I came to Salt Lake on Thanksgiving and have been staying at my daughters place. I own it, but she rents it from me. Sort of an odd feeling to be a guest in your own house eh? But she and Julio are very gracious hosts and make me feel very welcome.

I thought the projects on the boat were busy. Boy It has been non stop work on the house since I got here. First there was a ton of fresh snow to shovel, several times. After the snow was off I had to un-drill all the screws that I used to put Kenzie’s dance floor down on the deck and pull that all up and get stored

I had not gotten the house winterized before this big storm and cold snap so there was a bit of a mess to deal with. The wicker sun shades on the deck were all collapsed from the storm and had to be pulled down before the beams collapse with them. The rain gutters had not got cleaned so they were full of ice and had to be chipped out piece by piece. Then I had to nail the fascia back on, as it was pulled away by the ice buildup and near to falling down. Of course all being done at the top of the ladder in the snow in the cold. Boy that was fun! I am now researching leaf guard ideas for next season. There is a new type of leaf guard that is a sort of loose foam mesh block (very long and skinny) that you place in the gutter and it lets the water through but keeps the leaves out. I may try that one. Odd that I don’t even have any trees that tall that can clog my gutters, these leaves that cause me so much grief are all from my neighbors trees! Insult to injury they are on my east side so I get no afternoon shade from them! But I take solace that Steve and Vicki have the most shady yard in the neighborhood and I helped!

Then I had to re-plumb the humidifier, as it was leaking into the basement kitchen which in turn caused some of the floor tiles to come loose (spent a day gluing them all back down) which in turn showed the need for a whole new drainage system that I am still working on. I am now installing a condensate pump and running the flow tube over the ceiling to the laundry room to avoid the tube running across the floor and leaking.

Then we had noticed that the gas water heater was on its last legs and barely putting out enough water for about half a shower so we have just replaced that. (At least it was not leaking!) Fortunately it was the same size and type as the old one so it went in easy in 3 hours. Julio was heroic in helping me get it down the stairs in one piece. (Now it is time to pull the old one out! ARGH will this never end?

My son Porter has been finishing his basement and he has a guy working on the sheetrock mudding phase and I am helping sand the joints between coats. It only takes a few hours a day and we have this really cool little sanding block loaned from my friend Geoff that attaches to the shop vac and sucks up the dust as it goes so there is very little mess. Almost done and then paint.

Projects projects! Argh. There have been days when for a nickel I would give the house to some poor soul and head back to the boat!

But it is not all work here. I went to visit my folks in Logan, very nice. I have been skiing up the Mill creek trail a few times with Geoff just like we always have on a Monday evening. (My foot still aches from that sprain last summer so I am still taking it easy/lazy) I soak in the hot tub and have a beer after working on Porters place each day. Nice to sit and watch the birds and the clouds. The kids installed cable TV and after being TV deprived all these months on the boat I am relieved to learn that even with all 493 station, there is still nothing on worth watching. But it took some time to figure that out! I read a lot and have been doing research on ways to get weather forecasts on the boat in remote places without internet or cell phone. Standby for an update on that!

PS I plan to head back to the boat sometime after the holidays.