We got out our Christmas stuff during the Thanksgiving weekend.  I [Michael] worked on the inside lights.  I was a little surprised to discover over a half dozen light strings that no longer worked, including three that were known to work when I put them away last winter.  So I punted and used different lights this year.  One of the differences from last year is the string of big incandescent lights: last year they were all blue, but this year we bought bulbs of different colors (it was cheaper than buying new light strings).  And as for energy conservation, all the bulbs inside the house provide exactly as much heat per watt as any other electrical device in the house, and since our heaters are all electric we might just as well use the lights and save a little wear on the heaters.

Sheryl spent two weekends in the yard with the lights, a bunch of the new LED ones that draw a fraction of the power of the incandescents (it was Sheryl's early Christmas present).  This is the first year we've done outside lights, and given all the property we have to cover it took a little doing (hence two weekends of effort on Sheryl's part).

The picture on the bottom shows a little of what Sheryl did, and the yard really does get pretty bright at night with all the lights on (though not quite as bright as this enhanced photo shows).  The top picture shows some of the living room lighting: note the time on the clock (early sunsets here), and the outdoor strings that also appear in the bottom picture.

And the new ceiling insulation must be doing a good job: I've noted a distinct reduction in how often and long our front room heaters have been running compared to last winter (when the fire is out in the wood stove).

Posted at 8:44 AM YST

Updated: Monday, December 15, 2008 9:23 AM YST

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Winter is upon us, and it's time to put in a little extra effort to keep warm. Most people in Juneau heat with oil, some have electric heat, and some rely primarily on wood. A lot of folks (like us) use a combination that includes wood. And we’ve got wood to burn, lots of damp wood.

Nothing ever really dries out in Juneau, at least not outside.  I [Michael] have noticed that wood brought inside for three days or so burns considerably better than wood carried straight from the wood shed to the firebox.  The problem has been to find a way to put more wood in the house.
 
After a couple of weeks actively pondering solutions, I found the answer waiting in the garage.  Several months ago I bought a wire paper storage rack, of the kind used in classrooms to sort student paperwork, from the state surplus warehouse.  Looking at it yesterday, I suddenly realized that the two frame pieces could be reoriented to make two sides, and the paper rack became a wood rack.  Each shelf holds about as much wood as what fits in the basket we use to shuttle wood in from outside.  Before this revelation I thought I would have to build a rack from scratch, but Sheryl and I both think this looks at least as good as anything I could have fabricated.
 

Posted at 3:51 PM YST

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Quite the picture, isn't it?  Becky made this.  It was her concept too.  A shirt depicting smiling person wearing a smiling shirt.  Very clever for a Kindergartner.

We're into the transition between autumn and winter.  Cold days and wet snow followed by days of seemingly colder rain that doesn't melt the snow on the ground, only turns it into a slushy slurry that lies in wait for truly cold weather when it turns into a treacherously surreal terrain of ice, frozen into the shape of tire ruts and footprints. Luckily, I scooped up the snow on the driveway with the snowblower just before the latest round of rain had a chance to saturate it (after which the blower is of no use).

Sheryl's been busy with Christmas lighting.  Her early present this year was a plethora of LED Christmas lights, which Sheryl has been stringing through the front and back yards.  She likes lots of lights, and I like to avoid using unnecessary amounts of electricity outside, so the LED's offer a compromise.  For my part I have been decorating inside, using all the "wasteful" incandescent holiday bulbs where their heat contributes to keeping the house warm (and reduces wear and tear on our heaters too). Ho, ho, ho.

My good cheer has been somewhat tempered this season by a broken tooth.  It's an old injury, dating back to when I was eleven and broke my top left front tooth.  The original repair took a very long time as I recall, and the fake tooth lasted for many years.  Unfortunately, the remaining fragment of tooth that formed the anchor for the crown finally gave way, and now the job will have to be done over, removing the remaining fragment of the original tooth and adding a bone graft and an eventual metal stud upon which to cement a new crown.  The worst aspect is waiting for all this to happen: the tooth broke at the end of October, the initial round of surgery is scheduled for December 22, and the job won't be complete until late 2009 or early 2010.  Luckily there has been very little pain: a root canal done on the tooth back in the 1970's eliminated the nerve, so the only discomfort is when the gums get pinched. The other bit of good fortune is that the tooth broke below the gum attachment line and didn't fall out; with luck it will stay in place until the surgery.

The "Mikado" has been postponed until November 2009.  The new high school won't have a functioning theatre in time to meet the original schedule.  I'm a little disappointed by the schedulte change because it means going into rehearsal when the outdoor weather is still passable, but at least I won't be in rehearsals in the springtime, which is even worse.  The best scenario is when the opera shows in mid-April, so that rehearsals fill the winter months and the show ends just in time for spring and sunnier weather.

And yes, I'm still doing the newspaper column.  November's installment can be found in the archive, right here.

Posted at 10:05 AM YST

Updated: Sunday, December 7, 2008 10:15 AM YST

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It all started with our crummy kitchen counters.  The counters are painted plywood as best as I [Michael] can tell, and they're not contiguous, with seams on either side of the dishwasher installation.  The solution? Replace the countertops.

And so it begins.  Of course, it isn't as easy as just replacing the countertops.  We have kitchen storage issues, like most folks, and would like additional cabinetry to store the various appliances, dishes, and foodstuffs we like to keep around.  We do not wish to sacrifice counter space to expand the cabinetry; if anything, we want more counter space.  We've played around with different ways to accomplish this, but given the current confines of the kitchen there just aren't many options, and nothing that gives us what we want.

Besides the kitchen, we have long eyed the "back" of the house with some measure of disdain.  Our four small bedrooms are currently accessed by a narrow hallway running down the center of the bedroom wing.  The whole arrangement reminds us of mobile home life. For some time we've toyed with the possibility of changing the layout, but as long as we stay within the confies of our exterior walls we keep coming up one room short when exploring our options.

And then comes the energy efficiency issue.  Our home continues to be an energy hog.  While we don't use as much energy as we used to, we still use considerably more than we should have to in order to stay warm.  The next step in our energy improvement plan is work on the exterior walls and some of the windows.

So...

The solution seems to be an addition to the back of the house.  This will give us the space we need for all our plans.  By incorporating the expansion into the siding/window project we think we'll actually enjoy lower heating costs after the expansion than we're seeing now.  We'll also gain the space we need for the renovation project, because we'll need to clear out rooms in order to reorient and rebuild walls and floors.

The floorplan here should give folks an idea of what we're contemplating.  At this point we're thinking about building the shell for the expansion this spring and summer and encapsulating (siding, insulation, and windows) the whole house before next winter.  After that, we'll start renovating from the south side of the bedroom corridor and work our way north.

We had our first snowfall last week.  It's all gone now, but while it lasted the kids had a good time.  There will be more to come soon, with snow beginning to appear in the forcast as autumn gives way to colder weather.

Sometimes Michael Robert reminds me a lot of myself as a child (I suppose this is a common observation between parents and their children).  To illustrate, I offer two pictures of smiling boys.  Which one am I?  Which one is my son?  If I were to carefully select some of the pictures of me and my little boy the difference might be a little harder to tell.

We were watching "An Inconvenient Truth" last night.  Michael asked a question about the show and we were telling him that our planet was in trouble.  He said that we (mommy and daddy) should fix it.  I explained that I would be too old to do much good, but that he wasn't, and that he was going to have to save the planet; he would be our superhero.  He really liked that idea.

Our son: savior of the planet.

Posted at 10:39 AM YDT

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Such pretty little flowers.  I [Michael] was a little surprised to see flowers this late in the year, but there they were, and I had the camera handy.  They were tiny little things with blossoms only about a quarter of an inch across, but a flower is a flower no matter how small.

This month's newspaper article, Giving it away is better, generated some responses from my readers.  I fielded three phone calls yesterday and today.

The article spells out my latest excursion to the dump and the reasons for it, and then goes on to suggest that Juneau could use a "free store" where people could take their excess serviceable items instead of throwing them away.  The calls I received were favorable insofar as the callers agreed that Juneau residents don't have suitable options when it comes to getting rid of our extra stuff, but the suggestions they offered miss the point.

Two callers mentioned a website, Juneau freecycle, where people can post items they want to give away on the site.  I have to ask: why?  The Juneau Empire already has a "freebies" section where people can post their free or cheap giveaways.  There's also Craigslist.  These are all options, but they are limited options.

I mentioned our "free stuff" tent in my column.  I also mentioned the reason for setting it up: so I wouldn't have to mind the store.  That's the real point.  If people have to devote time to giving their surplus stuff away (time waiting for phone calls, time waiting for people who have called to come over), then it isn't worth their time.  The implication behind "free stuff" is that it is free for the person getting it, but that it should also free the person giving away the stuff from having to devote unnecessary time to the endeavor. If I have to spend ten or twenty hours trying to give things away, and if I put any kind of price on my time, I'm better off taking my surplus to the dump and being done with it.

Of course, while I would be in favor of having a free store in Juneau, and would probably shop there, I don't know that I'd have much time to volunteer toward making such a project work.  That's one nice thing about writing a column.  I can suggest ideas and hope somebody else steps up to put in the actual effort.

Posted at 2:33 PM YDT

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