Coffee anyone ?

[promiseacres]

Coffee is on.
Got one burst of rain late afternoon, about 1 1/2 per my kids. But neighbors from the farm said they only had 1/2" but it's something. Picking and canning tomatoes, need to get the cantelope in the freezer and dehydrator too, I think I have 4 in the fridge. Got watermelon also to do something with. And green peppers. Going to make stuffed peppers. And freeze them .

 

[Baymule]

I did my 4 AM wake up, went back to sleep and slept till 7! I was tired. Peas were ready yesterday and i picked them, was soaking wet from the humidity and heat. Since I was already hot, wet and dirty, I pulled weeds, specifically Creeping Charlie, and did 16 feet of row in the peas. I had the wagon heaped up and pulled it to the burn pile. Didn't even dump it and staggered to the house. I was so wet I even had to change my underwear. Later found out the heat index was 111 degrees! I was pretty much worthless the rest of the day.

@Mini Horses I built 2 towers in a closet for my canned goods, dehydrator, big pot, and crock pot. I have my buckets of garden seeds in the bottom shelf. The closet is a mess right now, why does crap collect like that? One tower is 3' wide, the other is 2' wide, both are 18" deep. And there is room to put up a pole for hanging clothes if I ever get rid of that 4 drawer filing cabinet that is in the way....... which means cleaning it out, sorting stuff, throwing away....... sigh.

Not sure when the pigs will be ready, maybe next week. One is ours, one is sold. I need to get back to work on clearing out the meat freezer, which means clearing out the vegetable freezer. Have done a lot, but not done yet!

@farmerjan is there enough room in any of the bedrooms to build a closet? What are the dimensions of the rooms?

 

[farmerjan]

The 2 bedrooms upstairs are 13x13 or there abouts. Perfectly square rooms. Downstairs bedroom and LR are the same size. Problem with downstairs BR is window in center of wall facing out on front porch, huge mantle in center of other outside wall with window in corner. These windows are old type, big, tall, from about 1 ft off floor to about 1 1/2 ft from ceiling... so like 6 ft tall windows. Ceilings are tall enough that son doesn't hit his head on ceiling fan. (6'6" tall). Guessing they are 8 ft ceilings? Door in center of inside wall to bathroom, that is going to be made wider due to small size, and having to get a new tub etc in through the door. Solid wall with door in corner into hallway at the bottom of the stairs. I am studying the room to decide about a possible closet in the one corner between the mantle and the front corner of the house.... but it just seems to look awkward.... I have to just see how things fit. At least the blue paint makes it look bigger than the darker more intense "purple". Since I am coming from another house with no closets, I am not totally unable to deal, but at least here I had a few smaller "cubby hole" rooms divided off on the back porch that is closed in. I just want more space and there isn't any.

 

[Bruce]

Ah, @Mini Horses , you had to remind me there are no closets in this house either,,,, no walk ins, no little narrow ones, none, zero, zilch, except the one "pantry" storage off the dining room that goes under the stairs with a set of shelves that stick out so far that I can't get in there to see what I am doing.... and alot of unused space too low to do more than stick some boxes that will surely get "lost and dirty" ..... was thinking that I could access it from the hall, under the stairs, as a "coat closet" and such... but they put a baseboard heater there in the way.... and why do we need 3 baseboard heaters in this little short narrow hallway anyway????? Hhhmmmm, maybe one could be closed off and taken out????? There are more heaters in this house than in any other house I have ever seen ....

That is curious, closets became fairly common in the late 1800's. Even this house which was built some time before the US Civil War has closets though they were likely modifications made later.

I'm with @Larsen Poultry Ranch on the insulation thing. All those heaters mean that there was minimal to no insulation in the house when they were put in. Could be some has been added since then. I'd surely check on that and get modern standards insulation installed. See if VA has programs to help people pay for energy efficiency upgrades. You could save a lot of money (effort if you go with the outdoor wood boiler) if you have the house well insulated and it will be a lot more comfortable.

so like 6 ft tall windows.

Single pane most likely. In the longer term it might be worth replacing those with more normal sized, double pane, windows which will add insulation value and maybe give you some wall space for cabinets/bookshelves or something.

Later found out the heat index was 111 degrees! I was pretty much worthless the rest of the day.

I'd be TOTALLY worthless the second I stepped out into that 111°!!!!!

 

[rachels.haven]

Farmerjan, you may be in wardrobe territory.

 

[farmerjan]

The entire house has new(several years ago) windows throughout. Double paned with the screen built into the track too. New front and back door. They have the neatest thing.... they both have "venetian blinds" but they are enclosed between the 2 panes of glass with a little slide thing to make them open and shut, and another slide thing that raises them up and down between the 2 panes of glass.... NO DUST, DIRT, getting caught when the door swings shut....never seen that before. The downstairs was sheetrocked at some point and insulated and it has aluminum siding over the old siding with a styrofoam insulation sheet showing in the back where a piece is loose and has to be fixed. Maybe they needed all the baseboard heaters when installed, but there are more than I have ever seen even in older houses. The 2 upstairs have been capped off; one developed a leak and instead of fixing it, they capped them off because the upstairs got too hot ( not a separate zone)....
Closets were not popular in southern houses like this. I've seen many and lived in several, that do not have closets. Wardrobes were very common and popular.

Yes, @rachels.haven , a couple of wardrobes are in the future. I have one now that is cedar wood but not like a cedar chest.... although I could put cedar blocks in it to make it more moth proof. And I do have a cedar chest anyway. But it is deep and I don't think will fit in the hallway opposite the stairway that has the "pantry" cabinet under it from the DR.... I'll study on it some more.... I like wardrobes.... restrictive though.... there are several extra bureaus from my parents house in CT that my son brought down so no lack of bureaus/chest of drawers.

 

[Mini Horses]

@Baymule this is an 8X8 walk in. one wall has the typical rod & shelf. adjacent wall has a boxed in flue for the central heat fm upstairs to under house runs. and I already have 4' shelves, 18" deep, top to bottom next to that.. I need to pull all things off shelves, disperse, and refill. It's just a JOB to make myself do instead of some other things. But this week is it!
The closet I use is a step in, with rod & then shelves at one end, like for shoes, handbags, etc. Don't even need it all. It's 8' wide about 4 deep. I like to keep jeans, t-shirts on shelves rather than dresser drawers...easier to see & grab them. Plus I have winter & summer out. Need to pack some, get rid of some, etc. decisions! In big closet I have excellent work clothes, suits, dressy stuff....haven't worn that in a while! I'll find a woman's shelter for some of that. It's just a full day of emotion Don't need to keep but....it's here.

Going to make stuffed peppers. And freeze them .

Me, too!! I found a little spot in the freezer and I'm gonna fill it! Lots of lovely peppers, everything to fill is here -- just do. Then, there's that closet, also! Peppers are perishable. Home for couple days....something will be worked out.

 

[promiseacres]

Coffee is on.
Got 14 qts of tomatoes, 7 qts of salsa canned. 2 and 1/2 melons dehydrated.
Probably head out to the farm today.

 

[Baymule]

Thanks for the coffee PA. It sure is good this morning. Hard rains and lightning woke me up at 3 this morning and it’s still drizzling. Radar shows more coming this way.

@Mini Horses Years ago I gathered up 5 big 30 gallon size garbage bags of high heel shoes and donated them all. I was done. No more high heels for me. When we moved here, I further reduced my dress up clothing. I have a few nice things, enough to meet my needs. Now it is time for you to sort things out and donate what you no longer wear. If you are attached to some articles of clothing, cut them up and make a quilt.

 

[Bruce]

The entire house has new(several years ago) windows throughout.

Sounds like you could take out some of those registers if that would allow you to better use some of the space. And you could have a separate zone upstairs by putting a valve in the pipe up there. That is how I designed the hot water heat in our prior house. The first floor was really open so it was on 1 zone. Upstairs there were 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, each had their own thermostat. The 2 zone valves for the full bath and front bedroom were in a closet in the master (in the back of the house). The valves for the master, 3/4 bath and 3rd bedroom were in the corner of the master next to the door to the 3/4 bath.