God made dirt...

Sorry for the delay in posting - we are so busy!!

Saturday was our first moving day. We didn't get a lot of takers (actually, only one person showed up later in the afternoon) but we managed to move everything we wanted to. We got a great deal on a moving truck so we got to move all our garage stuff and our chest freezer (without even unloading the food!) and then we drove out to the burbs and picked up a used refrigerator (the only necessary appliance our house didn't come with) and we were able to move our compost bins on Sunday. That was an adventure.

Some of you may remember the compost bins we built last year. (I forgot how green and beautiful it was around here!) Anyway, since we're moving we decided to take our compost and our compost bins with us. We borrowed a friend's truck and shoveled out all the compost into her truck. We piled it as high as we could and tried to keep a separation between the mostly composted stuff and the not-at-all-composted stuff.

After nearly a year of composting and weather, the bins were a bit worn. Slats had fallen out and as we tried moving the bins more came out. We decided to detach the side bins and keep the middle intact.



Then Jeremy and I picked it up and heaved it over the fence, then sort of rolled it side over side to the moving truck and heaved it up inside. (Thaddeus showed up in the midst of this to lend a hand - yay!) With all the bits and pieces accounted for, we drove the truck to the new house, unloaded the parts, and tried to figure out how to put it back together again. We finally got it put back together and then began the fun part.



We backed up the truck to the gate and began shoveling. And shoveling, and shoveling and pitch-forking, and shoveling. A lot of the compost was actually still frozen solid in the center and there were ice crystals throughout. After we got out the not-so-composted stuff and got it put away, we began on the more-composted stuff. By now it had gotten late and dark outside - but we weren't giving up! Jeremy clipped a shop light to the garage so we could see some of the yard, but it didn't shine over the fence to the truck so it was pretty dark back there.

We split our tasks to try to make it go quicker. Jeremy moved full wheelbarrows of compost to the bins and tipped them in, while I kneeled in the back of the truck and brought piles of compost forward for him to shovel out. That compost was quite cold. And wet. Seeping through my pant legs. Sticking to my shoes. At least it didn't smell bad. =)



On Monday Debra helped me bag up all the brush and branches that had been piled in the yard. It turns out the City came through like a hurricane in September or so with weeders and mowers and choppers and hacked everything down. They were the ones who had left the big pile of brush. So that's gone now.

Good news of the week! We're getting bids for raising the roof on the south side of the house to make it a bit more livable. We'll have to insulate as well so we've been getting bids on blown-in insulation for the house. We did a little bit of demolition in the upstairs to see what some of the wall cavity looked like and found there was already blown-in insulation! Jeremy drilled a few test holes in different parts of the house and it looks like we have a completely insulated house! With a house this old (pre-1900) we were expecting little to no insulation.

The house certainly seems in bad condition now and seems a bit uncared for. But in the past someone put a lot of work into it: all new electrical, all new plumbing, blown-in insulation, new roof, and new windows! Of course the "new" roof must have been some time ago and now needs to be replaced again. Anyway, that piece of news will save us a chunk of money - to be spent somewhere else I'm sure!