Replacement of an Oil Tank

As many of you know, my house is heated with a combination of an oil run furnace and a wood stove.  The wood stove was installed in January of my first year in the house after an all-day power outage that left the house frigidly cold.  The need for a secondary heat source was totally evident and so I had that dealt with in very short order.

When I bought my house, the inspection noted that they weren’t able to determine the actual age of the oil tank (though the furnace itself was less than two years old as it had just been replaced.  I knew that I would have to have the oil tank dealt with as a high priority item as I had read a few articles about the major problems that occur for home owners when an oil tank ages to the point where it develops a leak.

Mine was still “oil tight” but I was nervous about how long it might actually last and so along with the hot water tank (which was in even more dire need of replacement) and the toilet, it was a consideration for “top three” items to be dealt with.

In June of this year I was finally able to have the tank replaced, so I contacted my oil company and got the ball rolling.

First things first, they drained the old tank and pulled it out and disposed of it.

Old Faithful - drained and ready
to be taken away...

Next, they cleared a new space and then poured a small concrete pad that the new oil tank would sit on.

That looks awfully small for an oil tank!

And finally? Installation and fill of the new tank.

THAT's why the concrete
pad was so small!

The old tank held about 900 litres, whereas the new holds about 600 - so it takes up a LOT less space than the old one. I used the space where the old one was to build a small raised bed in which I will plant next year’s pumpkin crop!

With love across the waters,

Happy Anniversary to Me!

 Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of “all hell breaking loose” for me. One year ago yesterday I:

• Started my new job (and the associated training program – which just finished last week,)
• Took possession of my new home, and;
• Moved into my new home (and out of the townhouse I was renting)

When I look back over the past year (as is, I think, appropriate to do right about now) I can see I have accomplished a lot both on the job and around my house…

At work I have made a good change for myself – am now involved in a job I like – one that interests and challenges me and, for the most part, one I can leave at the office when I go home at the end of my day.

At home I have made a start to the renovations inside (and the removal of 17 different kinds of wallpaper)

And am now surrounded by clean lines and light colours:

I made a start to the changes in the back and front yards.  I hacked back a lot of this:

Removed all SORTS of strange and interesting crap:

And am left with this for now:

No more jungle out there but still a ways to go.

Where renovations to the house itself are concerned, I have also learned that I need to use some temperance in getting things started – or rather, taking on only one project at a time and seeing it through to completion BEFORE starting a new one.

I have learned how to water-bath can food and am in the throes of preserving as much of the current bounty of my space as I can before winter sets in. Next year I hope to have an actual garden and to produce (and preserve for myself) even more of what I can grow.

I still have a long way to go, but looking back, I’m pleased with my progress.

With love across the waters,

Two Things Left on the Feng Shui List and Summer Fruit Fun

One week finished on the 2012 Summer vacation and I’m afraid I haven’t done anything terribly exciting to report.  I have, however, knocked one more item off of my Feng Shui list of cures, and started summer fruit and vegetable stocking for winter consumption.

Feng Shui update first:

This week I was able to, finally, complete another Feng Shui cure for my home – something quite simple, actually, but not something I was able to easily get done as I don’t have a table saw.  You just raised your eyebrows, didn’t you?

Over my front stairs there is a hole – sort of an attic type of hatch, if you will.  I’m sure there was a hatch cover there at one time, but when I took possession of the house said hatch was long gone and so all that was visible was a hole over my stairs.  A good place to store things, incidentally – as I found out this week when I pulled out my step ladder and looked up there wondering if the original hatch might actually be up there and just pushed aside.  Nope.  Another (dust covered) picture, a couple of tennis rackets and some odds and ends, but no hatch.

Anyhow, this week I spent an overnight at my mum & Dad’s house and Dad cut me a hatch.  I had some plywood I was willing to take down with me, but he had some scraps on hand and didn’t need it.  Hatch cut, when I got home I did a Three Secrets reinforcement and installed the hatch.

My Teacher and Feng Shui friend, Terri Perrin, has the Three Secrets Reinforcement method described on her website – and as Terri has taught me, this reinforcement is an excellent way to set intention when a cure is being put into place.  Here’s the link to Terri’s site.

This leaves two final cures for me to complete.  It’s been nearly a year since I moved into the house and so nearly a year since I had Terri’s consultation and started the process of putting the cures into place.  The two left aren’t big or scary and will be hardly noticeable to anyone casually observing my home… there have been far more significant changes to the house and yard in the last 11 months, but over the last 11 months things have slowly come together in and around the house from an energetic perspective. Have things changed? Yes. Drastically? Not that anyone other than me would notice, but this process has actually been all about me, so I have noticed BIG changes.

I’m hopeful that some time in the next month or so I may be able to obtain the materials needed for the last two cures.  I’m not in a financial position to just go out there and buy things, so I am asking the universe to supply me with what I need – a water feature (I am thinking a solar-run water fountain or maybe a bird bath) and a window (36” by about 24” should do nicely!) – OH - and for the window, someone to help me install it.

Ha ha ha!

In October Terri is holding a workshop which I am saving some money to attend – creating and filling a Wealth Vase with intention.  Wealth and abundance are always appreciated and anything to help “tweak” that will come in handy.  If you are in the Comox Valley and interested in attending, I encourage you to check out Terri’s site for more information.  I know she only had 12 spaces initially available and at this point there might be a spot or two left, but then again, there might not!

Ok… on to the Fresh Summer Fruit Fun.

I LOVE summer fruit – nectarines, peaches, strawberries, cherries, plums and on and on and on… Local fruit is starting to hit the shops and fruit stands now and sometimes the prices are great for stockpiling. I’m planning to build a raised garden bed before the end of October – I will need one as Mum is going to give me some garlic to plant… and then come spring I’ll put in beans and tomatoes and whatnot…

Anyhow, down at Mum and Dad’s place things are starting to ripen and get put up for winter.  I came home with a great handful of beans (don’t know what kind) which last night I chopped up, blanched, froze on a cookie sheet overnight and then bagged and put into the chest freezer today.

I did some grocery shopping this morning and picked up a case of 18 freestone Okanagan peaches for $9.99.  Tomorrow I will start processing them.  Eventually I will can them, but until I get my hands on canning supplies (like, well, everything!) I will freeze them similarly to how I processed the beans.  Come October I’ll process all of my frozen plums into jam and can the peaches and likely my pears at that point too. 

That will be my first canning ever and I’m looking forward to learning a new skill that will allow me to put up my own fruits and vegetables in such a way that I can enjoy my own produce all year ‘round. I’m hopeful I may be able to trade some of my apples (down the road) for other fruits and vegetable that I can put up.  Between freezing, dehydrating, and canning, I’m thinking I should be able to become fairly self-sufficient with longer term storage of fruits and vegetables.

Anyhow, for now, I’m looking forward to having a freezer full of yummy summer goodness that will keep my face smiling in the winter. 

Peaches and ice cream anyone?

With love across the waters,

A Gardening Kind of Weekend

The weather two weekends ago wasn’t terrible – it also wasn’t hot and sunny… which means that it was a perfect weekend for being outside doing outside chores – the mundane ones AND the much more interesting ones.


This is my first spring and summer in my home and this year has been the learning year where the yard is concerned. When I moved in, on September 27^th of last year, the Damson plum tree was in the full throes of harvest, the Granny Smith apple tree was in high growth and the yard was an overgrown jungle.  There was a pressed down path where I could creep quietly from the concrete patio to the back fence, but the Sumac had taken over, the weeds and grass were out of control and I had no idea what I was looking forward to.


Instead of digging everything out and starting with mud (which may have crossed my mind briefly before I considered Jasmine, mud and the inside of my house) I spoke with my parents and they wisely advised me to do very little in the fall and winter and start with an eye to “what would I like to keep” come the spring. 


Small side-bar here, I LOVE being in BC in the early spring – getting snowdrops (the flowers, not the cold flakes) in February beats the hell out of February in Ontario where all gotten is wet, cold, cold and wet!


In the front garden bed, Snowdrops and both purple and yellow crocuses were followed by pink and purple hyacinths and yellow and red tulips that reached about 2’ tall! Soon after that, bluebells followed - bachelor buttons hard on their heels. The bachelor buttons are nearly done and now there are flowers on the lilac bush out front, buttercups and white with purple flowers on the rhododendrons.  When the rhodos are finished flowering I will be getting in there with my secateurs to complete a brutal trimming – there are two of them and they are tall, stringy and weedy looking. You may recall I have removed a couple of trees and thought I had completely cut back and killed the wisteria that had grown up over the roof line and into the attic – but no… I looked out the other morning and the wisteria vines are starting to creep around the stump. Hm.  Now I need to make the decision as to what I would like to do about this – cut it back or train it up the stair railing and see if the damn thing blooms post brutal pruning.


The back yard was more the focus of that weekend’s out of doors activities…I got started on the usual pre-work activity of picking up any and all dog bombs happened first and then I mowed the lawn. Next up, I pulled the Giant Hogweed seedlings I had spotted & then pulled up the square patio tiles and dug out a whole PILE of sumac roots.  Sumac is a self-starter and sends out runners (much like strawberries) and the roots really need to be dug out if you want to try and prevent more from coming up.  I was all in after that and came in & had a shower and did some laundry.


Monday was a little more interesting… I cut down a stump, dug out the ferns (and re-planted one of them in a different place) re-planted a Hosta that had been placed into a container, moved some things around, pruned dead wood off of a shrub, planted the potted lilac that was just not growing happily (pot was WAY too small and the poor thing was root bound.)


I took a bunch of pictures and was all ready to upload them, but learned that my blog pictures file is almost and if I want to add more, I have to start paying for photo storage space... so now the decisions need to be made - should I spend the money on buying photo storage space, should I go back & start removing photos, or should I just start a new blog and start fresh...?  Hm. Decisions, decisions... what do you think I should do...?


Here's what I was able to upload...


With love across the waters,

re-arranged

Transplanted Lilac

Teeny tiny hosta!

Apples - pre cull... now there's 1

Bearded Iris

White-pink Peones

Deep purply-red Peones

transplanted fern

Really have no idea what this is, but it
sure is pretty!!!

Also no idea what this is - looks a little like pom-poms...

Adventures in Plumbing - and Planning!

Hm.

My marvellous team from KWA Construction got here after work tonight & started with draining the hot water tank. A process in itself since they needed to run a hose out of the house (through the mud room door)  While it was draining they replaced the toilet – and discovered I WILL need to have repairs done on the floor (sooner rather than later) as the floor has rotted out under the toilet.  It isn’t going to crash through to the crawl space any time in the immediate future, but it is definitely something that needs attention (after the front door and hot water tank walls have been repaired.

Toilet installed, they disconnected the hot water tank and started with moving it away from the wall and found out that… the pressure release line was releasing straight onto the laundry room flooring – NO DRAIN THERE AT ALL!

No wonder the wall is like it is!

Anyhow, the good news is that there is a line under the house (in the crawl space) that Kel can drill into to connect the pressure release line.  As a temporary stop-gap (for tonight so that I *can* have hot water for my shower in the morning, he had a look in the crawl space tonight & seeing it to be OK, drilled through the floor to run the drain straight into the crawl space for now. He will either come back tomorrow to run the line into the sewer pipe, or some time after the long weekend.  It’s just a measure taken to be on the safe side until the permanent solution can be put into place.

Oh – and when he cut through the floor – or, rather, floors – there were actually *3* sub floors below the floor that I walk on!!!

I took pictures – it’s pretty amazing!

Anyhow, they are now finished with the final installation for the hot water tank.  Lines are bled, tank is full and it's humming away making new hot water for me!

Next up, I'm getting quotes on replacement of the front door and the repairs of the floor.

Owning a home is, sometimes, more like being owned BY the home - with all of the maintenance and repairs needed - but this is a good thing - the house is mine, the results of the repairs benefit me directly and make life lived in my home that much more, well, special!

With love across the waters,