catsittingstill (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
catsittingstill) wrote2009-02-14 07:27 am
catsittingstill) wrote2009-02-14 07:27 am
Camp is becoming more homelike
Well, we're mostly moved. There are a few bookcases that still need to be packed out, and most of the contents of the attic, and the carport (especially the canoe and bike stuff) but we're most of the way to being cleaned out of the old place, and we have till the end of the month to be packed out and gone, so I'd say we're comfortably ahead of schedule.
The new place is gradually becoming more homelike. The glorious addition of DSL (the modem wasn't supposed to arrive until yesterday but it actually arrived two days early) was a big improvement over the dialup ghetto we were living in before. Getting our desks assembled in the office so that we had a place to sit was also a quantum jump in homelikeness. Moving the rest of the kitchen (who'd have thought we'd miss the condiments and the dishwashing stuff so much? But the one day we didn't have them, we did.) was another jump.
Thank goodness for the paper "insta-curtains" they had at Lowes. They're basically this accordion-pleated paper stuff with an adhesive strip on the top pleat--cut to width with an exacto knife, peal the cover strip off the adhesive, and stick to the top of the window frame. They have two clips (a bit like clothespins) to hold them up and out of the way during the day, and at night you take the clips off and they accordion down to cover the windows so the neighbors can't see you wandering around in your pajamas. And they cost a trifle over 3$ each, which considering how many windows this house has, is a Very Good Thing. Eventually I will need to replace them with something real, but at least I don't have to worry about it right now.
There have been little surprises, like discovering that one of the garage windows was on the verge of falling out, but so far they've all been fixable.
And today I go pick up the used washer and dryer I bought in Knoxville. I wonder how hard they are to hook up?
The new place is gradually becoming more homelike. The glorious addition of DSL (the modem wasn't supposed to arrive until yesterday but it actually arrived two days early) was a big improvement over the dialup ghetto we were living in before. Getting our desks assembled in the office so that we had a place to sit was also a quantum jump in homelikeness. Moving the rest of the kitchen (who'd have thought we'd miss the condiments and the dishwashing stuff so much? But the one day we didn't have them, we did.) was another jump.
Thank goodness for the paper "insta-curtains" they had at Lowes. They're basically this accordion-pleated paper stuff with an adhesive strip on the top pleat--cut to width with an exacto knife, peal the cover strip off the adhesive, and stick to the top of the window frame. They have two clips (a bit like clothespins) to hold them up and out of the way during the day, and at night you take the clips off and they accordion down to cover the windows so the neighbors can't see you wandering around in your pajamas. And they cost a trifle over 3$ each, which considering how many windows this house has, is a Very Good Thing. Eventually I will need to replace them with something real, but at least I don't have to worry about it right now.
There have been little surprises, like discovering that one of the garage windows was on the verge of falling out, but so far they've all been fixable.
And today I go pick up the used washer and dryer I bought in Knoxville. I wonder how hard they are to hook up?
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Hmm. Come to think of it, this is a front loader; it won't spin around a vertical axis anyway. Is levelling as important with a front loader?
Right now the hot water heater is set *quite* hot. I haven't measured the temp yet, and maybe it's because the house has a dishwasher, but getting a warm shower that isn't too hot is a bit of a trick. So I expect the warm wash to be, um, probably quite warm. I almost always wash in cold, so maybe it doesn't matter too much.
New hoses and vents are purchased, since the units didn't come with any, except the washer outflow hose :-) I got the good hoses with the braided wire reinforcement--I heard those were less likely to fail.
I *hope* a dryer cord transplant won't be necessary, but haven't checked whether the cord will fit the plug yet.
The vent goes into the attic, through the attic by means of a LOOOONG piece of dryer vent, and ends at a soffit vent. The problem is it's twisted around in there, so the open end of the dryer vent doesn't point directly at the soffit vent. We may have to take the soffit vent off, which I am unenthused about because it appears to have been fastened with nails rather than screws. But if necessary I will do it; I have screws to put it back with.
I found one birdie nest, in the knee of a gutter drainpipe, and reluctantly removed it. I like baby birdies but not in the cracks of my house, please. Maybe I will put up a bird house somewhere in the yard for them.
I'm wondering just how house poor I'm going to end up in the next couple of months :-)
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Hot water should be set somewhere between 120F and 140F, more or less to taste; lower saves energy and would be important if you had short people in the house; higher helps the dishwasher (although frankly good detergent *really* helps the dishwasher; I like the BioKleen natural grapefruit-based powder in the cannister.... a little pricey but a little goes a long way and does a good job on my dishes even in an el-cheapo apartment-grade dishwasher.)
You want to wash towels and such on as hot a water as they will accept; cuts down on the mildew factor. Not *as* bad in ET as it is in the PNW, but still. Other than that, cold is fine, especially with modern detergents.... some of the commercial ones are even designed for cold, and some of the natural ones work pretty well that way too. If you've got a newer front loader, look for the HE symbol on your detergent; you'll use less. (Some of the naturals are HE as well.)
Woo, that dryer vent is gonna be trouble. You want that venting all the way to the outside; if it's just pointed at the soffit vent you're gonna have moisture problems up there, and in the roof area, that's Bad News.
What kinda birdies? (A nest this early won't be actively used by babies...)
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There are warnings on the front of the hot water heater that make it sound like I should have a pro do the temp adjusting. I know just the guy but he just had back surgery so I want to give him a month or so to heal up.
I have plans of getting it turned around and pointed out the soffit vent; it sounds like those are more urgent than I thought, though.
I don't know what kind of birdies made the nest; it was mostly straw-like-stuff, held together with mud and with a mud lining--but there may have been down in there before the winter winds got hold of it...
A carolina wren made a nest in the nose of my old canoe a few years go and raised a fine crop of babies there, which were very cute when they went through their learning-to-fly stage. That nest was mostly sphagnum moss, or something local that is very like it, texture wise. But a nest's structural components may depend heavily on what is available nearby; I dunno.
If the nest had had actual baby birdies or eggs in it, I wouldn't have torn it down :-)
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