December 2022 Island Trip – Day 5

A whole lot happened today:

• We closed up the exterior east side of the lower barn. Our AN had this on his list, and the weather got decidedly cold today which kept him busy winterizing at his place. The barn was open for about a 2’ x 12’ area at the south end of the east side from when our AN put heat tape and pipe insulation around the house supply lines. Before replacing the two long boards, we filled in the open area under the slab with insulation, and my DH created some physical separation between the stand pipe well and the area we insulated. Yes, hard to image… Just know it’s a huge needed improvement and the house water supply should be set, unless hell freezes over.
• In the last windstorm, a vent cap came off of Stella. My DH climbed the ginormous ladder and reinstalled the cap.
• My DH also, with aid from the ginormous ladder, put wire nuts on some bare wires poking out of the lower barn. The wires had a ‘prison yard’ light attached to them, and I thought it’d be easy to swap the unsightly fixture out for something more attractive, but I was incorrect… We’ll get back to this project when it’s warmer and we both have a little more patience.
• We built a wooden 3 x 3’ box to sit over the compost pit. This to allow the ravens and foxes to explore what their hoomans have put out, and hopefully keep them from spreading avocado skins, eggshells and teabags All Over The Place 😂. We chose the size thinking the critters would feel safe dipping in and out. The box, built from all sorts of salvaged timber, has been christened FrankenBox.
• The bat house is finally up!! It’s been collecting spiders for over 4-years. Hopefully that’ll attract bats!
• Speaking of heat tape… It’s now 25 degrees here. As my anxiety about the house’s water supply waned, my trailer water supply worries were on a fast simmer. We did indeed return to reduced water pressure. Running hot water from each tap helped a little. Long story short, there is now heat tape attached to the water supply hose (Thank You DH!), and my flee instinct has settled down. Running Stella’s furnace helped with my overall comfort too. The electric heaters have been struggling to keep the space warm. There is a heated water supply hose in my Amazon cart…

It snowed for most of the day. At times the sun broke through, low in the sky, lighting up the surrounding trees and fields as it kept snowing. It was stunningly beautiful. Tomorrow morning’s 7am low is predicted at 21-degrees 😳. I’m sure we will be very efficient at buttoning things up and heading home.