FEB. 9 UPDATE: Little by little

The view toward Frederick, with the water tower in the distance.

Sofia has a new place to play — snow cleared from the yard was pushed into a pile that Sofia has claimed as her castle. A smaller pile nearby has been dubbed "Ogre Hill." An ogre regularly raids the castle (we take turns playing ogre).

The other day Sofia looked up and said, "Mommy, the moon is looking at me!"



Well, the house: Wiring still isn't quite finished, but Dave made good progress on it this weekend, broken rib and all. All the complicated circuits are in place, tested, and working as they should -- save one (the light above the stairs) that has three switches and involves a lot of climbing. The smoke alarms and baseboard heater wiring is still on the to-do list as well.

But Dave is pretty sure he can finish in the next few days, so he's made an appointment for the electrical inspector to come a week from Tuesday. Progress!

... Sofia was supposed to have her dance class this afternoon, but we didn't make it -- I got the car stuck in slushy mud in the yard. (Note to self: Don't back up downhill, no matter how slight the incline might be.) A good push from Dave when he got home got it out, but by then it was too late for dance class. It's been raining (rain! in February!) steadily all day, set to turn to snow tomorrow, we hear.

... Right now there's a massive puddle in front of the granary. We weren't planning on a pool ... we're hoping we're not getting leakage into the insulation Dave put in under the subfloor. We shouldn't be -- the water isn't that high, and Walt did a fine job on the cement work on the lower portions of the north and south walls -- but a person does worry.

... We did have a bit of a flood already inside. The part of the water pipe that was in the addition froze and broke the fitting on the end. Dave noticed a bit of water on the floor, and as he was unwrapping the pipe (he had surrounded it with insulation) he hit the lever and water sprayed all over. I think he got the lever back to the off position -- then he did a little sprinting into the house to get the water shut off. He got everything fixed, but it involved a trip to Ellendale, then a trip to Aberdeen, and a wasted day.