I need oil which usually is not until spring. With the woodstove running 24x7 in the living room the furnace blower brings warm air down from the living & dining room (really one long space) into the furnace so it doesn't have to run much.

However, I've got the basement thermostat set to 50° so I can urethane some wood. And with the propane furnace in the other half of the house broken, we are pulling warm air from the south building up the stairs in the south building to the upstairs of the north building. There is a floor fan between the kitchen (north building) and the dining room (south building) that pushes cold air from the 1st floor of the north back into the south. The heat comes down the stairs in the north building. This process works surprisingly well.

On road diesel last night was $4.099/gallon. Off road at the family market today was $3.64/gallon. Fuel oil, 227 gallons, was 3.549/gallon. If my 3 diesel jugs for the tractor been full last night instead of having only about 2 gallons, I could have saved nearly $7 on what I put in the furnace tank. I don't know if the fuel oil price is "standard" or if there is an "emergency delivery" add on to the price.

The propane tank, buried in the backyard, is owned by the company so I can't shop around for prices. It is on auto fill and as of spring 2020 I'm on the prepay program which keeps the price down.