Enough about standing ankle-deep in flying squirrel poop — and yes, at times the poop was flying.
Let me summarize a few things:
- Three weeks and one day after our closing, we have a fully installed and functional propane/warm air heating system.
- With the help of brother-in-law Tim, all the insulation is down out of the 2nd-floor ceiling, enabling us (and our builder Mark) to finally fully inspect the inside of the roof and the rafters.
- Did I mention brothers-in-law? Tim is awesome, and stepped “in,” or “up,” but mostly “in it.” We wore respirators and hoods and caps and safety goggles and gloves and filled the second dumpster:
- Homer continues to be a terrific traveler and companion, hanging out on his tie out and alerting us now and again to the things that alarm him.
- We encountered only one flying squirrel in today’s work — concerns about encountering a full nest of babies came to naught — and it might even have been the same one I saw yesterday. So with luck they are making themselves scarce, and will self-evict when we get all the nooks and crannies buttoned up.
- The day was gorgeous — cold but sunny — and inside the house could have been as toasty as we liked (though I remain disinclined to heat all of Maine, in the absence of insulation).
- With the heating engineer’s help — he’s also a plumber and a very nice guy — discovered the old cap for our well-head, and the info stamped on its inner surface. We now know the well was dug Nov. 1991 (much earlier than we expected), reaches to 123 feet, and should run at 10 g.p.m., which is a lower flow than some but should be sufficient for our needs.
- Upon getting back to Buxton Gloria grabbed us for a walk to the river (Saco), so we could see some of the flood stage up close. We had seen the Kennebec and the Sebasticook rivers in full flood the past two days as we passed through Fairfield, and I’m finding this day-to-day acquaintance with the thaw and turn of the seasons very vivid and invigorating.
- In the mail at the house today: Our closing papers and final deed from the lawyer.
Tomorrow: an early start to meet the plumber at 10 a.m. to go over our first firm requirements so he can quote us for the work; stop at the Town Office to apply to register the car (now that it is insured in-state) and to inquire about any records of the original septic system; and get to the lumberyard to order the first of what we’ll need to begin rehab work next week.
Lots of good things.