Here we go again!

Packed by bag and headed north to the Bolt Hole this morning. Lovely drive and this time I remembered to stop along the way and get out for a stretch (and lunch). No snow to be seen until I left Utica and headed up the hill. There the remains of winter linger with a foot or so of hard crusty snow on the ground. The sun which had been out disappeared as I approached the Bolt Hole to e replaced by thickening clouds that the forecasters say will drop a spritz of snow and rain before they give way to clear skies overnight. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny with temperatures nearing 50 degrees.

My first task was to put a cap on the chimney pipe so I was happy to see that Mark had left the roof ladder in place and I only had to get the ladder to reach the porch roof so I could make my way up to the chimney. easy enough job to do that and get the (too) small chimney skirt and cap in place. I may still have to replace the through the roof insulated section of the chimney pipe, but it will suffice for now and that job can wait until summer. I built a fire in the stove and the current arrangement draws well and heats the living area just fine.

I pulled the elements from the hot water heater thinking one of them must be broken since the hot water wasn't very hot last fall, but they were intact if somewhat rust coated. Not surprising since there's some iron in the water every spring. I did turn the thermostat up 10-20 degrees in hopes that that will give me the hot water I want to wash dishes and shower.

I checked the pump and water is flowing despite the cold temperatures so I could have running water if I wanted it. I don't. That would require I go through the process of draining everything when I leave and the hose for doing that is currently buried beneath a mound of ice out back. (Not to self: Next year, after draining and pumping the water out of the basement, coil the bloody hose next to the house instead of leaving it stretched across the lawn.)

Then it was time to start looking at the electrical wires and try to figure out where the canvas covered wires actually run. I could trace a few of them, but there are still some unknowns. Hopefully there won't be a need to cut through the sheetrocked ceiling of the upstairs bedroom to find out where the old wires run. I explored a few outlets and fixtures in the kids bedroom and found they had new wire running to and from them so the problem becomes where do they run from? There's one canvas wire runing to the light in the old woodshed and new plastic wire runs from that to--somewhere. I've traced it to one outlet and the light over the stove. There's acanvas wire that runs in to the attic above the kitchen and seems to supply a passle of different things once it goes through the ceiling light. There are four (4!) canvas coated wires running into and out of that single fixture. One may run to the woodshed, one may run to the porch light but the other two are a mystery. This could take some trial and error to get straightened out.

Mark showed up after work this evening and he and I will spend some time tonight trying to make heads or tails out of the wiring. Once we have an idea of where things run, I can try to pull new 12-2 wire tomorrow.