It’s still cold here but no frost for a while and none on the forecast. We are just having occasional drizzles, fog, and clouds so basically it’s been a bit miserable. I’m keeping the wood heater on almost 24/7 just to keep the damp out and to make it a bit more cheery indoors. The cats seem to appreciate it. I have already used maybe 20% of the wood in the big stack which needs to last us at least till August. We may get a few warmer sunny days before that if we are lucky. I am still working slowly on the garden and have removed the dirt from another garden bed, smoothed it off towards the fence to the back paddock, and thrown out some more grass seed. I’ve been busy with other things, like digging up about a dozen shrubs that have grown up on the roadside and planting them out in the front yard and back paddock. The ones I did back in May all seem healthy and still alive so at least they are a success.
The new double glazed sliding doors and window were installed on Monday and one guy came back Tuesday to install the architraves inside and some exterior flashing for the window upstairs. It’s only taken about 8 months from ordering them to finally getting them installed. The doors are very smooth and easy to open and close and everything has key locks. I got some white silicone sealant to fix a couple of boo boos with the cement board panelling above the window, possibly today since the roof is dry. We still have to put some clear finish over the architraves and wood surrounds and get some new vertical blinds for the sliding doors and we have already ordered new slimline aluminium blinds for the window upstairs.
We think it is definitely warmer in the house now but it’s hard to tell without a really cold night to compare with. There is no sound at all from next door when they are outdoors doing stuff late at night so the double glazing is at least working for that. I’ve been able to let the fire die down completely overnight so we are definitely using less wood. I am in the process of splitting up what’s left in the big pile and stacking it in the woodshed, but I may look into getting some green wood for next winter now.
