Over the Weekend

We had quite the busy weekend:

our Cub Scout Blue & Gold Banquet,

visiting daughter and grandson and

trying to get some stuff cleaned up around the house.

Big E was able to get all the scrap metal (including the old fridge)

off to the scrap yard and out of the garage.

 The bonfire pictured above was the result of another part of the clean up.

We had a stack of wood piled in the garage 

from tearing down walls and whatnot.

We managed to get it to the burn pile at the homestead,

and burned all the scrap wood plus all the yard and garden waste from the homestead

and started on a pile of pine branches that have been sitting by the barn.

We actually got a lot accomplished, and that's a good thing

because starting today, our temps are reaching the 60's and 70's.

That means I'll be outside removing shrubs.

That also means more stuff for the burn pile.

But that's not an issue because who doesn't love

a good bonfire?

Rewiring the House

Old houses typically have old wiring,

unless someone at sometime has taken the time and money

to have it rewired.

No one has had anything rewired in our place.

We still have old knob and tube wiring.

Above you can see the old wire and the pile of dirt under it

which is in fact the disintegrating pieces of the old wires' casing.

Lovely. 

Here our handy master electrician friend works on what I considered the scariest outlet.

It had caught on fire at one time

and the wall also showed signs of scorching.

 It's amazing that the house hasn't burned down.

It's lots of fun hearing the electrician say things like"

"What the hell?!"

"I've been doing electrical work for a long time and I'm never seen anything like this."

"What the hell were they thinking?!"

After a while, everyone had to switch to headlamps as the sun

was going down and the electricity was not turned on.

In fact, I was priming the kitchen walls
by oil lamp.
We're still not finished the rewiring process.
We have the whole upstairs to do and the kitchen, dining room and back room
to finish downstairs.
We haven't met an outlet that doesn't have some sort of issue.
Stay tuned for the continuation
of the Rewiring project.

Annual Hayride

Friends of the family have an annual hayride and bonfire in the fall. 

Here are a few photos of this past year's event.

 The host driving the tractor on the first hayride of the night

 The fire, welcome on a cold night.