So we've been relatively lucky so far with unforseen house "issues" since we've moved in, but the big exception has been the furnace. Earlier in the fall we discovered that it was trying to suffocate us by not being connected to the chimney. The vent pipe had been popped out and we didn't notice-not to mention the pipe being held together, literally, with tape and wire (thanks for finding that Dad!)
Things have been pretty quiet for the past few weeks, though, so we thought things were going pretty good. Then came Sunday morning-turns out it was just biding its time.
I got up to let the dog out and noticed that the house was awfully cold, so I checked the thermostat and realized that the furnace wasn't running. I ran downstairs and checked the fuel tank (which said we still had an eighth of a tank) and the burner itself. The reset button had popped, so I hit that once and nothing happened. Normally this wouldn't be a huge deal, except we were having all the students over for an end of year dinner party that evening, so having a heated house seemed like a high priority.
I called the emergency contact number and talked to a really nice service guy who walked me through checking a bunch of things (including hitting the reset button again-this will have significance later) and suggested that our fuel gauge might have been stuck, so we probably ran dry without knowing it and we should get some diesel fuel to tide us over to Monday when we could get a fuel shipment. So I ran out to Tractor Supply, got a couple diesel containers and proceeded to top of the tank (managing to only spill a bit on myself). We let everything settle and then tried to fire things up again. Nothing.
So I did some internet repair research and found out how to bleed the fuel line (thanks wikihow). I managed to do that pretty successfully (only a little bit of spillage, quickly cleaned up with baby powder and cat litter) and figured we were in the clear. Ha.
Unfortunately, the furnace still wouldn't light (even with another cycle of the reset button), so I called the furnace people again, they walked me through bleeding the line again (still nothing but another round of the reset button), so they kindly said they'd send somebody out. Of course by this time it was almost 1 and the students were coming at 3:30.
The furnace man actually got there pretty soon and set to taking things apart. Pretty quickly he discovered that fuel woes weren't even close to being the main problem with the furnace. The igniter was shot, as well as the transformer that provides the spark. Fortunately he happened to have all the parts he needed on the truck, so after a relative minimum of fussing, all the parts were back in place. We had a little trouble when the upstairs thermostat stopped responding and then kicked on unexpectedly while the fuel pump was engaged (the upshot being that is was like hitting the reset button two or three times-are you keeping count? Good-we're almost there).
So at this point Steph came home with the pup (they'd gone to the dog park to tire Shasta out before the party). I came out into the backyard while the repairman finished up. We were chatting and then suddenly Steph's eyes went wide at almost exactly the same time that every smoke detector in the house started going off. I turned around and we saw a giant plume of black smoke coming out of our chimney with even more visible through the windows in the rest of the house. The furnace guy came...well, "staggering" is too strong a word, but it was close, out of the basement door coughing in a cloud of smoke, and let us know that the furnace was most definitely working now.
So what happened? Remember all those "reset button" pushes? Everytime you do that, unless there actually isn't any fuel, a primer stream of oil gets pumped into the combustion chamber. Without any spark, our furnace had accumulated quite the prime, all of which went up at once when the furnace finally lit, hence the smokestack effect. Needless to say, this wasn't exactly what we were expecting less than an hour before house guests, but with fans, a ton of candles, incense, and an aggressively mulled cider pot on the stove we managed to clear out the diesel fumes and smoke in time for everyone to arrive, and tonight we have a pleasantly purring furnace, a full oil tank and a deep and abiding respect for the reset button.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Sunday, December 11, 2011
At the end of the day, a teaser of future blogposts...
"Thank you for taking care of everything else while I watched the furnace man blow up our house."
It's been a fun day in homeowner-land.
(We and the house are all fine and even had a lovely dinner party tonight, but it was an interesting early afternoon).
To be continued...
It's been a fun day in homeowner-land.
(We and the house are all fine and even had a lovely dinner party tonight, but it was an interesting early afternoon).
To be continued...
Sunday, November 20, 2011
House!
Making progress on making this house our home - we've been managing to do at least something every weekend!
This is the den downstairs- pale yellow walls with a red accent wall. I like accent walls, but the red was just too - red. So we painted it a charcoal gray.
It's peaceful, soothing, and looks fantastic!
We tried out about 6 different shades of green for the kitchen, which was originally tan. We settled on the one between the green leaves on the trees and the blue sky with the birds- it's called Pine Needle.
This is exactly what I wanted. It's a neat color -it looks green in some lights and gray in others. Either way, it looks perfect.
The living room is still a work in progress - we're probably going to paint it a peachy color. But at least it's functional and comfortable now!
The one room that's done - the dining room. It was definitely the easiest room to unpack :-)
Next on the list:
- kitchen island (we're rebuilding an old one we found at a thrift store)
- paint foyer/hall/upstairs landing/stairs
- paint living room
- find bench/coffee table/ottoman
- unpack the entire upstairs (other than what we've really needed, like my research stuff, it's still in boxes and not exactly neatly arranged boxes, either)
- paint the bedroom (we're thinking a greeny color called Ocean)
- plant the daffodils and tulips
- clean up the yard (ugh)
- and all sorts of other fun stuff. Like making art for the walls. Or updating the electricity or plumbing.
Yay, house. It's so fun to be able to change things.
This is the den downstairs- pale yellow walls with a red accent wall. I like accent walls, but the red was just too - red. So we painted it a charcoal gray.
It's peaceful, soothing, and looks fantastic!
We tried out about 6 different shades of green for the kitchen, which was originally tan. We settled on the one between the green leaves on the trees and the blue sky with the birds- it's called Pine Needle.
This is exactly what I wanted. It's a neat color -it looks green in some lights and gray in others. Either way, it looks perfect.
The living room is still a work in progress - we're probably going to paint it a peachy color. But at least it's functional and comfortable now!
The one room that's done - the dining room. It was definitely the easiest room to unpack :-)Next on the list:
- kitchen island (we're rebuilding an old one we found at a thrift store)
- paint foyer/hall/upstairs landing/stairs
- paint living room
- find bench/coffee table/ottoman
- unpack the entire upstairs (other than what we've really needed, like my research stuff, it's still in boxes and not exactly neatly arranged boxes, either)
- paint the bedroom (we're thinking a greeny color called Ocean)
- plant the daffodils and tulips
- clean up the yard (ugh)
- and all sorts of other fun stuff. Like making art for the walls. Or updating the electricity or plumbing.
Yay, house. It's so fun to be able to change things.
Halloween!!
Our first Halloween in our new house- we had 191 kids come!
Jim set up the rubber animals - this is taken from kid-eye view. We had one who refused to approach because he was scared of spiders.
Orange lights, pumpkins, skulls, rats, tombstones (one mother told her son that those were the graves of kids who don't say "thank you")
Our decor had nothing on our neighbors across the street. They were featured in national newspapers, and you can see why: in addition to the complete graveyard set up (complete with dead brides, zombies, vampires, witches, etc), they had a witch grandmother and granddaughter playing the fiddle in the front yard (no, really)!
The candy mailed to us from the Natural Candy Store! There's something especially amazing about having a box of chocolate mailed to you. We actually ran out - Jim had to run to the store to get more at 7:30!
Our friend D came down for the holiday - she's a wizard and I'm a witch. We looked awesome.
This is what the kids saw when they rang the doorbell :-)
Jim was a raven. It was quite scary.
Trick-or-treaters on the street in the evening autumn glow....
Jim set up the rubber animals - this is taken from kid-eye view. We had one who refused to approach because he was scared of spiders.
Orange lights, pumpkins, skulls, rats, tombstones (one mother told her son that those were the graves of kids who don't say "thank you")
Our decor had nothing on our neighbors across the street. They were featured in national newspapers, and you can see why: in addition to the complete graveyard set up (complete with dead brides, zombies, vampires, witches, etc), they had a witch grandmother and granddaughter playing the fiddle in the front yard (no, really)!
The candy mailed to us from the Natural Candy Store! There's something especially amazing about having a box of chocolate mailed to you. We actually ran out - Jim had to run to the store to get more at 7:30!
Our friend D came down for the holiday - she's a wizard and I'm a witch. We looked awesome.
This is what the kids saw when they rang the doorbell :-)
Jim was a raven. It was quite scary.
Trick-or-treaters on the street in the evening autumn glow....
Snow in October
Again with the snow in October! We got about 8 inches of snow, when absolutely none of the leaves had fallen off the trees.
Big update
Long time no post. Sorry, to the four of you reading this blog. We've been really busy. We've been teaching and designing curricula and grading and furnishing and painting and unpacking and gardening and job applying and research and in general not sleeping much or posting much.
We took this weekend off, though, and that felt amazing.
So FINALLY at long last here are some pictures!
Us, our puppy, and our signed house documents!!
Our house number :-)
Our real estate agent left us a bottle of champagne on the mantel. Here's our gorgeous awesome living room.
Unpacking's been a process. For a while, we had boxes on the puppy's chair and so there was only the couch for all of us to sit on.
I can't believe autumn's almost over. It's a gorgeous season here in VA.
We took this weekend off, though, and that felt amazing.
So FINALLY at long last here are some pictures!
Us, our puppy, and our signed house documents!!
Our house number :-)
Our real estate agent left us a bottle of champagne on the mantel. Here's our gorgeous awesome living room.
Unpacking's been a process. For a while, we had boxes on the puppy's chair and so there was only the couch for all of us to sit on.
I can't believe autumn's almost over. It's a gorgeous season here in VA.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
HOUSE!!
We have a house!!!!!!!
We've been living here for a week after a blitz move-in last weekend. It's been a crazy crazy week at work (and cleaning out the house and and and) though so we haven't been able to unpack much or take pics yet. We will though.......
More forthcoming! We love it here.
We've been living here for a week after a blitz move-in last weekend. It's been a crazy crazy week at work (and cleaning out the house and and and) though so we haven't been able to unpack much or take pics yet. We will though.......
More forthcoming! We love it here.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Overheard...
S: "I'm going to miss our deck. I like how it surrounds the house. It feels like we're floating in the canopy of the trees."
J: "A second-story bedroom will do that too."
J: "A second-story bedroom will do that too."
Chincoteague
After we camped for two days we drove a bit south into Virginia's Eastern Shore and ended up in Chincoteague. Gorgeous! It's a cute beach town with beautiful sunsets and the wildlife refuge is amazing - it has endangered squirrels (ha) and wild ponies. They were beautiful.
This is taken from Main Street in Chincoteague...
The inside of the lighthouse. I think it's neat.
The outside of the light house - it's neat too.
This is taken from the beach on Assateague- the ocean's to my back and below the sun is the wildlife refuge and the marsh. The town of Chincoteague is straight ahead, but you can't see it.
OK, so, this is supposed to be a picture of wild horses, and they're there - they're the tiny little white dots near the trees. Ah well.
An oak toad. Isn't he cute?
This is taken from Main Street in Chincoteague...
The inside of the lighthouse. I think it's neat.
The outside of the light house - it's neat too.
This is taken from the beach on Assateague- the ocean's to my back and below the sun is the wildlife refuge and the marsh. The town of Chincoteague is straight ahead, but you can't see it.
OK, so, this is supposed to be a picture of wild horses, and they're there - they're the tiny little white dots near the trees. Ah well.
An oak toad. Isn't he cute?
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Aaaak!
A Cyclops Rudolph is hiding in the backseat! RUN!
Notes:
a. Jim wants me to say it was a bike seat. I think he's wrong.
b. This was at a Dunkin' Donuts. Not quite sure what that means.
Janes Island
Six miles of empty, undisturbed beach on an uninhabited island only accessible by boat.
A variety of calm and more exciting waters to explore by kayak.
More seabirds (and more kinds of seabirds!) than you can shake a stick at.
(Also, chiggers, blackflies, poison ivy and stinging jellies, but you know, they're kind of interesting too).
We went to Janes Island State Park in Maryland for a couple days last week, and spent the time kayaking, watching the mama osprey feed her baby, and sitting by the canal watching the sunset over the bay. It was lovely.
To get to the beach, you kayak across the canal, and follow the trails through the marsh till you get to a narrow spit of beach - about 10 feet of sand wide - that divides the marshy side of the Chesapeake from the bay side. Either way, the water is basically the Atlantic at this point, and you can't see across the bay. Lovely, quiet, undisturbed beaches...
This picture and the one above were taken from the same spot. That's the narrow beach we landed at, and then there's a bit of sand, and then there's the Atlantic.
The post is supporting a large osprey nest, and you can see the nearly-full-grown baby leaning out over the side, crying pitifully for his mother to come back and feed him. He was also testing his wings pretty frequently- flapping, and taking off for a few inches before crashing back into the nest. Poor guy, he must be frustrated up there.
That would be the stinging jellies that got both of us - Jim's ankle and my thighs. I swelled up pretty nicely, but it wasn't too bad, all things considered.
We found this unfortunately deceased blue crab (a male) near the swamp - pretty colors, though! Lots of people were crabbing and fishing at the state park.
We also found turtle eggs! They were right on the side of the beach, it looks like the waves may have washed away the top layer of sand.
This laughing gull was very bothered by our presence... makes me wish we had a better camera for pics like this. One day! I love the pattern of the water and the sand.
Right as we were getting ready to leave, we came across another lady who was kind enough to take a picture for us!
We also saw a fox and lots of fiddler crabs - it was a pretty awesome place.
I miss the beach already...
A variety of calm and more exciting waters to explore by kayak.
More seabirds (and more kinds of seabirds!) than you can shake a stick at.
(Also, chiggers, blackflies, poison ivy and stinging jellies, but you know, they're kind of interesting too).
We went to Janes Island State Park in Maryland for a couple days last week, and spent the time kayaking, watching the mama osprey feed her baby, and sitting by the canal watching the sunset over the bay. It was lovely.
To get to the beach, you kayak across the canal, and follow the trails through the marsh till you get to a narrow spit of beach - about 10 feet of sand wide - that divides the marshy side of the Chesapeake from the bay side. Either way, the water is basically the Atlantic at this point, and you can't see across the bay. Lovely, quiet, undisturbed beaches...
This picture and the one above were taken from the same spot. That's the narrow beach we landed at, and then there's a bit of sand, and then there's the Atlantic.
The post is supporting a large osprey nest, and you can see the nearly-full-grown baby leaning out over the side, crying pitifully for his mother to come back and feed him. He was also testing his wings pretty frequently- flapping, and taking off for a few inches before crashing back into the nest. Poor guy, he must be frustrated up there.
That would be the stinging jellies that got both of us - Jim's ankle and my thighs. I swelled up pretty nicely, but it wasn't too bad, all things considered.
We found this unfortunately deceased blue crab (a male) near the swamp - pretty colors, though! Lots of people were crabbing and fishing at the state park.
We also found turtle eggs! They were right on the side of the beach, it looks like the waves may have washed away the top layer of sand.
This laughing gull was very bothered by our presence... makes me wish we had a better camera for pics like this. One day! I love the pattern of the water and the sand.
Right as we were getting ready to leave, we came across another lady who was kind enough to take a picture for us!
We also saw a fox and lots of fiddler crabs - it was a pretty awesome place.
I miss the beach already...
Vacation bugs!
There were lots of cool bugs (and unfortunately some not so cool ones-ugh, chiggers!) on our vacation this year.
This luna moth was in the eaves of the camp office building, evidently hiding from the nuclear powered black flies that were at the campground. Gorgeous, though!
I've always wanted to see ant lion nests in the wild, and the forest floor in the campground was littered with them! Antlions are totally cool-think sarlaac monster from Return of the Jedi, but instead of henchmen falling to their doom it's ants.
This is a little hard to see, but if you look close at the tips of all the stalks of the bushes there are dragonflies hanging out on them-they were really pretty with gold spots all along their abdomens. It was a mix of males and females, though, so there was a lot of jockeying for the "good" twings to impress the ladies :)
This luna moth was in the eaves of the camp office building, evidently hiding from the nuclear powered black flies that were at the campground. Gorgeous, though!
I've always wanted to see ant lion nests in the wild, and the forest floor in the campground was littered with them! Antlions are totally cool-think sarlaac monster from Return of the Jedi, but instead of henchmen falling to their doom it's ants.
This is a little hard to see, but if you look close at the tips of all the stalks of the bushes there are dragonflies hanging out on them-they were really pretty with gold spots all along their abdomens. It was a mix of males and females, though, so there was a lot of jockeying for the "good" twings to impress the ladies :)
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Insecurities/housing update
It's been a while since we posted about the house we made an offer on. That's because we really don't know what's going on. Short sales require waiting. That's cool, we're good at waiting (positive affirmations help, right?). It's only been a couple of months, after all (...).
Since we put the offer in, we've:
a) had to prove that we can pay the down payment
b) had to set up an inspection just-in-case (fortunately, we don't have to pay for it until we know we can get the house)
c) had to prove that we can get a loan
d) been approved by lender #1
e) been informed that lender #2 wants lender #1 to pay them money (ha, unlikely)
f) been informed that lender #2 wants to do their own appraisal of the property
so that's where we are now. Apparently it's pretty normal for lenders to want to do their own appraisal. I'm a bit concerned because we don't want to pay anything more than we've offered. But what if it's only a little bit? Do we compromise that?
The house should appraise for more than the asking price- we're aware of that. But the market is terrible and the comparable houses in the area haven't sold. There are no other offers on this house, and it's likely to remain that way.
Other insecurities: buying now means low mortgage rates. But it seems as though this country is heading downhill fast - maybe it's because we're young and haven't seen too many crises, but I can see things getting much worse, much faster. And I don't have a promise of a steady full-time job in the future- I have several applications in the works and relatively steady part-time work, but it'd be great to have the security of a full time job. It almost seems like what we should have done was buy land or buy a house with a lot land that we can use to our own profit- chickens, big gardens.... or maybe I'm just totally paranoid and have seen too many zombie movies lately.
I guess I just need to keep reminding myself why we want to buy in the first place:
a) renting is more expensive than mortgages here
b) we'd LOVE to have our own place.
c) pet friendly options are scarce
d) we're going to be here for probably at least a few more years
e) we want to meet people and become part of a community (not easy as renters, here- it's not a college town after all)
I guess where I'm going with this is that if this house falls though (still about a 50/50 chance we'll get approved by the 2nd lender, I'd say, combined with the fact that we haven't done the inspection yet and we kept that as an escape clause - no dangerous houses for me!), I think I'm going to be ok with it.
(And I say that now, while all the stinkbugs are busy destroying crops and hanging out in places that are not the house I live in now- this house seems totally fine in summer....) ha.
Since we put the offer in, we've:
a) had to prove that we can pay the down payment
b) had to set up an inspection just-in-case (fortunately, we don't have to pay for it until we know we can get the house)
c) had to prove that we can get a loan
d) been approved by lender #1
e) been informed that lender #2 wants lender #1 to pay them money (ha, unlikely)
f) been informed that lender #2 wants to do their own appraisal of the property
so that's where we are now. Apparently it's pretty normal for lenders to want to do their own appraisal. I'm a bit concerned because we don't want to pay anything more than we've offered. But what if it's only a little bit? Do we compromise that?
The house should appraise for more than the asking price- we're aware of that. But the market is terrible and the comparable houses in the area haven't sold. There are no other offers on this house, and it's likely to remain that way.
Other insecurities: buying now means low mortgage rates. But it seems as though this country is heading downhill fast - maybe it's because we're young and haven't seen too many crises, but I can see things getting much worse, much faster. And I don't have a promise of a steady full-time job in the future- I have several applications in the works and relatively steady part-time work, but it'd be great to have the security of a full time job. It almost seems like what we should have done was buy land or buy a house with a lot land that we can use to our own profit- chickens, big gardens.... or maybe I'm just totally paranoid and have seen too many zombie movies lately.
I guess I just need to keep reminding myself why we want to buy in the first place:
a) renting is more expensive than mortgages here
b) we'd LOVE to have our own place.
c) pet friendly options are scarce
d) we're going to be here for probably at least a few more years
e) we want to meet people and become part of a community (not easy as renters, here- it's not a college town after all)
I guess where I'm going with this is that if this house falls though (still about a 50/50 chance we'll get approved by the 2nd lender, I'd say, combined with the fact that we haven't done the inspection yet and we kept that as an escape clause - no dangerous houses for me!), I think I'm going to be ok with it.
(And I say that now, while all the stinkbugs are busy destroying crops and hanging out in places that are not the house I live in now- this house seems totally fine in summer....) ha.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Florida wildlife
Before July my experience in the great flat state of Florida was limited to ports (some nice, some less so) and interstates- not the best way to see an area! But after three weeks in Gainesville, I have a new appreciation for Florida, and now I get why someone would want to live there!
I had a great trip visiting a lab down there - wonderful people, interesting work, and the promise of future collaborations! Pretty sweet.
Plus, it's pretty. Still flat, but also pretty.
At the Natural History museum, there is a butterfly room where you can go in and see thousands of butterflies flying around beautiful gardens. It's really something special. This one is a relative of a monarch, and I think it's my favorite.
We went to the beach at St. Augustine! It was really nice - palm trees, warm water (especially considering what I'm used to!) and yummy mexican food. It's a pretty town, too.
The spanish fort at St. Augustine has this oven for heating up coals to put into cannon balls that they'd fire at wooden ships to set them on fire. Glad to see human barbarism is nothing new...
Mangroves on the University of Florida's campus! The 'knees' are to help the tree respire in wet and salty water.
Gators!! I was really excited to see these. Where we went to college, students would swim and boat in the pond. I guess that's not happening so much at UF. They're just hanging out near the road.
This is where I go jogging in the morning- sandy paths, cool plants, spanish moss...
I just think spanish moss is so romantic! Even if it does have lots of chiggers.
That's one big gator! It was probably about 6 feet long!
I had a great trip visiting a lab down there - wonderful people, interesting work, and the promise of future collaborations! Pretty sweet.
Plus, it's pretty. Still flat, but also pretty.
At the Natural History museum, there is a butterfly room where you can go in and see thousands of butterflies flying around beautiful gardens. It's really something special. This one is a relative of a monarch, and I think it's my favorite.
We went to the beach at St. Augustine! It was really nice - palm trees, warm water (especially considering what I'm used to!) and yummy mexican food. It's a pretty town, too.
The spanish fort at St. Augustine has this oven for heating up coals to put into cannon balls that they'd fire at wooden ships to set them on fire. Glad to see human barbarism is nothing new...
Mangroves on the University of Florida's campus! The 'knees' are to help the tree respire in wet and salty water.
Gators!! I was really excited to see these. Where we went to college, students would swim and boat in the pond. I guess that's not happening so much at UF. They're just hanging out near the road. 
This is where I go jogging in the morning- sandy paths, cool plants, spanish moss... 
I just think spanish moss is so romantic! Even if it does have lots of chiggers.
That's one big gator! It was probably about 6 feet long!
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