Baby, it's cold outside...

...and inside too!  Our dining room, playroom and the rest of the back of the house/upstairs have no heat.  We've been running space heaters in the playroom and decided it's just not worth the energy bills!  Thankfully, the rest of the house is more than roomy enough to live in while we wait out the cold. 

This means, though, that we need to contain the heat, so voila, here comes a tarp. 

I've never really wanted a blue wall in my house, but oh well...

We also added ventless gas logs to the system. We're cozy, and that's really all that matters.



Thank you, Lord, for that.

Are all these pictures starting to look the same?

Yes, he's digging again...

The Trencher



The designated spot for digging

Well, it was time to dig the trench out to the sewer drain, so James, of course, went the major power tool route -- The Trencher.



pretty menacing, eh?



And it's done!  4 feet down, 4 inches wide, about 12 feet long. Awesome!

Getting there

We're getting there -- down to 4 feet. James has been working hard to keep the digging going!

Gwyn likes to keep track of the progress. 
And at this point, I think he's done inside!!  On to the trench outside. Happy Weekend Off, Babe! :-)



Dig, dig, dig, dig ... the whole day through

slowly, but surely.

Is that the front door or the back door?

There's a door out the back of the house that has been tapes, nailed, boarded, bolted shut since before we moved in.  Not sure why they gave up on the door, but we haven't worried about it. James decided, though, that it would be helpful to have the exit, especially for getting dirt outside (from his digging).  So, he ripped the door off and constructed a new one from something he found in the barn. Mr. Resourceful. 

Did I mention, "What a guy!"

Jackhammering!! -- Phase 2

Next up was the laundry room.  Actually, I was pretty glad to have my washing machine and dryer inaccessible for a couple of days.  Took away the stress and guilt of not doing laundry over the weekend! 

The first trench (and yes, this too, will need to be dug down 4 feet)

The three trenches finished!

The awesome guy cleaned it all up (I helped)...

put down some plywood...

and gave me my laundry room back -- yes, I know you guys are jealous of my laundry room.
LOOKING FORWARD TO FINISHING THAT PHASE!!