Free Platter!

My morning rule is two cups of coffee before I even think about commencing normal daily activities, whatever they might be for the day. First cup is generally reserved for my innernet (intentional misspelling...cuz really, that's how we say it, inn't it?) rounds of blog reading and a quick glance at Ravelry. Can't stay too long there or nothing will ever get done. Second cup I reserve for knitting a bit. Instead, I'm blogging as I haven't stopped by in a while.

What I find rather amusing is how all of these new fangled activities find a niche in our lives. Blog reading, blog updating...something we think about and make time for. I continually assess my life and all of it's mundane activities for blog fodder. Case in point, I was eating supper the other night, Lipton Fettucine Alfredo Sidekick. Nearing the end of the sidedish, I noticed what a appeared to be a smiley face on one of the noodles. I actually stopped what I was doing to grab the camera, with the intention of posting it on my blog. Which means that I have now gone to that very scary bloggy place that I never wanted to go.


What I am about to talk about next isn't much better. It's the minutae of my life, and I have no earthly idea why even I find it interesting enough to talk about. I can't even imagine why you're interested in reading it. But the weird thing is, if I were reading your blog, I'd be all over it. The very nature of the personal blog I find facinating. I don't know who you are and we likely have only yarn in common, but being able to look in on a small part of your daily life is more interesting to me than the evening news. So here goes.



I ended up with a free platter the other day. I went to the grocery store to stock up on supplies for a potluck supper we were going to. I was obligated for dessert. I had decided upon mini cupcakes, cuz who doesn't love mini cupcakes? And you don't need a plate to eat them. So I picked up a mini cupcake tray (which was right next to a muffin TOP tray. Did you know that you can now only make the muffin tops? Stumpless muffins? Is this really how far the Seinfeldian universe has infiltrated our daily lives? Absolutely brilliant) and as I was browsing the isles, came across the outdoor serving ware isle. The aforementioned platter was there, in a variety of colours, for $2.99, marked down to $1.99. Even at $2.99, as this sticker will clearly tell you, it is a...



So with the aquisition of my mini muffin tray and my big plastic platter (and somehow a lettuce knife and an extra serving spoon and a storage magazine all hopped in the cart as well) I made my way to the checkout. Long story short, the platter rang in wrong, it was their fault, I was right, the little yellow sign said $1.99 and apparently, if they screw up, you get a free platter. I love when that happens. I love free shit.



Home I went to bake up 62 mini cupcakes (with big hunks of strawberry on top) and two apple crumble pies, all withThe Smiths Louder Than Bombs as my soundtrack, a more incongruous match I cannot think of. Baked goods and whiny 80's Brit-Pop. A lovely way to spend a Saturday.



Not to be forgotten in the update, Hank pooped in the constable's office on Friday evening. What started out as a quick pick up at the end of shift, turned into a unscheduled and surprising pit stop in the midst of a government building, much to the constable's dismay. The fact that he was leaving made it more hilarious, though those on the night shift would surely disagree. Though Hank is a big fan of stopping by the office for treats and attention, we're putting him on an undetermined hiatus for the time being. I'm sorry, but I'm still laughing about it.

On the needles, I've got my cabled cardigan with one sleeve and the button bands to finish, a Fleece Artist Somoko sock at the gusset and one very big year long WIP ALMOST FINISHED thanks to the selfless help of one of my fellow Knitterpudlians. I can scarcely believe that within days I will be nearing the finish line with this project. I can't discuss it more than in general terms...it's a super secret squirrel project that really isn't all that secret, but I am still trying to maintain an element of mystery about it for it's intended recipient. 'Nuff said.

Second cup is empty now. The day must officially begin.

Until later...

Back in the Saddle Again...

Well, the transformative powers of spring have given new life to this old project we call our home. It's been almost one full turn of the calendar already, and after a long looooooooong winter break, we've jumped right back in with both feet, kinda like we did one year ago.

All of the outside structural work was done by fall, which was perfect. We had a nice, sturdy, secure house that wasn't going to come crumbling down on our heads and we finished up the siding to keep the elements out. We were very pleased.

The inside needed A LOT of TLC. And still does. Perhaps a recap is in order?



Here's our living room, the way we bought it...



...and after we tore it apart. We cleaned up a bit, but for the most part, this is how it stayed for, well, what felt like a very long time.

But today....ooooh today. I scarcely want to post about it, it feels kind of like a dream. It's too exciting.



Today we have walls. Real walls. With mud on the seams. That means that they can't come down again. They are up and on their way to being finished, and you can't take that back. I don't know why I feel I need to stress that point, but I just do.

Here are two things that just delight me to no end, with no explanation as to why.

Number One:

The half wall. Separating the living room from the hallway that leads to the kitchen. The kitchen and the living room are the only two rooms on the main floor (well, there is a little half bath/laundry room), so it's fairly small, though both rooms are a fair size. I love that if you're in the kitchen, you'll be able to hear and see what's going on in the living room or that when you're in the living room, you can yell at your husband who might be going through the kitchen and ask him to bring you an iced tea. I love this little wall.



This one is even more inexplicable. This is the little corner that you see right when you come in the door. For months I've been staring at studs and some sort of pipe and exposed insulation. Over the last two days, I've been greeted by a little corner. One where I could hang some hooks for keys, perhaps a little shelf for the constable's wallet, which he's always losing. It makes me quite happy.

We're still far from done, but this seems like lightspeed progress to me. Oh, and just as a disclaimer, the hubs and I did not do this ourselves. We finally came to our senses and realized that there are just some jobs best left to people who know what the hell they are doing. Not that we didn't give hanging drywall a try. We did. The old college kind. But it really is miraculous what two people who have been hired to do a job (and, as an aside, are not married to one another) can accomplish in two days. And that's not even the whole story. Most of the main upstairs bathroom is drywalled as well! I'll save that for a later post.

The guy we hired is awesome. He returned our call, which in an of itself blew our freakin' minds. He knows what he's doing, does a great job in really good time, and is also going to fix up the walls that still have plaster. I think I might just love him.

Anyhow, I know some people find this stuff really quite boring, but, ya know, it's what we're doing. We're going to be able to move in before too long. For real. It's actually going to happen. I'm still holding off on doing the happy dance though. I'll save that for move in day. This move is probably coming at just the right time too, cuz...



this doesn't look too comfy.

Until later...

PS: If I can see the dust in that last picture, I know that you can too. The mess from next door seems to be seeping into the apartment faster than I can keep up with it. I've decided to ignore it until the worst of the worst is done.

Tastes Awful, but I hear it works...

I am at the Buckley's stage of a head cold. Do you know of what I speak? A cold that has gotten so entrenched in your body that it's now more like a demon and the only way to exorcise it is to bring in the Father Karras of all cold remedies. If you've never tried it, I dunno what to tell you. It's like pure liquid eucalyptus. It's harsh, but it works like a charm. I avoid taking it until I just can't stand the effects of the cold any longer. To be frank, I don't mind the taste so much anymore. I've taken it since childhood, and I guess I've just built up a bit of an immunity to it.

In my mind, it's in the same category as all other kinds of secret home brew remedies, the kind that families pass down from one generation to the next, as the end all and be all cure all tonic. When someone mentions Buckley's, my mind immediately makes a connection to my grandmothers 'black salve'. I don't know if it had a brand name, but it was this mysterious concoction in a beat up old tin that look like it came from the 1930's (which it in all likelihood did...my grandmother being born in 1910 and all). It resided in the dark recesses of her linen/medicine closet (which, OMG, I just realized that my mother now has the EXACT same set up in her apartment) and any time one of us had an injury, it was black salve to the rescue. I had a bee sting once as a youngster and nothing since has cured something like that so quickly. Freaky. Anyway...

I was so under the weather yesterday that, shamefully, Hank and I missed his graduation from puppy school. I was pretty bummed out, I don't know about Hank. I haven't mentioned it to him yet. Lexa, my partner in puppy crime, told me all about it and it sounded like it was pretty fun. Lots of games and play time, which I'm sure Hank will miss. That and the overload of hot dogs once a week. I just couldn't peel myself off the couch though. This morning has seen me dragging my proverbial behind around the apartment in fine pathetic form. This is the third time I've been sick since Christmas. My fellow Knitterpudlians are crying sick apartment syndrome, and if that means that I am sick of this apartment, then that's what I've got in spades. But there may be something to it. We'll have to see about getting a really thorough spring cleaning done in the next little while.

To make up for missing puppy grad. I let Hank help me out with some frogging. He really does love the hand knits. I was going to pick just one of these photos, but they're all kind of cute.



I started this cardigan about a week or so ago...

(Carmella's Cardigan, Patons Classic Top Down Knits...or something like that)
...when really all I went into the shop for was to check out the new Noro sock yarn. But I had spied this on Ravelry and had been wanting to knit it, although at the time, it said that the pattern book wasn't out yet. Just so happened that the Patons Shetland Chunky Tweeds that was called for in the pattern (and that I wanted to knit it in) was on sale FOR ONLY ANOTHER TWO DAY!!! so I bought seven balls and the pattern and off I went.

When you go on a marathon knitting/cabling binge, you're bound to make a mistake at some point, but how this sweater got so far off the rails, really still mystifies me. I had mentioned it at Knit Nite and figured that I could bring it in for a group salvation session, but when I pulled it out to re-evaluate where I had gone wrong, I could see that only total annihilation (and eventual rebirth) was the only way to go. The top of the yoke of the sweater is knit over 22 sts for 35 inches, which I had no problem with. Then you pick up X number of sts and knit top down, increasing for the sleeves as you go along. Eventually you divide everything up nice and neat for the fronts and the sleeves and the back, come back to the sleeves and knit them later. While I was increasing, things just didn't look right. And when I compared the picture of what the sweater was supposed to look like to the blob of yarn that I had in my hand, I knew I had had some sort of knitting seizure and had no recall of what I had done. I had no cables where there should have been cables. I had increases where there shouldn't have been increases, and vice versa. It was a monstrosity.



So under the watchful (and still goopey, somewhat infected) eye of my esteemed colleague, thus was the sweater frogged and yarn rewound. I reknit everything yesterday/last night and am back to where I was, which was at the dividing round for the sleeves, and a little beyond even. But then I think I messed up the cabling round during CSI, so I have to tink back at some point today.



That's about it on the knitting front. Working with chunky yarn is mucho satisfying at the moment, as it goes so quickly. And I've decided I want a spinning wheel. A new one. Not right away, but I'm ready to check some out, get a feel, start saving up. I like the drop spindle, but it takes a really long time and I find that when I sit and spin with one for a while, my shoulders just scream for days afterwards. I've got some yummy fibres here that I would really like to be yarn in the near future. And trying to ply with little bundles of singles off the drop spindle is, at least in my limited experience, a bit of a nightmare.

Anyhow, I actually have to do real work today, which I've been putting off all morning. Until later...

Progress...

This is for Heddy, as I don't want to be held accountable for upsetting her vacay. I'm working on a sweater for myself, and I have this much done. I'm using up as much of that Debbie Bliss impulse purchase that I picked up during our little outting to Have a Yarn. I'd also like to point out that this is a picture of my right arm, and as I am right handed, this was a rather awkward and difficult picture for me to take. I would've asked the constable to take a pic for me, but he always gets more of me in the photo than I would like, so I just resort to taking my own pics. I like to think of them as more 'arty'. Anyhow, there is a brief glimpse of my WIP. Off to keep knitting.

What I Want for Christmas...

This is an in-joke for the locals...but if you get it too, feel free to laugh along.



Hank.



Snow.

So I used to knit you know. Then we went and got this freakin' dog. Seriously, how do you people with children out there get so much done? And children aren't even crated! Hank is great, learning very fast, but I just don't know if I'm cut out for the puppy stage. How long does this last? Yes yes, stop reminding me it's been like a week and half. It feels like forever.

I haven't knit a thing in a good long while. It's making me cranky. Well, I was already cranky. This just makes me crankier. I knit to calm down and focus on one thing for a while. Knitting while getting up every five seconds to check on chewing or bathroom status or yelling 'No!' the other fifty-five seconds is not relaxing.
*sigh* It'll get better, I know.

Anyhow, we did do a miniscule amout of work on the house yesterday.

Meet my Everest.

The staircase is what kind of sold me on the house at least. It is solid and quite beautiful, and I could see the potential behind it. When we first arrived, it had carpeting all up the treads. At first, we thought of stripping the whole thing and staining it. Then we actually started stripping things and realized what a horribly long process that is, so we modified our idea to include the railing, both newel posts and the treads. The risers and dowels we'd paint to match whatever colour we paint the livingroom.



I am going to let you think that I got that all scraped yesterday. Frankly, I need the ego boost, even if it is a lie.



Unscraped vs. scraped. Facinating, truly it is.

I've been using paint scrapers to do the majority of the work. Around five o'clock yesterday afternoon, I broke out the little orbital sander and just went to town. I don't even care how much sand paper it takes. I'd rather spent five hours using a hand sander and actually seeing results rather than spending the same amount of time to only get one and a half stair treads done.



It's fitting that I end here with a picture of one wall of the living room completed in drywall, because I may have just hit the proverbial wall yesterday in terms of this project. We've been keeping the heat very low in the house so as to alleviate some of the cost over the winter. Yesterday I turned up the heat to give the house and us a little break from the cold. Turns out, it hasn't been on at all. The furnace isn't working. Neither is the fridge in the house. We suspect that because of the low temps., the motor or whatever makes a fridge go hasn't been kicking in. Today I have to deal with a fair amount of rotten, smelly food. And the Irving oil guy should be here any minute to make a five second repair and charge us an arm and a leg.




The constable ripped out all the plaster in the entryway ceiling and I guess hopes to put up some drywall. Either that or put up drywall in the bathroom. Either way, the house is covered in dust again. The pretty shiny floors are covered in crap as is my craft room, cuz it doesn't have a door.

So I give. I've had it. Uncle. Enough. This sucks. Eight months. Eight freakin' months. Yes, we've got a lot done. But I'm tired. I'd like to live in the place where I do my laundry. I'd like to stop eating off of picnic wear because I refuse to move the kitchen stuff back into the apartment. I'd like to sleep in our brand new queen sized bed that we've had since last June and only slept in twice, because we had company. I'd like to cook in my new stove, use my dishwasher regularly, not avoid cooking or buying things that require a microwave because it's in the house and just mentally, 'too far away.' I'd like to unpack my belongings that have been in boxes and in various stages of storage since August of 2006. I'd like some room to move around and play with my dog. I'd like to get the $%^& out of this apartment.

...

The constable has heard enough of this the last few weeks, so I thought I would subject you, my faithful group of strangers, to my rant.

Anyway...c'est la vie. Any variety of home ownership has it's unique assortment of trials and tribulations. As a first home experience, this may take the cake. Did I mention we were mental to have taken this on? Just bar none, absolutely cracked? Well, you probably had that one pegged long ago.

In any case, this was cleansing. I promise more merriment to come, once I get this whole Christmas business dealt with. Boxes to send, boxes to send. I'll feel better when I'm more organized.

Until later...

PS: Hank Snow, famous country musician, from Liverpool, NS.

No Boys Allowed...

I have had the best two days. I now have...are you ready for this...A CRAFT ROOM!



With the prospect of a new little furry body inhabiting our tiny space becoming more of a reality with each passing day, I knew I had to get my craft stuff out of the apartment to make way. That, and I just couldn't take it anymore. I needed to gather all of my lost and lonely bits of craft into one organized space.


(ironing station, with my yarn stash and patterns underneath)

This is the 'third' bedroom in the house, which really didn't have a purpose other than perhaps becoming a kids room, if/when that ever might happen, so I thought what better place for a temporary crafting space. It doesn't really need to be painted, although I do plan on changing the colour at some point and even though the floor isn't finished, it's totally servicable to walk on. So yesterday I cleared it, which didn't take long, and cleaned it up and started in on loading the room up with all of my stuff.


(my sewing station...not sure where the base of the dressform is which is why she's being dubbed Ilene for the time being)

We have another room in the house, the 'forth bedroom', earmarked as the craft room, so once that room is finished, I'll have to do this all over again. Darn! I'm one of those bizarre types that loves (and I do mean loves...like almost to a worrisome level) to organize and categorize and sort and cross reference and put things into little piles. So needless to say, the past two days have been blissful. Doesn't hurt that it's all stuff that I haven't seen in a good long while and it's all stuff that I love so very very much.


(weaving station...I can't tell you how happy I am to see my loom...I want to weave something SO BADLY!)

All of the other rooms require some sort of work, be it drywall and/or mud or just plain paint, so this was a good choice. It's just really quite incredible to me that I actually have a space, a comfortable little space for all of my craft stuff. This is the kind of thing that I have dreamed of for sooooo long. I've carted these damn supplies and tools with me over the past year or so and finally they have a proper little home!


(cutting station on my grandmothers antique table, which I'd rather not be using, but it's the right height and I'd rather it be in this room, out of harms way)

Notice the little baby loom there beside the table. It works like a charm! I'm thinking of weaving a dog leash on it before too long (thanks to Carrie for the suggestion!) I'm not sure where my lamp shades are at the moment, which explains the bare bulb. It just so happens that I've chosen the room in the house with the poorest lighting possible. Ah well.


(the craft closet)

So that's the 360 tour! It really does feel like my own little fort. And see that bucket there? It's full of sock yarn remnants! Squee!

I've put together a knitting bag with one project and a few permanent supplies for the apartment and my goal is to only keep it at only one project, and if I want to switch it up, I'll have to come here to swap things out. Should keep the clutter down in the apartment and lessen the chance of yarn etc. getting eaten. My only concern at the moment are mice. We've been dealing with a bit of an infestation since we've moved in, and I'm just not sure how fond of yarn mice might be. The only balls that are accessible are my sock yarns and my acrylics, so if something gets chewed, I won't be too heartbroken. I'd rather the acrylics get it than the sock yarns though. So I guess the excuse of not having a proper workspace in which to craft Christmas presents doesn't hold much water anymore. But I'm still not doing it! My first order of business will be to hem some curtains. I have an area in the room designated for W'sIP, and as of today, I have a total of 3. Two knitting, one quilt. This quilt has been on the go for a few years now, so after the curtains, it's onto the quilt.



Oh yeah, the floors are done too. It's hard to get a really good shot, but this pretty much does it justice. We put the final coat of Varathane on last weekend. This is the floor in the masterbedroom. Kinda come a long way, huh?



We are soooo in love with these floors. They're sexy. We walk into these rooms and just sing 'sexy floors, sexy floors!' (we're dorks...with nice floors).





The spare bedroom. Nice and slippery. Good for sliding. I'm just waiting for when I fall, then it won't be so cool.

Anyhow, this has been a picture heavy post and I'm listening to a Lime and Violet podcast (cuz I just figured out Podcasting...took all of 30 sec.) and I'm a little distracted, so I'm gonna call it quits. Might go play in the craft room!

Until later...

A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall...

Battened hatches?

Check

Extra batteries?

Check

Charged up flashlight?

Check

Candles, water and some extra food, just in case?

Check

Extra blankies 'case the power goes out?

Check

And the most important detail of all...got some knitting?

Check and check. T'would seem we're all ready for Noel.

I'm back to working on Arwen, which, after having done the
Classic Cable in the toddler size is flying right along. I'm on a bit of a cable jag at the moment. Since I brought it up, though I really shouldn't be showing it here as it is a Christmas gift, I just can't help myself.



I'm in love. It's the perfect little sweater. I highly recommend the pattern. And I did get it done in just about a week. I started it on a Friday evening and finished it the following Sunday evening. This bodes well for my upcoming Knitmas (I'm copyrighting that term if it hasn't been already) projects, which, if we lived in a perfect world, would already be done by now. But of course I don't come up with anything until a month before Christmas.

I'd take a WIP pic of Arwen, but it's really quite dark in here cuz apparently the world is about to end, so you'll have to wait on that one. A black sweater in bad light is just a crappy picture. Wait, I think I did take a picture the other day, when I was playing with my stash...



That's what I have so far...left front, one sleeve, and the back. I've said before that the only thing I've kept from the original pattern was the cable. Everything else I'm doing on my own. We'll see how it works out. Things might get dicey once I get to the collar area. Arwen is supposed to have a hood, but I'm becoming less and less enchanted with that idea all the time (which might have something to do with the fact that I'm not sure I have enough yarn).

I've also finished another pair of grey work socks. I'm not going to go to the trouble of taking a photo...just close your eyes and picture grey work socks. I used every last scrap of the grey superwash that I bought for these socks, which means I got three pair out of eight balls. I don't know if that's good or not. They were only 50 gm balls, but rather nice yarn, so I hope they wear well. One gentleman already took off with his, and I still need to do two more pair for the other, so I think for the remaining pairs I might change it up a bit. Perhaps I will do blue-grey work socks.

A little knitting triumph on these socks; I finally figured out what I was doing wrong with regards to grafting the toes. I'm either a little stubborn or a little dense (or a little of both) but when I try something and it isn't totally right, I just end up doing what looks close enough. Until that drives me crazy and I try again to get it right. All of my toe grafting looked almost right, but it wasn't entirely invisible, like it should be. So I tried again and finally have it down pat. I tried explaining all of this to the constable, which evoked the following response; "Is that how it's supposed to be done?" he asked when I held up my correctly grafted toe, beaming as I did so. "Uh-huh" I replied. "Well then I'm very proud of you." And then he left for hockey.

Sub-tropical storm Noel hasn't hit here yet, but it is getting chillier in here by the hour and the wind has started blowing. Today would be a good day to hunker down and watch movies, but I think we're going to try and take advantage of the hubby's time off and get the livingroom in the house insulated and drywalled before it gets too much colder. That and the dvd player is on the fritz. Which means that I'll be subjected to untold hours of PS2. Good thing laptops are portable.

To my NS neighbours, stay safe and warm. Catchya on the flip side.

Until later...

Dust Bowl...

So we're back at it now, the little break from the never ending renovation project is over. And so is summer apparently. It's been very cool here the last week, definitely getting into sweater and jeans weather already. As I said to the constable the other day, it's a good thing I like to knit, as it seems the season for wearing knitwear is extremely looooong here on the South Shore.
But anyway...you came here for WIP pics.

So this week was the moment I've been waiting for since we bought this junk-heap (and I mean that in the most loving way), sanding the floors. Rather than put down newly manufactured flooring, we took up the sub floor to see what we were dealing with, which to refresh was this...


Guest Bedroom


Master bedroom


Landing

Plank floors, a little rough and uneven, but with lots of potential. So we thought, what the hell, let's take a crack at refinishing them and see what happens. I never wanted them absolutely perfect, as I think it wouldn't fit the overall character that we're striving for, so whatever the end result, it has to be better than partially painted and somewhat stained.

We've only just finished the first go around with the sander, and I already think it looks better...


My job is to go around with the small handheld sander and get all the nooks and crannies that the floor sander can't get to, due to the uneveness of the floor. I find this job oddly enjoyable. Except for the dust. Oh the dust. Everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE with the dust. Sawdust that is. We were both just covered in it once the day was done, the hubby moreso than I as I only contributed about an hours worth of sanding after work. I guess it takes about two to three weeks to completely settle too, which is AWESOME! I'm really looking forward to sweeping and mopping and sweeping a mopping and sweeping a mopping. Ah well. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

We didn't have much stuff set up in these rooms anyway, and even at that, it was still all in boxes. We moved everything into the one bedroom that we don't plan on sanding the floors in, as it was an addition and doesn't have the same kind of plank flooring underneath the subfloor that is currently just bare and exposed. So here is where some of our earthly posessions are calling home these days...



Somewhere underneath all of that is our bed. And just to give you an idea as to how out of whack my priorities are when it comes to crafting, some of my clothes are on the bed in suitcases behind a barracade of boxes and a variety of other objects, whilst the the tote that carries the meagre sum total of my yarn stash...



...is right by the door.

Until later...

Just another day at the homestead...

Sunday morning, long weekend. Beautiful cloudless day, perfect temperature. Awake to Father-in-Law informing me that the pump in the basement has been screaming for an hour. Shut it off. We're on a well. No pump means no water. Went to Tim Hortons to get that morning's coffee.

Discover source of screaming pump. Downstairs toilet had been running since the constable got home at 3:30 am. Go and check the well. Only a foot of water left, and a snake in there to boot. Go drink the coffee, come up with a game plan.

First order of business, save the snake.



If you ever need to retrieve a snake from your well, here's a handy tutorial to come up with an on the spot snake saving tool. Materials: margarine bucket; a now useless piece of trim, preferably with a nail in one end; some duct tape. Mode d'employ: Tape bucket to trim. Make sure it's long enough to reach the foot of water left in your well. Retrieve snake.



Allow exhausted snake to catch it's breath and get it's bearings. Allow curious deg to sniff, but not attack, snake.

Now the well is snakeless and we've made enough trips to the public well to get the level back up to where the pump will likely catch and prime itself. But one foot of water will not do for four people in one house doing dirty home renovations. What to do, what to do. Some quick investigative work yeilds a solution. Apparently the fire department will come and fill your well. But don't call 911. Call the fire hall. See if you can find a volunteer fire fighter on a beautiful Sunday afternoon on a long weekend.

Well, we did. And they came right away, bless their hearts.



Something like 1200 gallons later and we're back in business.

Nothing to get excited about, just another day at the homestead.