Today’s forecast at the country house, that would be October 10, 2014:
“Partly cloudy. 60 percent chance of rain showers changing to 60 percent chance of wet flurries before morning. Low plus 1.”
Wet flurries, no! Too soon, too early, not yet… oh well.
Hopefully this lot will melt on contact.
I arrived home yesterday at around noon. Attila managed to come home for lunch and we were both very happy to share a meal in each other’s company! Attila looked, and felt, exhausted! He was as gaunt as I have ever seen him, which is saying something. The wood is in, we are ready for winter. He did it. It cost him.
He was falling asleep over supper, so I suggested he head to bed early, so at 8:30 p.m. he laid his head down to rest, and did not rise until 6:00 a.m. this morning. He still looks tired, but better, much better. Not only did he get the wood in while I was away, he worked a a lot of overtime.
We have some catching up to do here. It was cold in the house, and Attila did not have time to secure dry kindling or firewood for the little wood stove in the basement, for this morning. So, no heat. It was about 15C in the house, when we wandered into the kitchen to make our morning coffee, which is not comfortable for anything but sleeping under an eiderdown. Mega layers of sweaters and down vests got me through the day! Attila felt bad, but I would have none of that! He needed to rest last night, and surely I can manage a few short days, until he has had time to catch up on his sleep, for him to organize morning fires. Mist retreated to sleep on the eiderdown in front of the wood stove, hoping that it would receive attention in the near future. She was very patient today!
Another project on Attila’s list is to install a new hot water heater. When we first moved into this house the hot water heater was broken and needed to be replaced, which we did after six months of living here. The hot water heater we installed just gave up the ghost three days ago. Attila ordered a new one, but it will not arrive until the middle of next week; this is fortunate really because it gives Attila a bit of breathing space between projects. We will manage easily, as living without running hot water is something we have done before, and know how to handle.
I am shocked at how shoddy modern appliances are, truly shocked. They go into landfill sites after a short period of use, and are “built to bust”. They are not built to be repaired easily, which is a shame, we would much rather repair what we have, rather than constantly send large and small appliances underground at the landfill. It is not just the hot water tanks I am thinking of either, my GE electric kettle, a wedding present in 1969, works like a charm, while other kettles come and go. We have had to replace four refrigerators in the last 20 years, while my Granny’s refrigerator, which was over 65 years old, was still working, when it was stolen last summer. I have needed to purchase three vacuum cleaners over the last 20 years, and non of them work well, while the 1961 Electrolux (now Aerus), that I found at the dump, still works better than anything that I have ever owned.
Technology may be progressing, but it is leaving humans behind in the dust.
Progress is regress these days.
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I wonder, what is the oldest working appliance that you own?
Shame on the “make a buck, trash the planet” entrepreneurial crowd.
One of my projects for today was to cook an “all-day” pot roast in the cast iron dutch oven, the “appliance” that keeps on going, a birthday gift from Harriet. That provided Mist and I with a little heat. As well, a load of laundry was washed, another smidgeon of heat. The dryer had to wait until the hydro price drops at 7:00 p.m.
Attila came home from work and went to work immediately to get the little wood stove fired up. It did not take long to take the chill out of the air. Mist is pleased!
The masonry heater needs to be cured, a project for next week. Canadian Thanksgiving is our usual marker for beginning the curing process.
Even though it is cold and cloudy, the seasonal property owners are beginning to arrive for the holiday weekend. Most, perhaps all, of the cottages near us are kept heated during the fall, winter, and spring, ready for that weekend away from it all.
All the leaves have turned colour at the country house, and even on this cloudy, rainy, grey day, there is brightness and cheer wherever the eye falls.
Attila saved a funny letter for me to see! It was a self promotional flyer from one of the candidates running in the upcoming municipal elections. It was addressed only to Attila, and completely ignored me, the other property owner. This guy really knows how to win friends and influence people! Guess what sexist bozo doesn’t have prayer getting my or Attila’s vote next week!
Actually, we would never have voted for him anyway, because he is a seasonal-gone-full-time resident, who in my opinion aims to build his fantasy world, based on his “corporate management” expertise, seeking in his retirement to impose what I feel is an inappropriate corporate mind set, on a community of people. Corporations are about generating profit, they are not about people. Our local government is about leading people, or at least that is what it claims.
Worldly Distractions
Weather
9°C
Date: 4:24 PM EDT Friday 10 October 2014
Condition: Light Rain
Pressure: 101.9 kPa
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: 9.0°C
Dewpoint: 3.2°C
Humidity: 67%
Wind: WSW 15 km/h
Quote
“Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one.”
A. J. Liebling
1904 – 1963
Wet flurries! Well, they couldn’t have been too far away with my having seen sleet last weekend. And here I was just looking at the weather outlooks to see who had started to get snow. (In the US, only small areas in the highest mountains have started to get snow, at this point.)
The low temps here are supposed to be around -1C (about 30F) for the next few nights. But I do think your snow would melt on contact. It’s unlikely the ground is cool enough, yet, for it to accumulate.
I hope that Attila is starting to feel a bit better.
Sorry to here about your hot water heater. Looks like we’re both living the ‘it’s always something’ life, right now.
DH says our chest freezer is the oldest appliance in the place; it’s 30 years old.
*roll eyes* Hear, not here.
That is a healthy age for a chest freezer Teri, may it serve you well for another 30 years!
Attila is feeling a lot better this evening, thank you for the good wishes.
With this cooler weather I hope the roads remain clear, particularly for the long weekend traffic. We usually start to watch the road/visibility conditions around the first of November, since we are often travelling long distances on the highways, but we may have to begin our vigilance early this year!
Imagine heating all those cottages for all that time just so they will be comfortably warm for one holiday weekend? That is incredible waste. I am reading a book now called THE DROWNED WORLD, written in the 1960s by J. G. Ballard about the world after the melting of the ice caps and the super-warming of the entire Earth. Yes, it’s sci-fi fiction but as I read along, I can’t help thinking that it also could be very real in the not-too-distant future.
There’s so much hoopla going on with ‘climatic change’ right now, Bex, that you can’t tell what’s real and what isn’t. It’s big business and big government trying to push a cause when the actual science shows conflicting information.
Remember the World Health Organization screaming “Pandemic! Pandemic!” just a few years ago when we had that swine flu outbreak? In reality that flu season saw fewer deaths than many years – but the politics. The WHO creating this uproar was able to get numerous gov’ts to change their laws and give WHO more control over their countries, in case a pandemic ever really does happen.
Hmmm, oldest appliance? I’ve purchased very very few. 30+ years ago maybe a water heater, I think? I’ve had extraordinary good luck with large appliances – with actually very little need for repair. Last summer I thought my clothes dryer was on the blink, but it ended up that it was clogged with an accumulation of lint. It continues to work as well as the day it was purchased 14 years ago. When I added the apartment for my mother, I moved my electric stove into her kitchen and purchased one for myself that cooks with flame – propane. About 2 years after its installation (past warranty) the oven no longer ignited. *sigh* The repair cost nearly $500 because the *part* that needed to be replaced was a large computerized unit – and the replaced part came with only a 30 day warranty. This disposable mindset is disgraceful. When given the repair estimate I briefly debated whether or not to buy a new stove. I opted on the pricey repair.
It’s not a large appliance, but I still make waffles with the waffle iron of my childhood – and yes, it’s electric if anyone is thinking smart-aleck thoughts. 🙂
Several years ago I visited a friend who lives 6 months each year in Cuernavaca, Mexico. One day we were doing errands and one errand was to pick up a teeny-tiny-smidgeon part required to repair the family’s ancient blender. My friend is often disdainful of the American mindset – too quick to trash perfectly good items that just need a little bit of tweaking.
Oh! Now you got me thinking, Reenie. Waffle iron… Yes, I have a waffle iron/pizzelle maker that was given to me somewhere around 1980, when I was married to XH who was Italian-American. So that would make the waffle maker about 34 years old, though I’m not sure of the actual age.
But interestingly, my current DH is the user of the waffle iron. He makes fantastic, light waffles.
Bex, it does seem over the top, heating all that vacant space, doesn’t it! When we see all these fabulous places in magazines and on TV, we are seldom alerted to the details of how they are maintained, and at what cost. Our seasonal neighbours keep the heat just above freezing and then turn it up when they arrive, so many people handle it that way. Homes with running water need to be “winterized” if the heat is to be left off for the winter, or the pipes will freeze. We winterize our country house if we are going away overnight during the winter, in case the heating system fails while we are not here.
Repairing older appliances can work out very well I think Reenie, as long as the other parts in the appliance are in good enough condition to last for a while. We looked into repairing our first refrigerator at the little house in the city, the used one. But it was over ten years old when it kicked the bucket with us, and the estimates for repairs was higher than the cost of a new one, so we went with the new one. However, we did pass that old refrigerator on to a fellow who took every single part, every screw and handle and bit, including the manuals – I think he felt confident repairing it himself, and so it was worthwhile. While I might try my hand at repairing some appliances, I wouldn’t feel confident tackling any appliances using refrigerants, or gas or propane.
That waffle iron sounds like a gem!