Buttoning Up for Winter

My back problem finally improved after a week and three chiropractic adjustments. The first day I could get out of bed without crying or whimpering, I had a heavy cold by the end of the day. I think my body is sending me some clear messages...

House-wise, my recent focus has been on making sure my dilapidated house is buttoned up for the winter. Last weekend, my brother helped me put hay and plastic around the foundation. I've learned the hard way that this is the only way I can be assured I won't have any frozen pipes during the winter.

I also applied a bit of roofing tar to the roof, removed the roof rack from my car, and installed some storm windows. My brother moved the willow tree (that had come down during hurricane Irene) completely out of the track the plow guy will need to plow.

This weekend, I repaired the decrepit bulkhead. The timbers (against which I install styrofoam to help insulate the basement door from the cold) were completely rotten and shattered,

so I removed them...

and installed pressure-treated new ones.

This project ended up being fun because nothing about the bulkhead is square, level, plumb, or even. A perfect situation for a slap-dash hacker job! I simply cut timbers to fit, wedged them in there, screwed them together, and sealed the edges with expanding foam.

The river is looking gray and barren these days now that most of the leaves are down.