Bogieblog

Heating Issues

Sunday evening I started hearing a whining sound from the main floor stove, and shortly after smelled a smoky smell. Not a wood type of smoke but mor a hint of electrical. I shut down the stove which of course means I had to put up with about 15 minutes more of the sound/smell, until the fans were actually off. While it was shutting down, I determined it was the distribution fan motor that was making the racket.

 The distribution fan is much easier to replace Than the exhaust blower, sot that was the good news. More good news is that it didn't happen in Jan-Feb. The bad news being it had to give me difficulty at 5pm on a Sunday and by mid week we were to be in the single digits and windy (the wind sucks the heat right out of the house worse than just cold). I cranked up the basement stove (P61a) to the HE77 settings and found all the register fans that I had used back in 2014 before I had put a main floor stove in and kept the main floor livable. Side note - another testament to why I don't get rid of things - I had actually thought about giving them away when I was installing the flooring system in the basement a couple of months ago. Since I had to move those shelves, I had run into those fans and thought hard about whether to keep them or not.

Before I turned up the P61a, I got the boiler gas tube chamber all cleaned out and started the pilot light in case I needed to use it. I set the boiler thermostat for 64* and also set up the ThermGuard to force the boiler to light and circulate water in the FHW pipes 3 times per day. Next I got onto the firewood hoarders forum that I frequent and started asking questions. I was steered to a replacement fan assembly that was half the cost of an OEM assembly. I ordered that, paid the extra $8 for delivery by Tuesday and called it a day.

 I had looked at how the fan assembly was to be removed - only two bolts and a couple of wires - cool. Tuesday the replacement came in and I set  to removing the old fan. After a couple of hours of trying this and that, and a lot of swearing, I found that one bolt, the one set in an area that even my hand couldn't fit into, would not budge. I tried a long handle screwdriver (the bolt was about 10" into the cavity), and I tried a socket, using two extensions and nothing. The easily reached bolt would come out, but not the other one. So, Wednesday after work I stopped at a BBS and obtained their last 10" socke extension. That did the trick and I got the old fan removed. The new fan, after much manipulation was installed and the wires spliced in. Pocs: Old motor out, new motor installed

ARGH - now nothing but lights worked and a slight humming sound. Even in test mode, where both exhaust and distribution motors should come on regardless if there is a leak, nothing happened. So back to the forum where many people had suggestions that did not seem to apply to my case. I finally checked the wiring and even though it was all tight, one looked a bit "off". I redid the splice and voila, in test mode the distribution motor came on. BUT, the exhaust motor did not. Back to the forum where a kind soul described how to turn the motor by hand - and to get it "unstuck" - MAGIC!

So the P43 was up and running in time for the cold snap. I have someone coming in a couple of weeks to replace the distribution blower as that one can be tricky. That blower is still good, but caution says to replace it now because I don't want it to "stick" for good in the middle of January. If the fan blade doesn't have to be cut off (as regularly happens), then I can keep it as a backup.

We received our first "real" snow, as in get out the snowblower type of storm, Thursday night into Friday morning. Looks like I won't be using these for a while.

 

Swamp Fog

On November 2 I was driving home and stopped to take pictures of the swamp fog at Perkins Pond In Weare. Pictures presented in order taken. Weird how the two that are almost the same vista show different lighting even though taken with the same phone, from the same place (my truck), within a minute of each other.

And just for fun, because I rarely retouch photos except for cropping, I decided to let the computer correct the colors.

Last of the Fall Color

On 11/3, shortly after noon I snapped a couple more pictures of the October Glory Maple.

Good thing I got those pictures as a couple of hours later both it and the burning bush were bare of leaves from strong winds.

The next day I snapped these photos of the yard - how it has looked pretty much since September (besides the leaves)

The side of the yard by the swamp is also under water. I didn't bother taking pictures as there are so many leaves on top, it isn't obvious in pictures. Sunday afternoon I scooped all the leaves out of the culvert between my yard and the trailer to help the pond there drain. The culvert wasn't clgged and was running well, but I figured that being proactive wasn't a bad thing.

Previously, on Sunday morning, I had been driving to Concord to attend a HOG meetig and turned around to take these pictures.

It is not unusual for the High Tide to flood during the spring when the Contoocook River runs high from rains and snow melt. But it rarely floods during the fall. On my way back home, going over the bridge on Rt 149, I saw the river was nearly as high as I'd ever seen it and close to lapping over the stone wall that some apartments are built on. Those apartments are in an old mill building that was designed to let flood water thru, so there was no danger there, but was startling to see.

NH is still very fortunate that we aren't in drought and dealing with fires, nor is there much true, life-altering flooding, and my basement has stayed dry, so all is good. The biggest danger is we've had high winds for the last couple of days, which can take trees down because of soil saturation not allowing the tree roots to hold itself in place.

 

The Beginning of the Kittens

It dawns on me that I have "known" my kittens since they were very young. No, I didn't touch them, nor did I know which would pick me or how many I would end up with. But the persons from whom I got them regularly shared pictures and adventures from the time before they took them from the feral mother. I stole these pictures from a thread he started on a forum I frequent - and the rest is history. Enjoy the cuteness overload!

Kittens as they were found in a garage 2 days after their birth. The saw the mama cat frequently, so knew when they had last seen her pregnant. Pic taken on 5-15-18.

This is mama cat taken 5/22/18

At 2 weeks they began bringing them in the house for an hour or so for socializing before returning them to mama. Spot is the wanderer, Rainey (AKA runt) is the one being smooshed. Glasses (who later became Gizmo) is top left and Slash (for the slash on her nose) is on the right. The people who took the kittens in kept Glasses/Gizmo and Slash. Pictures taken 5/26/18

At 4 weeks old (6/9/18), mama had already moved them twice and was in the process of moving them again when the humans finally decided that they needed to grab the kittens for good before mama took them somewhere they couldn't be found - and ended up feral themselves (or lunch). They only managed to grab two of the kittens the first night - Slash and Spot.

 The next day, 6/10/18, they managed to find a third kitten - Rainey/Runt.

And that night, the fourth kitten was found and brought in

 

7/5/18 - Three kittens and Pheobe (the humans' other cat) chasing an electric mouse

7/6/18 Runt/Rainey

7/12/18 - Spot, Slash and Runt/Rainey

 Two days after that group picture I made the trip down to RI, and that was the beginning of the Destructo Duo's impact on this household.

Equal Time for Spot's Playtime

I have determined that Spot purposefully takes items to the bathtub to play with them. When she is done playing, she is thoughtful enough to bring them back out and put them in an out of the way place. Gives her a place in which they can't get away to unreachable places such as under closet doors or under low-bottomed furniture. Last night, I caught her in the bathtub with a ball. All pictures shown in order taken.

When I quit taking pictures (didn't think about a video), I went into the office and heard the ball careen out of the bathtub onto the bathroom floor. I got up to watch as Spot deliberately picked up the ball and took it back into the tub for some more play time. I checked later, and she had taken her toy out so I didn't have to worry about it during this morning's shower.

Rainey Playing with Action Toy

Rainey has figured out how to pull the string she just needs to master getting it into position so that it scurries along the floor. Spot is fascinated.

 

Trees of Color

The October Glory Maple is really looking good (all pics taken a couple of minutes ago)

The Autumn Blaze is starting to show that it wants in on the action

Comparison of the two trees. October Glory is down below, Autumn Blaze is in foreground, and the red behind the AB is still the burning bush, which I think arrested its change a couple of weeks ago - right after I took the last picture.

Oh, and the real comparison is the scrub maples.

Two weeks ago I could barely see the garage, could not see the cars, and certainly couldn't see the blue house across the road.

Cat Bath

This morning Spot brought a leaf from another room to play with it in the tub. Guess it can't get away from her that way :D

Of course Rainey was watching - waiting for her turn to start mayhem.

The Seasons are Slowly Turning

First, a picture os Spot - she loves to lay on the stuffed tiger above the desk when I am on the computer.

Next, some fall pictures taken last Sunday

Penstemon

Burning bush

October Glory maple starting to turn

Yesterday the October Glory looked like this

Good thing I placed a water loving tree in that spot - it has been constantly flooded for the last couple of months. This summer I have felt I've been transported to Seattle with all the rain and dark, gloomy skies we've had. That happens some years, but is not the norm. This week will be a shock as the moring temps will be in the low 30's. So far we have had mostly warm, 50's and 60's, mornings. the days may not have gotten much warmer than that, but we haven't really experienced much cold.

Progress!

A picture is worth 1,000 words - finished last night.

Previously all flooring had stopped at the shelves on the left hand side. That is 3 layers to put down; the Air Gap system, OSB and then linoleum.

Not done with the short section that leads to the heater room, but all in good time.

PS - can't recommend Magic Sliders enough. Wish I had found them at the beginning of this while I was moving the washer and dryer all around. I even found some that worked for the legs of the metal shelves on the left. Found them at my local hardware store.