Day 20 Homestead.

Opened the door in the morning to a brilliant sunny day. Not a cloud in the sky and you could see the glaciers across Kachemak Bay very clearly. Temp was in the high 30’s and later went up to 51. A terrible day to leave home and spend most of the day driving.
Gathered up the wrong stove pipe and the RYOBI electric chainsaw for which the Depot doesn’t sell the batteries, some other odds and ends and took off for Kenai. Saw a young bull moose grazing by the side of the road. Had illegal sized antlers so no one could shoot him even during the season. He’s walking around with the equivalent to a bullet proof vest. Another couple of years and he’ll be a target. It’s 86 miles to Kenai and I wish someone else could drive so that I could ooh and aah over the scenery. Summer stayed home to work. While I was gone she cleaned up the trailer, washed dishes and took a long overdue shower.
Upon my return from Kenai we ate a couple of small steaks, a small baked potato and some salad. Then I had my long overdue hot shower. When the waterman came earlier today and we arranged to be topped off every Monday. You can’t drink the water because of the excess chlorine, kind of like swimming pool water. It’s okay for cleaning dishes and yourself but I wouldn’t drink it except in an emergency.
While I was gone Summer, also, insulated all of the pipes in the open wall. Tomorrow our goal is to make a couple of wires go the the panel, hook them up to see what else might be turned on. Much of the house is yet to be electrified. The previous owner left us surprise after surprise. It’s like a terrifying Christmas in October or maybe an early Halloween. No treats just tricks. If everything goes well we’ll be closing up the wall. Inside we’ll remove the damaged sheetrock and insulate from the inside. Also going to attempt to get the stove pipe installed and then call one of Summer’s neighbor friend’s husband to help us place the 200+ pound wood stove.
There’s a lot to be said about rehabbing an old house. Most of it not good, if you don’t have the correct frame of mind. As for myself the rehabbing isn’t a problem. Getting supplies locally is just too expensive and driving to Kenai every time we need supplies is a pain in the derriere. Driving to Kenai cost about $30 but on these 1200-1400 dollar orders I’m saving about $200-300. So drive I must.
Am looking forward to closing the pneumonia holes in the bath room and then all my work will be inside. When the wind blows up here it really blows. 25 mph is fairly common. Combine that with 40 degree weather and you hands and feet can get cold. It’s kinda like when I joined the Navy. I signed up for everything that happens good or bad. Today was another excellent day.