New England's Narrow Road

Wrapping it Up in Fall

Spring began with hope. I had high hopes of getting a lot accomplished while the good weather was around. Then I realized that other people, who would have to help me get those things accomplished, were not as interested. The first disappointment was buying the new refrigerator.

My son came to visit for three weeks and he helped me do a lot. I had been planning to put my house up for sale by summer, but I quickly realized that it wouldn’t be ready to show. I had to wait over a month for the guys to come take down a big beech tree that broke in a high wind. The wood from that is drying before we stack it.

After 30 years of marriage and 4 kids, I am constantly getting rid of the stuff we accumulated over all those years. When my ex left, he took what he wanted and left the rest of the mess with me to deal with. Last fall I had a big yard sale and donated what was leftover to the Kiwanis sale, which happened to be at almost the same time. It felt good to lighten the junk load, but yard sales are a lot of work. You don’t have a yard sale to make money, you have one to give away the stuff you have. Prices must be set super cheap so people know they are getting a deal on everything they go away with.

I’m not planning to have another yard sale, but I am always taking items to the swap shop at the transfer station (fancy name for the dump). I have made headway. The beautiful 3-piece cherry entertainment center I put up for sale (cheap too) on Craig’s list never got one interested buyer, so we chopped it up and threw it away! What a shame, but I couldn’t keep it in the garage any longer. For 4 years it’s been taking up space that I need for the snowblower and other things.

I did do a bathroom renovation in Spring. The new white beadboard and blue paint was a huge improvement. It looks really nice, even though I didn’t have the money to spend on a new vanity and flooring. I compromised by painting a little bookcase from my kitchen, that now works as storage in the bathroom. That was a big accomplishment.

The rest of the summer I spent working on the yard and trying to get a home improvement loan. Once that finally came through, my contractor was busy doing other jobs and couldn’t get to my home improvement needs until recently. Now September is approaching fast and finally I am getting my siding put on the back of the house (see my siding story from 3 years ago). Next, the roof will be shingled (when the builder has time, but he promises it will be before winter).

I have more that needs to be fixed inside, but that can be done in cold weather so I have a feeling I’ll have to wait longer for that. Everything takes so long to finish. I have no choice but to stay here another winter. I should be ready to sell by next summer if I keep working at the fixes and decluttering until then. My house won’t be perfect, but hopefully a potential buyer will see it as a good start. New siding, new roof, and new windows… what more could a buyer want?

All too soon the leaves will change to their bright autumn colors, and then they will fall off the trees. I will rake leaves for months and then fall will end. We are all dreading winter as we have not fully recovered from the last one. It’s still a ways off, and for now I’ll be wrapping it up by cleaning out the summer vegetable gardens and chopping and stacking firewood.

How has your summer been?

Bad Business Practices and Poor Customer Service

I love New England. It’s a beautiful place to live, although you must have money to enjoy it here. I don’t have money, and I’m planning to move. In order to do so, I must fix up my house, but the incompetence I am dealing with over this spring and summer is slowing me down.

I began a home improvement loan application over a month ago. Those people are dragging their feet. Summer is short. I need the money to begin home improvements. All I ask is that they keep me informed of the progress, but they don’t.

I bought a new refrigerator at Sears, which couldn’t be delivered for 3 weeks. After patiently waiting for it to arrive, it came with the door opening the wrong way. I had specifically asked for it to be switched. It’s been 10 days and although the Sears store manager promised to get on it, he never called me yesterday, as he had promised. So now, at 10am on Friday I am waiting to hear back, after I called the store again this morning.

Is it just because I am a woman? Do sales people, delivery men, store managers, and loan officers think I am barely worth their time? Or is this just part of the growing lackadaisical manner in which business people treat their customers. It seems to have become a way of life. Continue reading “Bad Business Practices and Poor Customer Service”

The Winter From a Frozen Hell

winter snow 2015 — Freezing temps. and tons of snow – in one month – make this one of the worst winters ever.

I’ve lived in New Hampshire since 2005. Not very long compared to many residents, but no winter has bothered me like this one. Maybe I’ve just forgotten the problems that winter brings to a run down house that still needs a lot of fixing, but this year has given me nightmares. I don’t think I am alone.

Once February began, we got snow. And then more snow. And on and on it’s gone. The kids are always home from school. Roofs are caving in, and the temps. start out below zero nearly every day. When it hits 15 degrees we are thinking it’s balmy! On the bright side, I’ve become an expert with the snowblower.

I was doing well and getting my house in order. Much of the siding had been replaced, and the front has all new windows. I’ve invested a lot of money. Then, unexpected personal problems came into my life and my savings evaporated. I wanted to replace the siding on the back of the house so I wouldn’t have to spend another winter frozen in my kitchen. And now I’ve discovered the hard way that I desperately need a new roof!

winter bird feeder — Feeding Birds in Deep Snow

But it was not to be. There was no money, and as the winter approached, I knew it would be a cold winter inside my home once again. At least the living room and my office are not too bad. But money is still tight and the thermostat is kept at 65 most of the time. The leaky roof has made me switch gears and instead of siding, I will need to save for a new roof.

At least I am not living outside like the wildlife. I always wonder how they make it in such unbearable cold. And it’s been horribly cold all of February. I don’t see deer tracks in the yard now, as the snow is probably too deep for them to walk. I imagine they stay to the woods. I can only get around by shoveling a path or wearing snowshoes.

The other day a robin was outside my window eating something off my burning bush. A robin? Aren’t they spring birds? It was below zero, and there is no place to find worms this time of year. I’ll have to look that one up. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a winter robin before.

I know I need a new roof and all the snow we’ve had was making me worry. I finally hired 2 guys to shovel off the roof, but that brought new problems. All that roof snow goes somewhere on the ground and must be shoveled. The guys did snowblow by the front door (see photo below) but now I have tons of snow all around the base of my house. I can’t get out of the basement or the front door and the deck is mostly covered except for a path I made so I could bring in wood for the stove.

winter snow piles — The Roof is Shoveled

It seems that winter is dragging on forever. I think we will all be grateful for temps over 20, and we are praying for no rain and a slow melt… please. But any day it doesn’t snow is a relatively good day at this point.

January Snow

The winter has not been a good one. Last year (2013-14) there was a lot of snow and truthfully I handled it much better than all the sleet and freezing rain this year. Up until today there has been only a crusty frozen few inches covering the ground. The driveway is a mass of icy ruts from the melting, rain and re-freeze.

When it rains in winter I have water issues to deal with. After the all-day rain last weekend, I had many inches of water to push out of the garage. First I had to dig trenches in the driveway to direct the water off to the side. Thankfully I had a door put in on the back wall, and it comes in handy in pushing the water out the back.
The water problem is an easy fix. The garage has a drain, but it’s clogged with sand. It’s been like that since I moved here a few years ago. So a new drain, in the back corner at the lowest point would solve the problem.
Just like all the other problems, big and small, nothing can be done about fixing them without money to hire someone to do so. So I deal with the issues as they arise, as best I can.

At least today it’s snow coming down and not rain. It should never rain in winter. In fact it should never get above freezing. That is when all the problems occur. Ice forms and makes walking treacherous and shoveling impossible. These are the things I forgot about while living in Florida for 27 years. I remembered the snow, but not the ice. Shortly after I moved north in 2005 I fell and cracked my head open on black ice. A few stitches later and lesson learned.

If we end up getting more than the 3-7 inches predicted, I will have to start up the snowblower and try to clean up the driveway. It was a bit difficult getting the thing started last time, which was the only time I’ve had to use it so far this season. Usually by now we’ve had a number of big storms here in New Hampshire – like the big one in October 2011. My daughter is disappointed as she likes to go snowboarding. The slopes have been making snow, but it doesn’t compare to nice, fresh powder.

This snowfall looks so pretty. Maybe the rest of the winter will be normal.