Almost

The past couple of weeks, Paul has been working on getting this wood boiler brought over, the trench dug, and the tedious task of running all the water lines. You have to have a loop system. The water/antifreeze flows from the boiler once it reaches temperature to the house- goes through a radiator and blower which is controlled by an aquastat and then the water flows back out to our garage, to another radiator/blower and then back to the stove outside. You have to use this pipe called pex- it's very durable under heat conditions, but the stuff doesn't bend- AT ALL! So it's been so hard for Paul doing the majority of it by himself. You wrap the two- one inch lines and the power wire all in insulation and then stuff it into pvc pipe. A guy we talked to yesterday said that when he put his in, he drilled holes into the pvc and sprayed GREAT STUFF into it to make sure there were no air gaps in the pipe. Air gaps mean heat loss on the way to the house underground. Well, we had already buried about 1/3 of ours in the ground so we couldn't try that idea- but hopefully it's insulated enough. About the only thing I've been able to do is rebury the pipe when Tayton naps. It's back breaking, but today I'm going to try using a rake instead. Tyler helped bury quite bit last night.
Paul's dad built this stove for his shop when he had it. He sold the shop about four years ago to a company he now works for. So they decided to change out the stove for an outside wood boiler so Dave(Paul's dad) told them he wanted the one he had built that they were currently using. He knew that it could be turned into an outside wood boiler with some work- that's what Paul is doing. He has to build a building around it, also to control heat loss and then he'll fill all around the drum where the wood goes in, with sand. This stove is about six feet long and probably six feet tall. Most outdoor wood boilers are like 3X 3 maybe- they're small. So we should have no problem heating our garage and house and have heat left over. This guy we talked to yesterday- has the small type and he heats two large pole buildings. It'll be a cozy winter- course we only have a cord of wood here. That'll last about a month. Now with hunting season starting- we'll have to wait to cut anymore cause I don't think the hunters will appreciate a chainsaw running in the woods. Paul cut down a large yellow birch here on our property last weekend that was rotting. He has his eye on my only maple tree next. He said it's rotting at the base and is right next to the house so it should come down. I'm sad about that prospect cause it gives so much shade to the southside of our house. We've had to make some big prunes to it though and it's not as pretty as it once was anyway. We could have a load of wood brought here and we will next year, but with the expense of putting this in- we have to go with free wood this year. A friend of mine, Marlene, told me that you can get a permit from the DNR and you can cut trees that have fallen on state land. So we might get some that way and then there's some at his Dad's camp too.
So that husband of mine, worked until 12:45am outside last night finishing up the water lines and got it all done. He was determined. He started at noon! It all has to be buried and he has a little thing to build by the garage to cover those lines coming out of there. So he's a sore tired guy today. He was able to take a sick day at work yesterday cause they are really slow and there were only four cars coming in! Which equates to a car per mechanic for the whole day- that's not a good day for flat rate.
Katia is having a friend come over on the bus today- she's so thrilled. She invited her to Word of Life with us tonight. That girl cleaned her room better than ever. We'll have to do this more often! We got the kids first report cards last week and I had parent teacher conferences at both schools. Katia got all A's and one B+ and Tyler got straight A's. The middle school almost seems easier than fifth grade. Tyler didn't make the all A honor roll last year and had homework every night. He might have homework three times a week now. I guess they have more time in each class to work on things even in other classes when their work is done. It just seems odd to me though. The teachers barely know the students in middle school- they have so many students a day. So going to conferences there is so weird because most of the teachers can't even picture who your child is. I guess that is the change- he's not a child anymore- he's becoming a young adult. Whah!!!
Tyler won his first basketball game last Saturday. It was a good game- 31-23. They'll have games every Saturday till just before Christmas and then it's all done for them for the year. His coach said he is playing ten times better now, just a week later- than when they started so that's good. They really seem to be learning more this year than last. He has two coaches this year and they even keep stats on each player like they do in high school.
Tayton is always busy and is so smart. He can put those magnetic alphabet letters in order now- I can't believe it! He even knows lower and upper case. I kind of think he'll be a reader like Tyler. He spells out any word he sees. This kid can't stay out the water though- it's a struggle throughout the day. In fact, he's running the bathroom sink as I finish this up! Gotta go!