13 Holes and I'm not talking golf!

Sorry for the lack of posts but ever since the Internet outage last week, I've had a very weak or no signal at all.  Comcast has had me swap out their wireless Internet modem but that hasn't boosted my signal at all.  My theory is that they lowered the signal strength.  Why am I skeptical?  Well, every time I talk to a Comcast rep they ask me if I want to upgrade.

Despite the lack of signal (I need to be within 10 feet of the modem) we have been busy busy busy. First we removed the shingles from the family room/library on the west side.  Guess what we found? Thirteen holes that were left behind when they added the insulation back in the 1960's (guesstimate). R fixed or filled the holes with styrofoam.  That should help keep some of the cold air out of the wall cavities.

The new shingles look great but the real improvement will be when the new windows are installed.  I finally found a company that build all wood double hung windows with weights.  I will call them tomorrow and set up an appointment.  Fingers crossed that they can come sooner than the flag pole people who won't be here for three weeks.  I am not sure how long they will need to remove our flag pole, refurbish it, and then re install it in another location.

Two days ago we started removing the shingles on the south side.  That side has rigid foam insulation on top of the sheathing so lucky us, no holes to fix.  The windows on this side are in very bad condition.  How is it that the original windows that are close to 100 years old are in good condition but the 1960's installed after market windows are rotting away.  I will not mention the manufacturer but it is a very well known company.  I just wish they would have left the original windows in place but hopefully after we get the new windows made and installed, no one will suspect that they are not original.

The driveway drain is working!!!!  We still have that tree root to deal with and some dirt but for the most part it is cleaned out and the rain doesn't appear to back up.

The tall extension ladder STILL has not arrived.  Not only do I need it to remove the paint from the peak on the barn but we will need it to remove the shingles on the south side of the house.

In between all this I had a hair appointment and a doctor appointment.  Of course I got a flu shot but I forgot to mention that I probably need a tetanus booster.  I need to go back in two weeks so I'll get it then.  My blood work came back all screwy so he took me off all my meds except Zetia.  He said absolutely no more anti inflammatory meds (I've had arthritis since my teenage years) because the blood work showed that my kidneys were being affected.  BUT I think it was actually the fact that I ate about two cups of almonds the day before my blood work.  OOPS!  I've been reading that they can interfere with some meds and that you should never eat A LOT of them at one time (besides the huge calories!).

And lastly.....I've been edging the driveway, weeding the flower beds, and planting the flowers that I purchased on sale.  We hope the added high nectar flowers will help the honey bees and butterflies. There has been an increase in Monarchs this year so we think our milk weed patch is helping.  This past week we also saw three blue birds and a hummingbird.  It's been a great year for birds.