One woodstove; one chimney! Useable tomorrow. Deck stairs and more. Shares needed.

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

We have a chimney! One. The other will come tomorrow.

It is, at this moment, snowing — right here, right now, on October 9th. Not heavily, although the peaks got a good dusting earlier, and are getting more at this moment, too. But it's actual snow, and it will get down into the teens tonight.

Unfortunately, we can't use the woodstove yet. Marcos resurfaced them both last week, but the chimney guys needed to do some additional resurfacing of their own, and the paint has to burn off when we're not in the house to inhale the fumes. So we'll do that tomorrow during the day, and presumably we can light a fire in it for tomorrow night. This is the small woodstove, the one whose flue runs up through our bedroom, so that will throw off a lot of heat. Tonight, though, we'll need the ceramic space heater.

Here's the flue:

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; 
all rights reserved.

And here's what the stove itself looks like, with all of their tools still around:

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

They cleaned all of that up thoroughly before they left for they day, although tomorrow morning they'll shift it all to the other side, in the dining room area. Speaking of which, here's what that set-up will look like:

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

It's not a good shot, but believe me, the slate tile backing that the tile crew laid on the walls really set off the stoves perfectly. Even better, they chimney guys did what everyone was telling me couldn't be done: They angled both stoves, instead of setting them straight into the corners. And because the floor is stone tile, no need for a separate hearth; only the internal fireplace bricks for the inside of the stoves.

The regular crew got a lot accomplished today, too. They fixed the toilet issue (which had to do with the bolt pins keeping the seat and lid in place); they got the hole for the sink in the downstairs bath cut back, filled in, and drywalled so that the guys can tile it once the sink if hooked up and the pedestal installed; they found the remote to the sanctuary ceiling fan; they got a trench dug behind the house that's going to be filled and routed for runoff, so that when we get the kind of storms we've had the last couple of weeks, the water doesn't collect along the back of the house and begin to seep into the bathroom wall; they picked up the additional beams from the sawmill; and they got the exterior staircase to the deck all framed out:

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

The tile guys also got the downstairs shower and floor RedGuarded, and some of the tiles sorted and laid out. They'll be back tomorrow, at least two of them, to work on the walls and the floor of the shower. The one thing that did not happen is the vanity, because the plumbers, who called this morning to say they'd be here shortly, never showed. I'm getting irritated, because I need to know whether they found the damn part; if they didn't, then I need to know if the ones that can be purchased from the actual sink manufacturer through Lowe's will do the job, and I'll order the damn thing myself. But I can't do that until they show. Still, three crews simultaneously is probably more than enough for one day, although if they show up tomorrow, it'll be four then. But it won't, presumably, be snow weather.

So we will be over there to sleep again tonight, and as cold as it is and even with the woodstove unuseable for one more night, it'll still be much, MUCH warmer than the tin can. Between the space heater and the blanket and the insulation from the adobe combined with the sound frame construction, we won't be cold at all. As always, of course, there's still a long way to go, and winter is obviously here, at least for the moment. As close as we are, there's too much to be done, and that means a lot of labor, which means a lot of expense, and a lot of materials to buy and damaged goods to replace. So here are the links:

• Wings's direct PayPal link;
• Wings's site, for sales;
• Lowe's cards (the physical version) via our Amazon wishlist;
• Lowe's e-cards (delivered via e-mail) here; and
• Home Depot cards via the company site. The e-version using my e-mail address is great; I take the tablet to the store with me, and they scan it off the screen.
• Our Amazon wishlist generally.
• Wayfair gift cards, to replenish all the furnishings that the RV has destroyed in one way or another.
• Partial registry #1, from Bed, Bath and Beyond. It's not complete; what's on it so far are drapes for the upstairs, associated curtain rods, bath rugs for both bathrooms, and doormats and a few other miscellaneous items.]
• Partial registry #2, from Wayfair. Also not complete, but covers a number of the area rugs needed for the upstairs and some kitchen items. I've finally added a bunch of items to it, although nothing in the way of small tables or lamps or kitchen items beyond three basic things, because yesterday proved to be a time-suck of epic proportions, and today was more of the same. What I did get to is all of the rugs for the whole house, and a few basic furniture items. But about Wayfair, and VERY IMPORTANT: They make it possible to crowdfund each item. So if you'd like to help, but the prices are too much for one person? You can kick in 20 bucks, or ten, or five, on any one item; many small donations can add up to one item. Also, it appears that everything that was listed as out of stock/on backorder is back in stock. It's a slow process, but every day I find a few more items that fall into the badly-needed category, because the wiring and mold and lime and everything else in this toxic tin can has destroyed so much of what we used to have. I'm sickened by the amount of stuff we have to throw out (on top of the things that were simply ruined, such as the microwave fried by the wiring in this place).

Many thanks and much love from us both, for donations, gift cards, shares, recs, moral support, and just generally helping me not lose my mind. Not much has changed on the health front:  As I've been saying daily, it seems, this has been a difficult day health-wise, with my flare itself seeming to flare, no doubt in part due to our high winds and drastic weather changes. But there are also the breathing difficulties, and sundry other issues secondary to the AI problems, and so I am moving very, very slowly, and accomplishing things only with quite a lot of difficulty. I'm going to be slow, and late, and unfocused; please bear with me while we try to get into a much healthier space. We are both so thankful for each and every one of you who made it possible for us to sleep now, for the first time in seven years, in a safe and healthy (and warm!) place.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.