First Tuesday in December

Rainy, but warm - last night it was 53 at 10:10; this morning it was 58 at 6:10, sprinkling. A beautiful Spring day in December. Calling for snow later in the week.

He decided to stay home today. I only heard from him once and it was nothing informative. He's known to be cagey, redirecting questions.

He went to Frederick - to Lowes and HomeDepot (and Roy Rogers) for materials to underground the electric from the house panel in the basement, out the house wall, skirting the basement steps, across the yard and into the corner of the garage/shed.

Eighteen inches deep (US Electrical Code calls for 12 inches) trench, he ran the pipe that will hold the electric cable and it is now installed! He got a proximity reader so that you just walk into the garage/shed, no light switch to flip - turns on the lights automatically - using the light fixtures that he did not install in the barn - yea! I use a camping lamp now, but the porch light shines in the window and its not pitch black in there anyway.

This is a great improvement, a huge leap forward, and I thought since it was raining he would work inside - but it was in the 60s and he didn't get horribly soaked, so its all good and that's behind us now. He is tremendously motivated, always has been. And always wants to do it himself, with as little help from anybody (including me) as possible. I'm the #1 cheerleader.

Clint, our neighbor and furnace technician, came out to look at the furnace, again. Occasionally the furnace will not light, the 'electric eye' sees no flame, shuts down, smokes the basement with unburnt Diesel fuel. This can also happen when we are not home. April and Irene are house pets, they shouldn't be kept in a smoky house, right?

Clint replaced the 'nozzle' and got a tour of the barn. He'd only seen it from the parking lot, never walked into it. He was impressed, as he should be! Everybody was in, looking at him looking at them. Very cozy in this barn and roomier than it looks from the parking lot. He liked the overhang, too. So do the little guys!

As you might recall the furnace was damaged, vandalized, by the previous owners. Clint was instrumental in getting it back up to running order, replacing the copper tubing and cleaning it up last year. Hope that it's working now for the long haul of Winter.