Tag Archives: winter

Success.

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Praise the God of Tequila! The man cave in the Barn Mahal is toasty and warm once more.

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A brand new ( to replace the almost new 3 month old ) exterior heat pump unit was installed yesterday afternoon. It looks exactly like the other one, but it damn well better last longer.

I asked the installers what the error codes showed was wrong with the first one and received a long detailed explanation. It went something like this…..

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Refrigerant. Blah blah blah. Coil. Blah blah blah. Build up. Blah blah blah.

The section of explanation that did translate clearly? The fact that the manufacturers say what went wrong was a one in a million occurrence.

Yay us. We have all the luck.

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Flashing lights are never good.

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Danger Will Robinson!

There’s trouble in the man cave.

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I walked into the barn this morning and noticed it was a wee bit nippy.

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We keep the new heat pump ( 3 months old ) set at 68 and with all the sun coming through the windows… it’s always been warm and toasty. But today? The temperature was rapidly dropping.

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Lights were flashing and the unit wasn’t running. After spending an extremely annoying half hour troubleshooting with the owners manual, we broke down and called the guy who installed it… who also happens to be the son of my best friend.

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He had me check the error codes and did some research. Then he called back saying he didn’t have the parts he needed to repair it in stock, and couldn’t get them right away… so he was sending his crew over this afternoon to replace the whole exterior unit.

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Now that’s what I call customer service.

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A path has been shoveled and we currently await the new unit.

While it’s true we like our beer and cocktails cold, we usually prefer to be well above freezing ourselves.

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I love my town… part whatever.

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Haven’t done one of these in a while, so I thought it was time to check my small town’s FB page.

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The ultimate in tree repurposing. Goats!

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The old fashion trade and barter system is alive and well in my town. I have a neighbor who had his garage built with nothing but beer.

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Girl Scout cookies are the new crack. Those little bitches give you a free sample and you’re hooked.

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Sorry bud, someone left it in ours as well.

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That is perfectly evil. And I love it!

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Poor piner. Hope he was alright…

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Winter is finally here.

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After an extremely mild December with a greenish brown Christmas and a warm rainy January…

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February is roaring in strong….

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And cold.

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The ice has finally frozen solid enough to hold the fishing shacks on the river, which is big business up here in Maine.

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Do I want to sit in an 8×10 plywood building and stare at a hole in the ice in subzero temperatures waiting for an oily little smelt to swim by?

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I do not.

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No matter how pretty the sunsets are.

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But more power to the rugged souls that do.

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And then we got the call.

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The call that we’d been waiting 7 weeks for finally came.

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And we headed down to the workshop in Biddeford to pick up our custom made bar chairs.

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It was an awful morning, snow showers at our house and rain farther south.

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So I was bound and determined our haul was going to be tightly secured and fully covered for transport.

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These babies are heavy, so when we got home the husband had to haul them all out to the Man Cave.

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Made from 120 year old reclaimed Vermont barn boards, no two are the same.

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At first the husband was upset they didn’t all match perfectly, but that’s what I love about them.

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And they may not look it, but they’re quite comfortable.

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So yes, an inaugural beer was poured. At 10:45 am.

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And consumed while seated. Don’t judge…

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Though why the darn man wasn’t smiling I have no idea. He really was happy, but I guess you’ll have to take my word on that.

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Welcome to the family… I think.

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Meet our new family member.

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The cat my husband swore we wouldn’t have any more of after our last one passed because he wanted to be free to travel.

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This handsome fellow has been wandering our neighborhood (in the cold Maine winter!) for weeks. A woman down the road took him in, but her dogs kept attacking.

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Our farming neighbors across the street took him in, but they have 4 cats, 2 dogs and 3 kids in a 1,000 square foot house…. so they begged us to shelter him.

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The husband said yes, temporarily while we tried to find his owners.

He’s clean, healthy, flea and ear mite free… and a genuine love bug. Someone clearly cared for this kitty. But after posting on numerous lost pet sites, numerous local Facebook pages and asking everyone I know? It looks like he’s ours.

And the husband who said no way, no more pets?

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Yeah.

He’s been charmed.

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And to think it only took three days.

Such is the power of cats.

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Enough already.

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It rained again, in January, in Maine. That’s not supposed to happen. Most years we’re positively buried in snow.

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And I have to say I’d much rather be doing this…

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Than dealing with this…

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It rained…. and our roof sprung yet another leak.

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In yet another brand new spot. Every time the husband thinks he’s fixed it? It leaks somewhere else. And while the temperature has been mild (for us) it’s still not warm enough to strip and replace a roof. So while we wait for spring and pray for snow, our ceiling is being ruined. I’ve bleached this 3 times …

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And it still bleeds through.

Kill me now.

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